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Dodged a bullet may not be the right term, but if there was no history between Gold Coast and Daly Cherry-Evans and the club had the chance to go for his signature now I don’t think they would be nearly as desperate to get him as they were last year.
They were prepared to throw a fortune at him then, at the expense of heavily loading up their salary cap on one player, and when he agreed to join them only to pull out of the deal using the Round 13 rule and re-sign with Manly it was considered to be a dark day on the glitter strip.
Then they picked up rookie halfback Ashley Taylor from Brisbane, a 21-year-old who had only made his first-grade debut in the final round of last season.
As promising as he was, no-one knew for sure whether he was going to make the grade or not, but it is clear now that he has got the goods at NRL level.
This season, Taylor is partnering Tyrone Roberts in the halves. Next year, the Titans will have another very promising young player to pick from there in Kane Elgey, who made his first-grade debut for the club last season and played 16 games before being ruled out for this season with a torn ACL.
Look, Cherry-Evans could be doing great things at Gold Coast now, had he gone ahead and joined the club, but he would have wanted to be doing great things for the money they were going to pay him.
Instead, they’ve got a terrific, young number seven who really did want to come to the club and could turn out to be a ten-year player there. Elgey is only 22 himself, so he could be the same.
Taylor obviously cost way less than Cherry-Evans, which, along with the unfortunate loss of centre James Roberts due to an administrative stuff-up, left Gold Coast with plenty of room under the salary cap to sign the right sort of players mid-season, if they became available.
They have since picked up hooker Nathan Peats and centre Konrad Hurrell.
Taylor played with a lot of maturity and kicked a field goal under pressure in golden point extra-time for Gold Coast to beat South Sydney 29-28 in Perth on Sunday night.
The win means the Titans are in the top eight. That is obviously important for any team, but in the bigger picture of the game at large it’s very important because after two lean years in a row the Titans needed the team’s form to improve considerably to generate hope in a difficult market.
We’re only halfway through the season so anything can still happen, good or bad, but Gold Coast do look real. There are still plenty of things they can get better at, but they’re not lacking commitment.
Ryan James had a monster of a game up front for Gold Coast. He occasionally gets mentioned as a contender for NSW selection, but he is yet to get picked. Why? I don’t know. Maybe he’s too big, too strong, too mobile, runs too hard and hits too hard.
Queensland always seem to be smarter about picking the right players. I’m convinced that were James a Queenslander, he would have been picked to play for the Maroons before now. But there is no excuse for Blues coach Laurie Daley to not seriously consider him for State of Origin II.
Boyd Cordner is out injured, creating one vacancy among the forwards. James is obviously best-known as a prop, but he’s quite athletic for a big man and could play a bit of second-row as well. Plus, I’m hoping the Blues see the error of their ways and discard Dylan Walker.
It wasn’t Walker’s fault they picked a centre on the bench for Game 1 of the series, but the foolishness of the decision was proved when he got just nine minutes at the end of the game and did nothing except concede a vital turnover.
James and Bryce Cartwright to come into the 17 for Cordner and Walker. Two players who can bend the line and offload.
Games at Suncorp Stadium are usually more open than those at ANZ Stadium. Waiting for something to happen, which they seemed to do for large parts of Game 1, is not going to even remotely work for NSW. They have to make it happen or the series will be lost.
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