Gold Coast Titans CEO Steve Mitchell is confident that players will grab hold of the club's “new vision and new direction” under incoming coach Josh Hannay.
Hannay, who will begin his time on the Gold Coast after Cronulla’s 2025 finals campaign, replaces Des Hasler after the club announced the veteran coach would depart a year early at the end of the current season.
“I think that this is going to be a burst of energy for them and an opportunity to actually grab onto a new vision and a new direction,” Mitchell said.
“They're a great group, we've got a great group of players, they're a really good roster and they're really good human beings.
“They're sad that Des is leaving, but very positive around Josh's arrival.”
Despite boasting a talented roster of representative players and emerging stars, the Titans have struggled to achieve the desired results on the field for a number of years.
Hasler arrived on the Gold Coast to much fanfare at the start of 2024, taking over from Justin Holbrook but despite his coaching pedigree and past premiership success, Mitchell said the club were “not where we wanted to be over the two years of his tenure".
“Unfortunately, the results haven't run the way we wanted, nor have they touched on our aspirations, but everyone's a genius in hindsight,” said Mitchell, who praised Hasler's work ethic and commitment to the club.
“Des has done everything … to actually deliver success. You can't criticise the amount of work that's been put in.”
Through his role as an assistant coach to Billy Slater with the Queensland Maroons, Hannay has well-established relationships with a number of the Gold Coast’s key players, including captain Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and Moeaki Fotuaika.
He has also been involved with Jayden Campbell, whose move into the halves remains a work in progress.
“One of the things that we take away from Josh's CV is not just his club record and being at Cronulla, who haven’t missed his finals since he's been there as an assistant, he’s won three series for Queensland out of four,” Mitchell said.
“His work with Billy and the feedback that comes from within that programme and his connection with the playgroup through that programme, and the likes of everyone from Tino through JC through Dave Fifita.
“He's a man that connects and I think he's got great rapport with those players, which are a critical part of our roster. He’s a genuine player development coach.
“A pass mark for him; success is important, winning on the field is really important, winning more than we lose is important.
“For me personally, I think the real opportunity here with Josh Hannay driving it, with the coaching resources we'll put around him, is watching the development of some really highly talented players that we have on the fields.
“JC at the moment is a half and is starting to make that role his. If he had more support in around that spine and development of that, which I think Josh is very good at, and I don't mean just specifically spine, but across our roster.
“Watching the back end this time next year, if our player group has evolved in regard to the way they play individually and collectively, that'll be a good first year."
The move to appoint Hannay as head coach is only one of the changes in the coaching staff, with inaugural general manager of football Scott Sattler to rejoin as director of football (NRL).
Foundation Titans player Anthony Laffranchi, who was a member of the 2005 Wests Tigers premiership winning team, has shifted to a new role as head of recruitment.
The changes underpin the need for the club to address some deep-seated issues in the men’s programme which has seen them only make the finals four times since entering the competition in 2007.
“We need to look at the business holistically; we should all be under review,” Mitchell said. “We should all be looked at because we're here to deliver success.
“We've got to look at our environment in its totality, which is why we're looking at Scott Sattler coming in.
“We've got to have a look at the way we're putting our roster together which is why are we going to focus heavily on Anthony Laffranchi and the players that we're bringing through.
“The third part of that is the amount of time we spend in pathways and bringing kids that live in our region to life and get give them the chance to play on the national stage.
“There's not one single component of this in getting this mix right.
“There's a number of parts there that arguably we need to instil around Josh and that's everything from leadership support, leadership development, get the right support site input, as you've seen leading clubs around both codes
“We are absolutely determined to make sure he's got the resourcing around him that will help make the changes and not leave him there just trying to coach by himself."
Hasler will remain in charge for the remaining two games of the season, with the Titans travelling to Suncorp Stadium to take on the Dolphins on Sunday before finishing at home in Round 27 against Wests Tigers.
