My opinion - 10 years is a big gamble, but it’s a gamble the Titans have to make, particularly with the Storm reportedly offering a similar ‘lifetime’ deal. Losing Tino would be catastrophic for the Titans, from an on-field performance/stats perspective, from a leadership perspective, from a PR perspective, a future recruitment perspective and from a culture perspective.
If they lose Tino, there’s no way they’re getting anywhere near a ‘like for like’ replacement - they’ve fallen incredibly lucky that a player like Tino has all the circumstances in place that make him want to be on the Gold Coast. If they lose Tino, they lose Fifita and any other half decent player already on their books, and will have an even harder job of recruiting talent. Players like Tino don’t generally want to play for clubs like the Gold Coast - but he does, and he wants them to win!
The money is big, but like Haas, he plays more minutes per game than 2 standard props, and at a higher standard than them. If I take my club for instance, given the choice of Tino at $1.2m or both Toby Rudolph and Royce Hunt for a combined $1.2m, I’d be taking Tino every single time. His output is better than theirs combined, and you then save on interchanges in-game, giving you more options elsewhere.
Yes they need a some better halves, but there isn’t really any on the market - so they’re best locking up both Tino and Fifita and playing the long game for a good halfback.
If they lose Tino, there’s no way they’re getting anywhere near a ‘like for like’ replacement - they’ve fallen incredibly lucky that a player like Tino has all the circumstances in place that make him want to be on the Gold Coast. If they lose Tino, they lose Fifita and any other half decent player already on their books, and will have an even harder job of recruiting talent. Players like Tino don’t generally want to play for clubs like the Gold Coast - but he does, and he wants them to win!
The money is big, but like Haas, he plays more minutes per game than 2 standard props, and at a higher standard than them. If I take my club for instance, given the choice of Tino at $1.2m or both Toby Rudolph and Royce Hunt for a combined $1.2m, I’d be taking Tino every single time. His output is better than theirs combined, and you then save on interchanges in-game, giving you more options elsewhere.
Yes they need a some better halves, but there isn’t really any on the market - so they’re best locking up both Tino and Fifita and playing the long game for a good halfback.
