The Jetstar Gold Coast Titans kick their way onto the NRL scene

WORDS HUGH BALDWIN

The Jetstar Gold Coast Titans have made an immediate impression on the National Rugby League (NRL) in their debut season, claiming the scalps of some high-profile clubs in the process.

With the 2007 NRL season a quarter of the way through, the Titans could not have asked for a better first term in this pretty tough school where the big kids seldom play nicely.

Titans coach John Cartwright is pleased with the new club and the way the early season has panned out – highlights being the packed home crowd at their maiden game and an inspiring victory in round five over the 2006 NRL champions, the Brisbane Broncos.

“After five games we had won three and lost two and I think if we’d said to ourselves at the start of the year [that would be the score], we would’ve been pretty happy,” Cartwright says. “We had a really hard draw to start with, even though they’re all hard these days. We played a couple of the competition heavyweights in the Bulldogs, St George Illawarra and the Broncos.”

It was clear from the outset that the Titans were going to be a tough opponent – the St George Illawarra Dragons discovered that in the opening round – but it was not until the second round that the Titans claimed their first-ever win, an 18–16 victory over the Cronulla Sharks at Carrara Stadium.

The win over the Sharks had a number of interesting sub-plots as well. Preston Campbell, the first player signed by the Gold Coast, effectively scored the winning try against the Sharks. Campbell, one of the NRL’s most exciting players, pointed a ‘number one’ finger to the sky as he crashed over the try line.

On top of that, the Sharks are coached by Ricky Stuart, Cartwright’s friend and mentor. Prior to joining the Titans, Cartwright spent four years as assistant coach to Stuart at the Sydney Roosters, and was his assistant for New South Wales in State of Origin, too.

Three against one: defence
on Civoniceva“It was funny that our sides met each other so early in the season,” Cartwright admits.

“But the most important thing was, it was our first victory; it was at our home ground; and that’s garnered a lot of support for us.”

The Titans went on to pick up a victory over the Penrith Panthers, another old stomping ground for Cartwright, and then they grabbed the headlines by defeating the Broncos.

Titans coach John
Cartwright“The win over the Broncos, that was a great achievement considering they are the [reigning] premiers, they’ve got eight current internationals in their side and they were playing at their home ground,” Cartwright says.

The Titans’ fourth victory of the year, a 26-point thrashing of the Parramatta Eels in round seven, has confirmed for the rest of the competition that visiting the Gold Coast is never going to be a holiday.

Preston Campbell

But the most important thing was, it was our first victory; it was at our home ground; and that’s garnered a lot of support for us.

But the Titans coach is clear about what’s most important to the ongoing success of the club: community support. “I think any supporter likes to see their side go out and give everything they’ve got,” Cartwright says. “That’s the number one thing I think a fan likes to see, and if you turn that into results at the end of the game, then that’s even better.”