Gold Coast prop Ryan James hopes to have an answer on his NRL future before Christmas, with the Titans desperate to keep their chief enforcer.
James is off-contract at the end of 2017 and has reportedly fielded interest from up to six NRL clubs, and Brisbane pose the biggest threat to the Titans in their bid to keep the 25-year-old.
While James said Gold Coast remained his first choice, he indicated his future remained uncertain.
“The Gold Coast is where I grew up,” he said on Thursday.
“I’m still in the middle of all that … It’s up in the air at the moment.”
James was the Titans’ best in 2016, receiving their player-of-the-year award after crossing for 12 tries and busting through 52 tackles.
He said he expected a decision “a month or a bit away from now”, and he remains a top priority for Titans chief executive Graham Annesley.
“Ryan’s an absolutely integral part of our future,” he said.
“We’ll be doing absolutely everything that we can to keep him here and I’m confident that he’s happy here and he wants to stay.
“When Ryan is ready to talk to us we’re ready to talk to him.”
James could also feature as a possible captain, with Greg Bird and Luke Douglas departing for the English Super League and Nathan Friend retiring.
He said it’s a role he was interested in.
“I’d love to do it,” James said.
“I was fortunate enough to do it a couple of times this year … there’s a lot of big shoes to fill.”
BigJ
Roar Guru
he needs to stay at the Titans, with the broncos not at thier best and the Titans starting to be a threat in the game I feel that it would be more beneifical for him to remain in his current playing situation. With current trends i am in the beleif that the titans are only a season or two away from a premeriship.