TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 28: Titans coach Justin Holbrook looks on during a media interview before the start of the round three NRL match between the North Queensland Cowboys and the Gold Coast Titans at QCB Stadium on March 28, 2021, in Townsville, Australia. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)
Justin Holbrook has revealed that the Gold Coast Titans letting go of Jamal Fogarty during the off-season was a mistake, but the club’s board are still supportive of the under fire coach.
The Titans are plastered to the bottom of the table alongside the Wests Tigers in what has been a horror 2022 campaign.
Instead of fighting for the finals, as they did last year and were expected to again this year, the club will be forced to scrap for a valuable win or two over the last six weeks of the season to avoid finishing at the bottom of the pile.
Fogarty’s departure for the Canberra Raiders over the off-season was supposed to be a leap forward for the club, who would rely on a new young spine with AJ Brimson moving to five-eighth, and rookies Jayden Campbell and Toby Sexton playing at fullback and halfback respectively.
That ultimately hasn’t happened and the club now find themselves desperately searching for a turnaround with coach Holrbook making changes to his 17 in the last couple of weeks.
Speaking to News Corp, Holbrook said that the club wouldn’t have made the decision if they had of foreseen how the situation turned out.
“We made a decision as a club, I can’t change that now,” Holbrook said.
“If I’d have known where we were sitting now, it’s easy. It’s easy to comment on things after they’ve happened.
“You need a crystal ball. It hasn’t worked out the way we would have liked, that’s obvious. I’ll cop that on the chin.”
The Titans’ board aren’t about to sack Holbrook though, despite reports he had coached his last game a few weeks ago.
That hasn’t come to fruition, and they are willing to continue supporting the coach, with Titans owner Rebecca Frizelle saying the club will succeed when speaking at a Women in League breakfast this week.
“We will be heading in with the same coach,” Frizelle said.
“We’re a club that is accountable for the decisions it makes and the head coach doesn’t make all the decisions. So it doesn’t seem reasonable that he pays with his career.
“If our performance doesn’t improve than of course we are going to have a further think about that. But, at the moment, we have all made decisions about a strategy and plan, and we all have to own those decisions.
“That is what we are doing. It is all out decisions. We own it, all of us. It doesn’t seem right to do that [sack the coach]. We believe he can coach, we believe he can coach.”
In attempting to turn the club around next year, Holbrook has already moved to bring experience into his spine.
Experienced Manly Sea Eagles playmaker Kieran Foran will arrive at Robina for the 2023 season, and Holbrook said the aim of his signing was clear.
“Hence why we’ve bought Kieran Foran. A lot of people say that’s like for like but Jamal had played two games before we played him. Kieran Foran’s played 280 so I don’t know how that’s like for like,” Holbrook said.
Foran has recently been rumoured to be growing cold feed about a move to the Gold Coast, but would need a release to back out of his contract – something the Titans are unlikely to give him even if it was requested based on the current club predicament.
Source:: ZeroTackle
