NRL Rumour Mill Thread (Spoilers)

It will be a shame if King does leave. I notice Price has named him on the interchange this week and Fien not named, is this a last minute bid to keep him or is Fien's ankle still giving him trouble?

Looking at our hooking stocks you would think that he would be worth investing in every club needs depth in the hooking role

Nathien Fien 32 nearing the end of a great career
Mitch Rein 21 much underated and should be part of the plan
Cameron King 22 in a month Dragons Toyota Cupplayer of the year 2010
Dean Young 28 bad knees and more a lock anyway

To answer my own question Fien out for four weeks and underlines the need to keep King.

Ross

Apparantly we increased our offer, some of BScott's money, he is been gauranteed a 1st grade spot at Newcastle, pretty sure Newcastle have 2 really good young hookers at their club Clydesdale & Redman ...

Yeah Fien is out for 4 weeks...

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...do-with-struggling-titans-20120321-1vkcq.html

Pressure building on Titans.

A lot of fuss has been made about King - but we won't know how valuable he is for a while - Beau Henry was NYC Player of the Year in 2009 and many were spewing when we lost him. I'd rather let other teams overpay for Scott / King etc and have the Dragons overpay for a Cooper Cronk type player.

At the hooker position Rein could become an 80 minute player, freeing up an interchange spot for a bigger forward.

ooneil said:

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...do-with-struggling-titans-20120321-1vkcq.html

Pressure building on Titans.

Click to expand...

Smells like they're GOOONE...but I hope it can be salvaged.

If not, the NRL should move them to Brisbane and call them the Brisbane Titans and have them play out of Suncorp. At least those hardy Titans fans who follow them will be able to still watch their team rather than killing them off completely.

What is it about Gold Coast? Their soccer team, a half dozen NRL teams and an AFL team have all fallen in a heap. Now they have the Suns and Titans, how long will both survive?

Although, I will say in the late 80's both AFL and NRL expanded there, and we had a recession.

In the late 2000's both AFL and NRL and Soccer expanded there, and we've had a GFC.

I feel sooooooooooooooooo sorry for the GC Titans fans. A lot of promises, a lot of hope and it's sadly dissipated. Not saying other teams aren't in the same boat but we were told GC Titans - this time it was going to be different. Sad.

Trephinator said:

A lot of fuss has been made about King - but we won't know how valuable he is for a while - Beau Henry was NYC Player of the Year in 2009 and many were spewing when we lost him. I'd rather let other teams overpay for Scott / King etc and have the Dragons overpay for a Cooper Cronk type player.

At the hooker position Rein could become an 80 minute player, freeing up an interchange spot for a bigger forward.

Click to expand...

The Dragons rarely if ever pay overs to keep players and normally don't compete in bidding wars to attract established talent, there is always enough local talent to fill the rosters, it's just a case of shake the tree and another talented player falls out. I can't see Cronk leaving Melbourne, why would you leave when Slater and Smith make you look good every week.

Your right Beau Henry is a classic example of this (although at the time he signed for the Knights I couldn't see a spot for him for a few seasons anyway) but it does always hurt to keep loosing the talent (although the jury is still out on Henry) with King I have seen enough of him to believe he has the game to make it and can see a spot for him almost immediatley. You always need good back up in the key positions and as I said Fien / Young are not the long term future.

One for the Titans maybe....

Sonny Bill Williams wants to be rugby league's highest paid player if he returns to the NRL.
According to a report in Rugby League Week, the All Black wants about $800,000a year to return to league from rugby union, will only accept a one-season deal and must be free to continue his professional boxing career in league's off-season.
An un-named coach is reported to have said that Williams' agent Khoder Nasser "told us the only way Sonny Bill would come back to the NRL was if he got a promise that he would be getting the most money of anyone in the game.
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"That was one of a host of conditions he set down. It was about at that stage that we lost interest."
Speculation has been rife that Williams will return to his former sport next year.
He is off contract with the New Zealand Rugby Union at the end of the year, and reports last month suggested that he was close to signing a deal for 2013 with Sydney Roosters.
The Wests Tigers are also said to be keen on Williams.
The 26-year-old played 73 games for the Bulldogs before a controversial switch to play rugby union in France for Toulon.
He then signed with the NZRU and has played Super Rugby for the Crusaders and Chiefs, as well as winning 14 caps for the All Blacks. He was involved in their World Cup-winning squad last year.
He has just been asked by the NZRU to be the face of a campaign to encourage teenagers to play rugby.
Williams' boxing career has taken in five fights, all of which he has won against weak opposition.

lol what a tosser

Tell him he's dreaming son.

Also, Tigers ended talks with the Willie.

Digeze said:

Tell him he's dreaming son.

Also, Tigers ended talks with the Willie.

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Sucked in Willie. We'll probably find he worms his way in saying that he has found god or converted to Islam or Buddism.
It's not the last we'll see of that clown

I used to like him until i read that article.

$35million in debt, heaps of people not paid, box seat to get Cronk..what a joke

THE Gold Coast Titans' crippled financial state descended further into the abyss yesterday after a team of NRL accountants unearthed millions of dollars of hidden debt in the embattled football club.
While Titans boss Michael Searle has long been adamant the club's difficulties are confined to the its property arm and its Centre of Excellence, NRL chief executive David Gallop told The Daily Telegraph an audit this week had shown all aspects of the business were under "considerable financial stress" with the total debt estimated at $35 million.
It comes amid an increasing belief that Storm halfback Cooper Cronk has already signed a three-year deal with the Titans, despite deep concerns about the club's future.

While Gallop couldn't guarantee the Titans' current playing roster would all be paid, he said he was confident contract payments would be met.

12:30pm Friday Blog with Buzz - Have your say on the Titans

"We have received reports from our external accountants today that confirm the whole structure at the Titans is under considerable financial stress," Gallop said. "We are working through the options around that but there needs to be an acceptance that the various arms of the group's business are intertwined in terms of the level of debt and that will have ramifications as future options are explored."

It is understood the external accountants discovered the football club was in millions of dollars of debt to suppliers, including those that provide merchandise, catering and ground hiring.

The Titans will return to the courtroom today after Reed Constructions, which finished the NRL club's controversial Centre of Excellence project, filed two affidavits in the Federal Court this week.

The NRL cannot allow the club to fold because it needs them to satisfy their TV agreement of eight matches a week.

"The game's clear goal is to maintain a viable football club at the Titans," Gallop said. "The issues around the building are creating an alarming diversion from what would otherwise be a successful expansion of our game into an important area."

Yet the Titans continue to plough ahead.

Following the shock signing of Souths big man Dave Taylor on Sunday, it is believed the Titans are in the box seat to secure Cronk on a three-year deal worth about $800,000 per season despite their financial turmoil.

The Storm had feared that South Sydney would snatch Cronk from under their noses because of the influence of Craig Bellamy's former understudy Michael Maguire.

But that has changed, so much so that there was a strong belief out of the Storm yesterday that the Titans had become "frontrunners" to sign their halfback, who has been in white-hot form.

Searle - who did not return calls last night - has a close relationship with Cronk's manager Chris Orr, based on the Gold Coast.

Working in the Titans' favour is Orr has the ability to secure numerous lucrative third-party agreements.

Garath Ellis has signed a 3 year deal with Hull and going home to England. So this will be the hard card in the 2012 Select series to get signed because he is leaving to get over to England for the start of the Super League season.

Sydney signature hunters, get on it now boys!!!!

There are 2 problems with the Titans and they are Michael Searle and Scott Prince.

Very few clubs would buy Prince as his days are numbered,he was pathetic last year, i say let him go, which i think is what is actually happening behind the scenes.
Gold Coast/ Tweed Heads clubs are always the bain of the financial stresses that our economy goes through and given time they will succeed.
The Gold Coast can be a very pretentious area so until they go through the early years of stability then some backers will come and financially as well as physically support this venture.

Yes, Scott Prince is an issue with our on field problems. I will agree with you there. Cartwright is also an issue. He hasn't been able to develop a new offensive game plan to counteract the halves issues. One or the other probably has to go.

I totally diagree with Michael Searle as the problem. Maybe he has bitten off more debt than he can chew, and probably could have done things better, but he is a man of integrity and a genuine man who loves the game. He would not do anything to ruin the hard work and effort he has put in too develop what was essentially a dream into reallity. He is doing his absolute best to try to get things straight You try to start up a National Sporting team without getting into some sort of debt. To finish on Michael, I know him and he is without a doubt one of the nicest guys you will ever meet.

I believe the problem is the people of the Gold Coast. As my wife said "Grubby rats are always the first ones to jump off a sinking ship". Instead of showing solidarity and support alot of fans are turning their backs and bagging the team. The Gold Coast is full of superficial people who only want to be associated with something that is successful. They are all Titans fans when they are winning. They all turn around and say, "Im not really a Gold Coast fan I originally come from Parramatta or Melbourne so Im a fan of that team".

TITANS boss Michael Searle stands to be liable as a result of the club's financial woes after it emerged he personally guaranteed the bank loan at the centre of the debt that threatens to bring the club down.
In another development, the Herald understands that the Titans football club is also a guarantor on the loan, made by the Commonwealth Bank for the building of the Centre of Excellence facility next to Skilled Park.
The Titans' property arm owes the bank $15 million - a huge share of their total debt of at least $25m. It is believed Searle, the Titans' managing director and majority owner, personally guaranteed the loan for about $10 million.
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He hopes to sell the Centre of Excellence and said yesterday he had two expressions of interest to buy it. But if the bank were to call in the guarantees, he and the football club could be ruined.
The Titans have just weeks to find a way out of their perilous financial position after the Federal Court in Brisbane was told the club's property division was ''prima facie insolvent''.
In a potentially critical blow to the club, Reed Constructions, which completed work on the contentious Centre of Excellence facility at Robina, was given the green light to begin bankruptcy proceedings next month.
Lawyers for Reed were successful in their bid to continue the actions started by the Tax Office, and will return to court on April 20 with a view to liquidating the trust, Gold Coast Titans (Property) Pty Ltd.
The property arm is a separate entity to the football business but in a damning assessment of the Titans' financial state, the accountants hired by the ARL Commission, McGrathNicol, reported this week at least $25 million of debt was deeply intertwined with the football club and could bring it down.
This effectively gives the Titans less than 30 days' grace as Reed tries to recoup $943,858 in construction costs plus more than $100,000 in interest, as well as legal costs.
The club has no choice but to hold a fire sale for the Centre of Excellence and another asset, the Titanium Bar in Surfers Paradise.
If they fail by April 20, administrators will be called in to liquidate the asset on behalf of creditors. ''In relation to the property arm, we will consider all options to sell the asset in a managed and transparent process with our bankers. We have received two formal expressions of interests to date which we are considering,'' Searle said.
In court, Justice John Reeves found in favour of the construction firm, ruling it could begin efforts to have the property arm wound up.
Titans lawyer Ashley Tiplady maintained the property division and the football division of the club were clearly divided, although an audit from ARL Commission accountants suggested the rugby league business had been bleeding cash towards the property arm and was also incurring debts.
Searle said the football club was operating $2.5 million short due to poor home crowds and the cost of the building dispute but was forecast to record a profit this year. The Titans' other major backer is a company run by the father and uncle of the club's football manager, Scott Clark. Robert Clark and Phil Ward are directors of Handling Solutions, which is owed more than $5 million.
Clark snr, a former director of accountancy firm Searle Sessarago Financial Performance, a business in which Searle was the founding partner, confirmed to the Herald he was in discussions with the Titans about how to resolve the debt.
ARLC chief executive David Gallop said he had told players' union boss David Garnsey yesterday players would be paid whatever the outcome. ''We wish to see a viable club at the Titans,'' Gallop said.

Yes, Im concerned, but at this stage there is a little bit of time for things to start correcting itself. Gotta stay positive, unlike the unfaithful Ex-so called Titans fans that have already strated bashing us up.

Titans are in big big trouble if its true about the guarantees.

Blade - I feel for the true Titans people, as I do the true people who support all sporting teams.

The Titans started off so well, and like all others, when things are rosy, the crowd are thick, and cheering and loving it, and proud to show off their colours. When things take a dip, they don't stay true.

At Souths, in the early-mid 00's we used to chant "where were you when you were losing" to the high flying Roosters fans, but let's face it, hold up the mirror to our own club, and if Souths got a good season or few under their belts, every man and his dog would be a Souths fan. But it's those same 12,000 who turned up in 1996 and 2002 and 2006 and 2012 that are the 'true' supporters. The rest are fans. You can't blame people for not going to games when teams are losing, but in the NRL, they don't seem to stay true at all when times are tough unlike some other sports (ESP, AFL) where losing teams still get their support through thick and thin. Sticking true certainly will make the goods times better.

I hope the Titans can be righted. I can't see why the NRL and the Titans can't sit down and sort this out and get the club trading/playing in the black. Even if that means taking a hit on playing roster expenditure and on field results until the money situation is sorted.

I also think the media like to kick the living ***t out of clubs (all sports) when they are down. Geez, they just don't relent.

You can only wonder if the Titans will get the same reception from their fans! I believe it is all deserved!

http://www.foxsports.com.au/league/.../story-fn2mcuj6-1226308848272?from=public_rss