Renouf: Titans on brink but no Queensland teams in finals again

Unfortunately it looks like we're headed towards having no Queensland clubs in the NRL finals for the second year running.

It's even more disappointing when you consider there's a chance of the grand final being moved here to the 2032 Olympic city due to the COVID-19 situation in Sydney.

Even to have one Queensland team making a run through the finals would have been wonderful if the competition stays here.

Much like last year when the Titans ran ninth, the Gold Coast boys look like being the best chance and I think they are the closest to looking like a playoff team in the near future.

If you look at how the Ampol State of Origin series went, and it was Brisbane's lowest ever representation in a Queensland side, the Titans are the club with the best hope of becoming a finals force.

With guys like Tino and big Fifita in the back row, Mo Fotuaika, Jarrod Wallace is a leader now, they have a good balance in the pack.

Jamal Fogarty is a very good player in the halves, he got a mature head as well even though he's come in quite late as an NRL player. He's a good lad who can play footy. They have the bones there of a very good team.

The Titans have done very well with some of their recent recruiting but they have only played well in patches this year.

The Cowboys I think also have a lot of improvement in them with some of the juniors they have coming through.

I've had the opportunity to interview a lot of those boys over the past 18 months and they haven't been able to play that much footy due to COVID but now that's changing they will get a lot better very quickly.

For my Broncos unfortunately they are very much going through a rebuilding phase.

When you look at individuals within the club, with Kevvie Walters there and now Ben Ikin, I think there will be a lot of positive change.

One thing that needs to be looked at is the recruiting. In my opinion, there's been a scattergun approach to picking up halves at the junior level.

If you look at how it's evolved, it hasn't worked out.

The great Cyril Connell would have picked the best two or three, you can't try and save your arse by signing six or seven because then you open yourself up to the best ones moving on.

They all end up fighting for the same positions and we've lost some good ones along the way.

In the short term, all three Queensland clubs have a big problem with their defence. The Titans at least have been scoring a lot of points of their own so if they can tighten up how many they concede they could be competitive very soon.

It will take a bit longer for the other two and it's just a shame with the game being based in Queensland at the moment we're not likely to see any of them in the finals.

The views in this article do not necessarily express the opinions of the NRL, ARL Commission, NRL clubs or state associations.