Clarks on the Coast: Titans step up hunt for English rake

Titans hooker Erin Clark has earned a two-year extension after resurrecting his career, but the Gold Coast will have to up their offer if they're to lure English international Daryl Clark to the NRL.

NRL.com understands that current Titans utility Erin Clark has agreed to a new deal that keeps him at the club until the end of 2023.

It is a fitting reward for his turnaround since arriving at the club a year ago, with only the chance of landing a train-and-trial deal requiring him to lose 20 kilos before it was signed off on.

The Titans are yet to make an official comment on Clark's future.

Meanwhile, the Titans remain the only NRL outfit to have put a firm offer – believed to be two years – in front of Warrington's Daryl Clark.

Canterbury are among the other NRL sides understood to have expressed interest in the 28-year-old, who claimed Super League's Man of Steel award in 2014.

Clark is rated by many as the best hooker in the English game and has been spruiked by no less than Andrew Johns as a running rake who would thrive in the NRL.

Gold Coast coach Justin Holbrook is believed to have spoken with the Warrington hooker about a move. He coached against him during his time at St Helens.

However, NRL.com understands that the Titans will have to improve their current offer to entice Clark out of his Warrington contract.

Gold Coast officials do not expect a transfer fee to be put on Clark, who is contracted to the Wolves until the end of 2023 but is believed to have an option in his favour in the back end of that deal.

Complicating matters though is the exit of current Warrington coach and former Dragons mentor Steve Price, who will return to Australia at the end of this season.

Ex-Great Britain centre Daryl Powell - who had a one-season stint with the Gold Coast in 1991 - was announced this week as Price's replacement and is yet to make public his stance on Clark's future.

It was Powell who coached Clark to that 2014 Man of Steel Award during their time together at Castleford.

The Titans have made no secret of their desire for a top-level No.9.

The Gold Coast made their interest clear in both Cameron and Brandon Smith before the former retired and the latter committed to remain at Melbourne next year.

The re-signing of Erin Clark however locks in one dummy-half option for coming seasons.

Clark has continued to find his feet under Holbrook with 10 games last year and an average of 35 minutes each outing off the bench this season as he and Mitch Rein share the hooking duties.

The 23-year-old's resurgence comes after he played Test football for Samoa in 2016 before making his NRL debut a year later with the Warriors.

But after joining the Raiders, Clark, the son of acclaimed New Zealand netball star Temepara Bailey, lost his passion for the game and moved back to Auckland.

Clark worked as a labourer for a landscape gardening company in 2019 before giving the NRL one last crack during the 2020 pre-season.

Such was his commitment, Clark dropped 20 kilos over the summer to be given a full-time contract this time last year.

His club debut after the COVID-19 enforced shutdown was his first NRL game since that 2017 debut, with Clark's new deal now doubling down on his status in the Gold Coast playing ranks.