Evolving player recruitment at the Titans

It's no secret - the Gold Coast Titans have struggled to attract big name free agents since landing Scott Prince for their inaugural 2007 season.

For whatever reason, the lack of talent committing to the Gold Coast has shown in the results; only twice in their first nine seasons have the Titans reached the finals.

You only have to look back earlier this year when one of the NRL's big stories of the season was Daly Cherry-Evans back flipping on the multi-year contract he signed with the Titans.

He's the one that got away, but there have been other high profile free agents in recent years like Anthony Milford, Sam Tomkins and James Graham that have signed elsewhere. There were not even rumours with the Titans mentioned as possible players or contenders.

The salary cap would have had an influence on their ability to lure off contract players to the club, like any other franchise. Though considering they haven't had any superstar players for years and were able to offer DCE a contract rumoured to be worth anywhere in the one million dollars a year range, money shouldn't be an issue.

Other factors such as previous off field issues both with players and administration would also be influential, but did we or did we not see the Parramatta Eels land Kieran Foran?

According to the Daily Telegraph, Israel Folau expressed an interest this year to return to the NRL and the idea was taken to then-NRL CEO Dave Smith in its early stages. Smith would not allow Folau to choose his own club, which his interest was reportedly with joining the Brisbane Broncos, Melbourne Storm, Sydney Roosters, Canterbury Bulldogs or the Eels. His return would only be considered if Folau would go to the Newcastle Knights, St George Illawarra Dragons, Wests Tigers... or the Titans.

Subsequently, Folau decided to re-sign with rugby union for another three years.

In previous seasons the Gold Coast Titans with their cap space would recruit upper echelon players that were outcasts, had public or serious off field complications. Most notably this included Albert Kelly, Paul Carter, Jamal Idris, Greg Bird and James Roberts.

Roberts though, has been incident free since being sacked by the Penrith Panthers and his off field behaviour has vastly improved along with his form on the field, as he was named the 2015 Dally M Centre of the Year in spite of the Titans' on- and off-field struggles.

After missing out on Cherry-Evans, the Titans had lots of cap space and not much talent on the market worth a big money contract. In the past that cap space may have been filled for the sake of it being filled, possibly overpaying for players. But this year their most notable signings included David Shillington, Nathan Friend, Zeb Taia, Ash Taylor and Tyrone Roberts. They didn't panic, they bought some average pieces of playmaking ability which could slot into any NRL side and they leave cap space to go after more free agents in 2016.

Gold Coast juniors such as Kane Elgey will also get their chance to play into the first grade side and this has the Titans positively rebuilding. It's also great to hear the Titans at least rumoured to be a shot at landing Chris McQueen. The signing of risky players with off field dilemmas appears to be over.

It shouldn't be too long before the Gold Coast can land an NRL superstar and hopefully more fans into Cbus Super Stadium.