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The Gold Coast’s NRL future is once again up in the air after the latest off-field scandal to rock the embattled club.
Still without a major sponsor just weeks from the start of the new season, the Titans are now also without a home after two players were arrested and charged with supplying cocaine.
Hooker Beau Falloon, the club’s NRL player of the year, and utility back Jamie Dowling have both been stood down by the club after the pair were both charged following an operation by Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission.
The pair, along with rugby union star Karmichael Hunt and an unnamed woman, were all given notices to appear in Southport Magistrates Court on March 5 on Thursday.
Titans chief executive Graham Annesley could not confirm whether any more of the club’s players were caught up in the scandal.
He did however confirm the club had made the decision to move out of their training base at the Southport School on the Gold Coast following the revelations.
He said no new training base had been decided upon but the decision had to be made.
“The board and management of the club acknowledges that under these circumstances it is not appropriate for the team’s training facilities to be based in an education facility among impressionable young people,” Annesley said.
“As such we will make immediate plans to relocate to an alternate venue.
“We unreservedly apologise to the school, our members, sponsors, corporate partners, and other stakeholders who have been let down or impacted by these unexpected and unacceptable developments.”
Falloon and Dowling’s dramas come after a summer where the club has already been forced to sack young utility Paul Carter after he was charged with a second drink driving offence in six months.
NSW and Australia representative Greg Bird has also been in trouble, fined and stripped of the club’s co-captaincy after being caught urinating in public following his wedding celebrations in Byron Bay.
Youngster James Roberts was also fined after he was arrested following a boozy night out although the charges against him were later dropped.
Annesley admitted his frustration following Friday’s revelations, saying it was like he was banging his head against a brick wall.
“I feel sorry for people in this club who keep getting battered around by these incidents,” he told reporters.
“You can understand the fans, they must be shell shocked by these things that keep happening.
“I’m sure there are better days ahead. This is a black day for the club.”
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