2015 didn't get off to the best start for the Gold Coast Titans as they worked up a sweat in pre-season training, even their pre-season sweat sessions weren't ideal. While moving base from Robina to Coomera, the Titans spent their pre-season in a makeshift training base at The Southport School. Sure, it's nice to get back to basics without all the joys of technology that a state-of-the-art facility to offer, but slogging it out old school served as somewhat of a warning as to what would be ahead of the Titans.

Going old-school can toughen players up, make them endure physical hardship and bring them all together. That probably prepared them for the day that Karmichael Hunt was snapped up by Queensland Police, a day that took a tough pre-season and turned it into a almighty mess of a pre-season.

Titans players were caught up in the CoCo saga, but the uncertainty which covered those players and the entire Titans club would have been far more damaging. While other clubs were getting on with their grind, stacking up weights, kilometres and numbers, the Titans were trying to that while dealing with constant media attention.

The media wanted to know stuff, stuff which the Titans and both those players involved and not involved didn't know. No one really knew much as the CoCo saga moved from being controlled by rumours and whispers of players involved, to being controlled by the police and the courts. Swift, concise and efficient aren't words that describe government officials.

Observing from a distance, it was admirable how the Titans dealt with the CoCo saga. They tried their best to get on with business, as key players faced uncertain futures the Titans did all they could to keep the ball rolling, to keep moving forward with their pre-season.

Moving forward, who knows whether the NRL's decision to step in and take over the Titans as they battled the CoCo saga and financial administration helped them move forward. You could make a case for both sides; the NRL have straightened things out vs the ongoing presence of the NRL lingers like that mate of yours.

Only in a movie would the CoCo saga and financial administration be connected. Let your mind wander off into a realm where the Titans spent all their money on cocaine binges, turning themselves into a competitor for local drug-kingpin-Bikie gangs. Yeah, then snap your mind back to reality where the two shitty situations were coincidental and highly unfortunate.

But up stepped the NRL and David Smith. They were quick to bring some stability to the club and quick to do their best to quieten the CoCo saga, of which they did a pretty good job.

David Smith however couldn't help the Titans build a more competitive roster, or could he? With more stability and some financial nous being instilled, the Titans suddenly became a contender for any major signing. The Gold Coast is hardly a horrible place to be a professional athlete with the beaches, the broads and we now know, plenty of drugs. The perfect place to be with a nice upgraded pay packet right?

Daly Cherry-Evans almost agreed, although I doubt the broads and drugs weren't a part of his decision. The leader of the new school in terms of halves, the bloke who has and is being talked about as the future Kangaroos skipper was the perfect signing to get the Titans moving forward. To put the troubles of 2015 behind them.

Well, we all know what happened there. From the outside and with the benefit of hindsight, Cherry-Evans never really looked like he wanted to leave the Manly Sea Eagles. He, and smartly so, just had to wiggle around enough to get Manly to make a decent offer. And with that, he was no longer going to be a Titan. He was no longer the saviour.

A bummer indeed, but those who dwell suffer.

Cherry-Evans, whatever bro, we'll be all good without you.

Well, maybe. You would be foolish not to think that Nate Myles' departure from the Titans wasn't somewhat linked to Cherry-Evans' decision to stay with Manly. Thanks largely to the fact that Myles was signed by the Sea Eagles and that they shared the same management. The same management who had fallen out with the Titans over Myles' deal, or lack of it.

While the Titans have re-signed their two shining lights of 2015 in Kane Elgey and James Roberts, they will also bid farewell to Aiden Sezer. Myles and Sezer along with Elgey and Roberts have been immense for the Titans. Greg Bird also looks like he could find himself heading out the door, a decision that makes financial sense.

It also makes sense looking forward. The Titans need to rid themselves of the mediocrity and shenanigans of their past. Think of blokes like Dave Taylor someone who is rumoured to be on $400,000 a season but consistently plays like he is on $100,000, that's if he manages to get a spot in the top 17 each week. There's a crop of Titans who have been given opportunities in the NRL because there aren't too many blokes who are better, some call these blokes battlers.

Scared wouldn't be the word used to describe how an opponent feels leading into a game agianst the Titans.

They are contention to make the top eight, but the Titans would be much better off saying sayonara to 2015. Any success, which would peak with a top eight finish and the Titans being knocked out in the first week of the finals, would be on the back of Sezer playing great footy, but he's out the door. There is enough however to get somewhat excited about for 2016.

Ryan James has emerged as a forward with leadership capablities and will be much better off for this season. Elgey has a big future ahead of him in the NRL while Roberts is a freak. And although there's a huge battler element to the Titans, guys like Anthony Don, Agnatius Paasi, Mark Ioane, Kierran Moseley, Matt Robinson and Josh Hoffman have higher ceilings that their comrades and could form a decent squad.

A lot hinges on how the Titans recruit over the next six months. A few nice signings will help them put 2015 into the dumpster, but nice signings are hard to come by, as the Titans know all to well. If they are unable to produce the goods and pick up a few more above average NRL players, 2015 will linger in the form of another season as a ho-hum NRL team. I guess every form of paradise has its negatives huh?