How Gold Coast Titans Are Building A Kiwi-NRL Powerhouse
Something is brewing on the Gold Coast and it smells like the emerging stench of a Kiwi-NRL powerhouse. We all know that the GC is a secondary Aotearoa community and this region has usually been where young kiwis move to with their whanau before entering rugby league or youngsters were scouted by Keebra Park High School. The presence of Keebra Park in Kiwi-NRL recruitment didn't actually lead to Gold Coast Titans Kiwi-NRL funk though as they used to have a connection with Wests Tigers.
Now the Titans are nicely poised as a enticing destination for youngsters from Aotearoa. At the NRL level there are still signs of how things were with Kevin Proctor (Te Kuiti), Greg Marzhew (Mangere East) and wider Titans squad member Darius Farmer (Hibiscus Coast) moving to the GC before settling into the rugby league system. With NZRL representative coach Ezra Howe starting as the Titans recruitment manager in early 2019 the Titans snared Sam Lisone (Otahuhu) and Erin Clark (Manurewa). Then came a mid-season signing of Esan Marsters (Mt Albert) and signing Paul Turner (Hikurangi) for next season.
All those players have featured in the NZRL rep pipeline at some point and would have some connection to Howe. Take Clark for example who took a break in 2019 and was playing club footy in Auckland, then Clark joined Titans on a train and trial deal ahead of the 2020 season. Clark played 19 games this year and has clearly benefited from his move. Turner's move to Titans is also fairly easy to see through as he was in the 2019 Junior Kiwis coached by Howe and brother Lee is a centre for Tweed Heads in Intrust Super Cup.
Now we are getting the Kiwi-NRL development wrinkle with GC Titans. With Howe at the helm and a community of kiwis in the region, Titans have a variety of development pathways for recruits straight out of Aotearoa. In this yarn about Deine Mariner (Marist/Broncos) I detailed how Keano Kini (Marist) played alongside Mariner for Tweed Heads Under 18 and Palm Beach Currumbin, yet Kini is in the Titans system. The Titans have a bunch of Australia's best rugby league schools to stash Kiwi-NRL prospects where they can play the highest level possible for their ages.
Manurewa Marlins junior Isaac Matalavea-Booth also made the most of the schooling opportunities in the GC region. Matalavea-Booth left Pakuranga College to join Keebra Park and in one of the biggest schoolboy league match ups, Matalavea-Booth came up against the PBC duo of Mariner and Xavier Willison (Wai-Coa Bay) last year. Matalavea-Booth came up against Willison who made his NRL debut for Broncos this year and Matalavea-Booth has quickly progressed through the Titans system to be a chance of a debut next season.
This yarn outlines how Matalavea-Booth was brought into Titans training to imitate Nelson Asofa-Solomona. Playing 13 games for Burleigh Bears Under 21s this year, Matalavea-Booth leads a talented crop of Kiwi-NRL youngsters who have been grinding away with Burleigh while part of the Titans system...
Samuel McIntyre: 10 games - Waitemata Seagulls/Northcote Tigers.
Vaka Sikahele: 10 games - Manurewa Marlins.
TJ Devery: 7 games - Te Atatu Roosters.
Te Ahurei Epapara: 4 games - Pikiao Warriors/Rotorua Boys High School.
Sikahele was playing behind Taniela Otukolo in NZ Warriors SG Ball early last year (Otukolo has the funky note of playing NRL and Redcliffe U21s but not reserve grade this year. Devery also played for the Warriors SG Ball team and along with McIntyre they featured in the illustrious NZRL U18 Schools vs Clubs game last year that was a funky benefit of the pandemic as a large portion of players who featured in that game have made direct moves into NRL systems.
These lads will be eager to move up the ranks next season, while Kini is an exciting prospect in the lower age bracket. Kini featured in the Junior Titans this year and the Titans recently snared Manurewa Marlins junior Amarni Wetini-Ngaropo who has been in the Warriors system and appears to be another livewire prospect on the rise.
As always there are no certainties as to who will move up to the NRL level, however there is a clear trend of Titans recruiting high quality prospects from Aotearoa. These youngsters haven't wound up in the Titans system via the flow of life as the previous generation had, they have been specifically recruited from Aotearoa and put in highly beneficial development systems. There is already a growing Kiwi-NRL crew at GC Titans and with a wave of talented youngsters coming through, GC Titans could soon be a Kiwi-NRL powerhouse.
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