Titans already plotting play to keep David Fifita for years to come as suitors loom

If Gold Coast have their way, David Fifita will be staying in the blue and gold long into the 2020s, with the Titans now plotting a major play to take the second-row star off the table before potential NRL suitors can even think to swoop.

Fifita comes off contract at the end of the 2023 season and will be allowed to begin free agency talks with other clubs on November 1 this year. The 22-year-old has given no indication he’s looking to leave the club, but the Titans are eager to avoid being on the wrong end of a rich player move—one they pulled off on close rivals the Broncos two years ago.

The play: two more years and slightly less coin. $1.8m across 2024 and 2025.

The Sporting Base has heard suggestions a player option for a third year may be boiled into the paperwork too, though the Titans bosses aren’t too keen to leave power to the player at the tail-end of the already lovely-looking deal.

There’s plenty of time to play around with the details too. That Nov. 1 date is still half a year away, with nearly 20 rounds of NRL and—the Titans are hoping—finals to be played before then.

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Mal Meninga, who plays a key role as a senior adviser at the club, says the expectations within the walls of the Gold Coast club is the Queenslander will accept the deal, once it’s formally tabled at some stage in 2022. The biggest worry, The Sporting Base understands, is Wayne Bennett and his Dolphins expansion project may prove a mouthwatering proposition for Fifita.

That proposition would come with decent money too; the Dolphins still need a star player.

“We’ve got him until the end of 2023 but clubs can start talking to him sooner rather than later,” Meninga said. “We’re really keen to keep him at the club. We know he’s very happy there and has mixed in really well. He is part of the club.

“We’re hoping with the right mentoring and relationships at the club he will find it very hard to leave.”

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Fifita, a Brisbane junior, has been playing for the Titans since the start of the 2021 NRL season. Before his switch to the Glitter Strip, the game-breaking forward played 44 games for the Broncos. Since debuting in 2018, he’s already played five Origin games, made four appearances for the Indigenous All-Stars, and has quickly become a feared opponent for every team.

There have been issues with effort in games, however, with Fifita sometimes clocking off early.

Not so the last two weeks. The Gold Coast monster ripped up the Titans for a try in round 5, though his side ended up losing 26–20 to the Eels that week. Days later, he did similar against Manly—though, again, the star’s individual efforts didn’t turn into a victory.

Titans fans will be hoping that changes this weekend, against the Cowboys.

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And, whether or not the Gold Coast squad are getting the wins, it’s clear Fifita has switched back on. That’s a major reason why the Titans powerbrokers are rushing to prepare a deal; the last two rounds have reminded the rest of the NRL the blue-and-gold outfit boasts one of the most lethal players in rugby league.

Luckily, he’s committed to his club too, for the time being.

“Brissy is only down the road so I’m not far away from my family,” the 22-year-old star said of his future on the Gold Coast. “I’m here at the moment and enjoying it. I’ve still got a couple more years.”

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