John Cartwright’s long coaching reign at the Gold Coast appears on borrowed time after the Titans board announced a comprehensive review of the cash-strapped NRL club’s operations.
Cartwright has two years left to run on his current five-year contract but the Titans currently languish in 13th place and have only made two finals series in their nine-season existence.
The dearth of success has often placed the former Penrith international under pressure but he’s traditionally received strong support at board level.
However an open admission from the board that team performance had been “unsatisfactory” has put a dark cloud over Cartwright’s future.
With master coach Wayne Bennett now a free agent and looking for a new club, the Titans can be added to the list of potential homes for the seven-time premiership mentor.
In a club statement, the Titans said the board had on Wednesday resolved to immediately begin a complete review of operations both on and off the field.
“The board openly concedes team performance has recently been unsatisfactory despite a tough injury toll in the past three months and this has had an extensive effect on the business as a whole,” the statement read.
Chief executive Graham Annesley conceded Cartwright’s long tenure and this season’s disappointing results had placed a spotlight on the coach.
But Annesley stressed the board needed to review every area of the club’s operations to fix their problems, highlighted by a worrying drop in crowd attendance at Robina.
“I don’t think anyone should focus on the coach,” he told AAP. “All aspects of the business needs to be reviewed.
“The knee-jerk reaction would be just to blame the coach but they (the board) don’t want to make a knee-jerk reaction.”
Cartwright admitted himself after the Titans’ last-start upset loss to Canberra that he was under the gun from critics calling for his head.
“No doubt they’ll be out there in force,” he said after the 36-20 defeat. “You’ve got to be numb, though. You can’t listen to it.
“You can’t let it affect the way your team sees you or let it affect your approach through the week.”
Chairperson Rebecca Frizelle said the Titans needed to move quickly to restore confidence in the club and promised they would make the “tough decisions” required.
“Rarely are problems caused by a single factor, therefore rarely will a single response lead to long term improvement.
“The board needs to fully understand the reasons for under-performance across the entire business and act accordingly.
“Clearly, crowds and revenue are affected by team performance, so we cannot sit on our hands in the hope things will improve without an appropriate strategy in place.”
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Did it take three attempts? What about seven? What about thirteen? The Des Hasler era is up and running at the Gold Coast Titans…
The Titans won their first game of the season against the Warriors - and the home fans had more to be upset about than…
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck looked to have scored. However, a tiny bobble in the previous play-the-ball proved costly.
Dylan Walker nearly got away with it too! A successful Titans Captain's Challenge put them in prime position to score late in the first…
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck earnt plenty of cheers from the home fans after this big shot on Gold Coast's Klese Haas in the first half.
Manly have snuck home against the Titans in a wild game on the Gold Coast, running out 34-30 winners on a night in which,…
