Tino eyes lengthy Titans stint as Gold Coast sign siblings galore

Tino Fa'asuamaleaui's growing family affair at the Titans has the marquee signing already thinking about putting long-term roots down on the Gold Coast.

Fa'asuamaleaui is currently bunking down with fellow star signing David Fifita until his partner Jordan and baby Alina move down from his hometown of Gympie at the end of January.

With younger brother Iszac also joining the Junior Titans program from Melbourne's system late last year, Fa'asuamaleuai plans to put him up once he's slept in his own bed for the first time in seven months.

Keeping things well and truly in the family, the Gold Coast have also added Klese Haas and Sione Fotuaika, the teen siblings of rising Origin props Payne and Moeaki, to their development ranks in recent months.

NRL prop Herman Ese'ese also counts among Fa'asuamaleaui's cousins.

The pull of his Queensland-based family was a key factor in Fa'asuamaleau's shift to the Titans, a lucrative three-year deal worth around $2 million also a key factor in leaving the Storm.

The Gold Coast's impressive upward trajectory also has the 20-year-old feeling right at home and considering keeping it that way for years to come.

"One of the first things was that my family live up here and I really wanted to come up and bring my daughter up to my parents and have her grandparents around," Fa'asuamaleaui said on Tuesday.

"Plus I just saw the club was moving up.

"They've been at the bottom for a while now and I thought it'd be a good opportunity to bring it up and hopefully become a powerhouse in the future. I saw that opportunity and I was really excited.

"Obviously I'm still young but I'm happy here and I've still got another two more years.

"And hopefully in the future we can buy a house and stay here for a long time."

The younger Haas, Fotuaika and Fa'asuamaleaui siblings are all still in their teens and some way off following the paths trodden to NRL.

But Fa'asuamaleaui can already see a day when Iszac joins him at the top level now that he has overcome hip issues, a badly fractured arm and losing 2020 game time to COVID to land a spot with Burleigh Bears that sees him training with the Titans this pre-season.

"It's good to see that he's been training well and hopefully he's on the come up," Tino said.

"Hopefully I can get some sessions with him and get into him a bit.

"He's been working so hard for a while now it's good to see him slowly making his way up and I definitely think that he can make it.

"As long as he keeps working hard I think we'll see him here one day which would be pretty amazing.

"He was always the better brother growing up until he had his injury and he's definitely filled up a bit more. He's almost bigger than me so I might have to watch out for him soon."

Fa'asuamaleaui has lobbed for the Titans pre-season training with an eye on Jai Arrow's old No.13 jumper.

And further down the line, a round two local derby with Brisbane, led by good mate and State of Origin sparring partner Haas once more.

"I think it's good for us," Fa'asuamaleaui said of the rivalry that lit up the interstate arena last November.

"We're both young boys and really good mates. There's no mates on the field and we've both had that mentality where it's just 100 per cent when you get out there.

"It's good for us, it's good to have the rivalry out there and hopefully some other young boys coming through can do the same."