Scott Prince

WORDS HUGH BALDWIN

The Jetstar Gold Coast Titans could not have asked for a better man to lead them into their inaugural season in the National Rugby League (NRL): Scott Prince is a premiership-winning captain, he won the Clive Churchill Medal as player of the grand final in the same year (2005), he’s played for Queensland and Australia, and he’s made of titanium — well, part of him is anyway

SCOTT Prince is a playmaker. It is a role that makes any rugby league side tick but, for a club making their debut in the NRL competition, the responsibility could not be greater.

The Jetstar Gold Coast Titans are stepping into a competition that is at its healthiest since 1998, when it was formed. Record crowd attendances and matches of consistently high quality over the last two years has the NRL boasting that it has just completed two of its most successful seasons. Plus, the NRL is also about to walk into its most lucrative broadcast deal yet.

At the club level, the other 15 entities are well-established with a depth of playing talent and an existing supporter base from which to launch into the new season.

There is barely a weak link among the clubs and any failing, on or off the field, is quickly exposed in this hotly competitive environment. So it’s important for the team to make their mark on the NRL quickly and efficiently. The best way to start is by winning, ideally, but at the very least playing an attractive style of football will keep the burgeoning community of the Gold Coast interested and coming through the turnstiles. Cue: Scott Prince, the playmaker.

All eyes will be on Prince when he and co-captain Luke Bailey lead the Jetstar Titans out for their first official NRL game in March against Bailey’s old club, the St George Illawarra Dragons.

Prince knows that the expectations placed on the team have been high since it was announced, a little over 18 months ago, that the franchise would be joining the NRL in 2007. The culmination of those expectations will be that round one game against the Dragons.

“Every game’s a game we want to win,” Prince says. “I don’t know if it’s pressure or not but we’re going to go out there and prepare as well as we can to win the game.

Come March all the hard training
will be put to the test when the
season kicks off

“With us being the new team I think there’s going to be a lot of excitement from the Gold Coast community and surrounding areas. Everyone’s looking forward to it [the first game] and I think it’s going to be an exciting time.”

The first challenge for Prince and his Jetstar Titans is proving they can succeed where other Gold Coast rugby league franchises, such as the Chargers and the Seagulls, have failed.

Among other things, the Gold Coast region has long been known as a destination for people from the southern states looking to enjoy their “senior years” and as soon as the Jetstar Titans won the right to enter the NRL, the jibes about players looking for a pension began.

But the club’s management immediately showed their nous by employing ruthless fitness trainer Billy Johnstone to counter any thoughts of the club being a retirement village. Prince can vouch for the hard line Johnstone has already taken with the inaugural squad of players through the preseason.

“All the rumours are true. He is hard,” Prince says. “It’s a form of training most guys haven’t done before. It’s always challenging. He’s the type of guy you want to impress.

“He does a lot of ’super sets’ in the weights room. His weight sessions are pretty intense. They’re almost like a cardio session in itself.

“You’re working hard and I think the key and the secret to him is he hardly gives you any rest, so it’s more muscle endurance. And he’s really big on mental toughness as well. He takes your body to the extreme and trains your body and mind to cope with that.”

After joining the North Queensland Cowboys in 1996 on scholarship as a 16 year-old, Prince has had to cope with all the challenges professional sport has to offer: fame, injury, responsibility, glory and the pressure of representative football.

The Cowboys were perennial strugglers back then but Prince was quickly earmarked as a rising talent. By the beginning of the 2001 season he found himself at the Brisbane Broncos, one of the most successful clubs of the last two decades, wearing the No. 7 jersey — a jersey made famous by one of Queensland’s favourite playmaking sons, Allan Langer.

But his three seasons at the Broncos were hindered by injury, including two broken legs, one of which, against the Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium, was so horrendous that the replays were too sickening to watch. As a result, Prince still has the titanium rod in his leg.

From there, Prince moved to the Wests Tigers who were hoping to find success under “master” coach Tim Sheens. It was a sign of Prince’s maturity as a person and as a player that Sheens appointed Prince as captain of the Tigers early in the 2005 season.

It was a decision that paid off handsomely for coach, club and player. Prince led the Tigers to the 2005 premiership and played the game of his life to take home the Clive Churchill Medal as the best player in the grand final.

But by the time 2006 came around, Prince was looking for a fresh challenge and he made a decision that was for the good of his family as well his playing career.

Prince and his wife Kristy, whom he met in Townsville, have two daughters (Taliah 3, and Kahlen, 1) and so the need for family support and a craving for the Queensland lifestyle meant that joining the Jetstar Titans was an opportunity too good to refuse.

“Living down in Sydney we didn’t have any family at all — immediate family or extended family,” Prince says. “That was one aspect. Moving to the Gold Coast for the lifestyle and for the challenge that lies ahead was another.

Scott Prince taking time out on the Gold Coast beach
with his girls: wife Kristy and daughters

“It’s not every day you get to play for a new franchise and be part of an inaugural team. And hopefully to make a difference — leave some sort of legacy.

“Both of us have family in and around or pretty close to the Gold Coast. Most are in Brisbane. Kristy’s family is in Bundaberg, a three or four hour drive. Once a Queenslander, always a Queenslander. You always want to come back here.”

Prince’s skill and his Queensland spirit earned him a place in the State of Origin team in 2004 and in 2005 he toured Great Britain with the Kangaroos for the Tri-Nations tournament.

His experience will stand the club and team in good stead but, despite having a talented squad, the new team lacks an established core of players and Prince realises that the players will take time to find their chemistry.

“I’ve played with most of the guys in the team, whether it was at the Broncos, at junior or at representative level,” Prince says. “So all of the guys know each other and have obviously played against each other, but that’s probably the hardest thing: getting to know each other and breaking the barriers to getting to know one another really well.

“But I think only when we start to play and sweat and bleed for one another, on the field and off it, that we will grow as players and as mates.”

Prince is confident that coach John Cartwright has what it takes to bring the best out of the players for the club’s debut season. Cartwright is taking on the top job for the first time at an NRL club after serving as assistant coach to Ricky Stuart at the Sydney Roosters and with the New South Wales State of Origin team.

“I think with Carty [Cartwright] he will bring some new elements in coaching,” Prince says. “He’s yet to be tested at the NRL level so it’s a massive challenge for him; as players it’s a massive challenge for us as well.”

For Prince, the biggest bonus of signing up for the Jetstar Titans is being on the Gold Coast itself. “It’s a great kind of destination (when you’re young) but it’s good for families as well because I’ve got two girls of my own now. You come here to relax and get away from it all.”

“I think the most satisfying thing is that I’m on the Gold Coast and it’s one of the best places in Australia,” Prince says. “To be playing here for the Gold Coast team is unbelievable and it’s probably where I’ll finish up.”

INSIGHTS

“It seems that every time I hop on the Jetstar website, there is another exciting location to visit and it’s hard to have favourites, but Cairns in North Queensland is one of the most beautiful places in Australia with unspoilt tropical beaches and of course the Great Barrier Reef right on the doorstep.

Hamilton Island is a bit of a personal favourite as I was married there just a few months ago. It’s the ultimate hideaway, a place where you can do as much or as little as you want to; the fishing isn’t bad either.

And how do I go past the Gold Coast, home of the Jetstar Titans and one of the country’s best known holiday spots. The beaches are sensational and of course from March this year, you’ll be able to add Jetstar Titans’ home game to your holiday schedule!

Christchurch is just a short flight across the ditch and it’s like you’re in another world. It’s one of the most beautiful cities on the planet with huge parklands, historic buildings and endless picturesque scenery. Here’s a little traveller’s tip for you: pull into an I-SIGHT, they are great little information booths, situated all over the Island.

Photos this page: Remco Jansen @ Studio Ultra

Jetstar flies to the Gold Coast from Adelaide, Christchurch, Melbourne, Newcastle and Sydney, visit www.jetstar.com