What has happened to the Titans?

starts to make the Gold Coast United situation look like it is more about the fickle people of the Gold Coast rather than the teams themselves. That been said, Clive Palmer and Michael Searle are complete prats.

What is the true story here??? http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/gold-coast-debt-a-titanic-25m-auditors-reveal-20120322-1vmyx.html http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/auditors-find-35m-black-hole-in-gold-coast-titans-books-but-cooper-cronk-deal-to-go-ahead/story-e6frexnr-1226307676162 If this is all true , who is running this asylum...

Super 15 always costs more. SANZAR can get away with because rugby fans tend to be wealthier than league fans. The lack of FTA coverage gives rugby fans an incentive to go to the games.

It's silly to say that Gosford-Wyong will only support a team that's linked to North Sydney Bears.

The point I was making is that the NSWRL Premiership was a surburban competition for Sydney. Each of the Sydney-based clubs that participated in the NSWRL Premiership represent 2 or 3 tiny LGAs and cannot grow their fanbase by much because they're landlocked between other LGAs and have reached the peak of their population growth: the only way they could increase their population density is by building more skycrappers, which would ultimately lead to working-class families leaving the area and being replaced by non-sporty types who won't bother to support the clubs. None of the Sydney teams make any money because there are nine of them competing for the limited resources that are available. The clubs poach Queensland's talented juniors because Sydney doesn't produce many. If Sydney could produce enough talent to support 9 clubs and draw enough revenue from gate-receipts and advertising to stay afloat then fair enough, but the fact they cannot do either means the area is overrepresented. Since most of the world's best players are Queenslanders and the participation rate is higher in Queensland -- as is the overall interest in the sport -- it makes sense to add more teams to Queensland. Juniors from Queensland don't want to move to Sydney when they're 18. The AFL's surbuban teams are better supported than any of the Sydney RL teams. That allows the AFL to get away with having them in its national comeptition. The Northern Eagles comparision isn't ridiculous. The Seagulls were based on the Tweed at one point, so it's unfair to lay their failure on the Gold Coast. The Seagulls went under when the introduction of pokies in Queensland led to the Tweed-based Seagulls Leagues club going broke. The original Gold Coast team was the Gold Coast-Tweed Giants. Only the Chargers and Titans have been based solely on the Gold Coast: the former made a profit during its final year, the latter still draws higher averages than some Sydney clubs and is only in financial trouble because of unforeseen circumstances. The Titans will survive this fiasco. Not all people in Gosford-Wyong are behind the Bears. I've seen more than a fair share of comments from locals of the area saying they want a team of their own. But hey, if the Central Coast is such a heartland area, as you make out, then it would support any team. Including the Northern Eagles. I'd be willing to bet that the Gold Coast area produces more talent for the NRL than Gosford-Wyong.

The Northern Eagles had nothing to do with the Bears...that was the whole problem.

They would have trouble fitting Cronk, Idris, Myles, Douglas, Prince, Taylor, Zillman (5 years of a reasonable amount) under the cap..

why doesnt that surprise me.

The ticket I bought was for the main grandstand, so it was a good seat, but I had to pay $40 or $50 for it. And that was on concession. I don't know how fans who don't have a concession card make ends meet. Traffic is a sign of poor planning by the government.

I think the problem is most people don't know about them or are too snobby to go to something that they see as "second-rate". I'd like to see the ARLC invest a bit of money into the infrastructure of the Queensland Cup. A few million dollars could be set aside for the construction of a shaded grandstand at each of the clubs that play in the Queensland Cup. The Eastern Suburbs Tigers have a really nice one, which the club paid for, during the early 2000's. It has a nice shaded roof and bucket seats for just under 2,000 people. Shade cloths could be erected around the rest of the ground. Over time it would nice if the clubs and ARLC saved enough enough money to build a video screen at one end of each ground so that replays of tries, line breaks, big tackles, etc can be shown to the crowd.

I like Cooper Cronk a lot, but i cant help wonder to myself every now and then would we talk about the him the way we do if he hadnt been surrounded by Slater, Smith & Inglis for most of his career. I saw somewhere that he was looking for the best part of 800k for his new contract, if he was to go to the titans for eg. would they really get $800k worth of value from him without the superstars surrounding?? Time will tell i guess..

If people only support a team when they are winning should be ashamed to go to a game, not going to a game when your team needs you the most is shame full , but $40 a ticket is a bit much,

Really its $40 these days wow what a joke way over priced

A monkey could find the stadium its that easies

Didn't the Titans also forge some of their crowd figures?

@Australian Rules I would have to agree the Titans launch and model for the club structure is certainly impressive. Every other league jersey on kids today is a titans jersey. It would seem that only the Titans can stop the Titans success.

Honestly, you would think that more people that are having problems affording national level comps would get onboard with the state-level comps that may not be the greatest standard but are certainly far cheaper and scratch the itch.

You are exactly right Rabby, and one of the few people who get it. Ever since the NSWRL decided to expand it was obvious that Sydney had to shrink and it hasn't shrunk nearly enough. The concentration of talent in the 9 sydney clubs makes it very difficult to expand, and expansion is the only way forward for the league if we don't want to return to being the Winfield Cup with 13 greater-sydney teams and little else. But no one wants to make the hard decisons.

Good article. You're spot on about many things, including Prince, who's a hasbeen and should be shipped out. Yes, they should never have signed Taylor without first locking up a superstar halfback like Cronk if he was gettable. It's depressing to see the Gold Coast once again be a weak link in the NRL chain. All those years down the drain with the Giants, Seagulls and Chargers. Although the Coast has a reasonable population base, it may not be the friendliest place to have a club. Too much distraction, not enough emotional identification with the area from its residents- you don't meet many proud 'Coasters'. Cartwright's time may be out there. He's a good coach, an intelligent, motivational guy but he's been there 5 years. They've had some success but the club needs to strip away its parts and start over now. It's also not going to get any easier with a second Brisbane team a certainty for 2015. Gold Coast needs to invest heavily in its junior talent, which is plentiful up there. That's the only way to long-term success. Buying veterans like Myles and Idris who are not superstars is a waste; better off buying a couple of superstars- Cronk and Foran for example, and surround them with young, cheap talent.