Talks of a return to the Top 8 and promising future under Garth Brennan floated around the Gold Coast in the build up to the 2019 season. Big-money recruits arrived in town to prop up the middle and provide the attacking flair the Titans had been missing.

This embattled club was trending upwards and towards regular finals appearances.

Now four months down the track, the Titans are on the hunt for another coach while holding the wooden spoon. 

Brennan has left the building and the club doesn't look in any better shape than it did when he arrived. We're still left wanting more out of a club that often appears to be heading down the right road before they breakdown in the driveway.

It all starts in the board rooms before transpiring into a terribly inefficient attack and lacklustre defence on the field. 

But all hope isn't lost for the future.

If the Titans can learn from their mistakes and make the most of what they've got, they can finally build some consistency and rid themselves of the relocation stories that pop up when the club sinks to its lowest point.

Salary Cap Conundrum

Player salaries are widely speculated on and regularly changing. Nevertheless, they do give us some indication of those that are on big-money deals. Unfortunately for the Titans, too many of those players aren't performing up to their reported pay-packets.

Elite teams get bang for their buck. They spend their money on reliable players while developing and promoting juniors that play above their cap figure. 

The latest list comes from Fox Sports' NRL 360 and goes a long way to showing where the Titans are going wrong as a club right now:

They're not all terrible, so we will pick them off one by one.

Ash Taylor and Ryan James' numbers are ones the Titans can deal with given the circumstances at which the pair have been unavailable this season. Taylor, albeit signed on potential that he's yet to live up to, was the sort of player the club needed to retain at the time. It's not ideal, but a contract the club can still deal with while playing decent footy. Meanwhile, James is one of the best props in the game when healthy and playing in his most productive position. He would have been in the State of Origin conversation this year if not for the ACL injury he sustained in Round 6.

Nathan Peats is another contract that can be somewhat justified. While he's struggled to stay on the field and not played his best football in the six games he has managed in 2019, Peats had just played three State of Origin games for the Blues when he signed his deal in 2017.

It's the remaining names that highlight the Gold Coast's faults.

While Jarrod Wallace arguably plays up to his figure, it's mostly negated by Shannon Boyd's production in relation to his. Boyd's contract was a head-scratcher when signed and is a head-smasher now that we've seen the production. Averaging 86.7 metres per game - his fewest in five seasons - the 26-year old hasn't turned the Titans into the middle-dominating team they had hoped to become.

With so much long-term money already tied up in middle forwards before Boyd arrived, the Titans have not only misdirected his portion of the salary cap but are also getting nowhere near the production it commands.

That's only the beginning of the Gold Coast's problems.

Tyrone Peachey signed with the Titans before reportedly changing his mind as the season approached. You don't leave somewhere you call home like Peachey does with Penrith if the price isn't right. While the price works in Peachey's favour, it's working against the Titans.

His defensive efforts in the centres were diabolical to start the season. Moving him into the backrow before inserting him in the middle off the bench hasn't helped much either. It's not unfair to suggest Peachey would be playing in reserve grade if not for the high-profile nature of his signing.

It took Brennan 12 rounds to relegate Bryce Cartwright to reserve grade for similar reasons last season. While the former-Panther has improved on his 2018 form to play in 15 games this season, he's another that is occupying more of the salary cap than his on-field performances suggest he should.

Last on the list and the worst of all, Lelani Latu has only played six games since arriving at the Titans last year. Round 18 shapes as his first for 2019.

The Titans have spent too long paying for players who don't particularly want to be there. If the money is something the player can't refuse, it's too much for the Titans to be handing out.

Right now, the Gold Coast isn't a desirable destination for those looking to play their best footy and compete for a premiership. It's a destination for those looking to get paid.

With two of the best rugby league nurseries just down the road churning out first-grade talent every other year, the Titans need to think long-term and build a strong base of local youngsters.

On-Field Fixes

With so much money already tied up through 2020 and beyond, there isn't much the Titans can do about their salary cap situation. A new coach can't simply turn up and move the 'bad' contracts on. Another club needs to want them.

Whoever the brave man is that takes over the job will have to play with the hand he's been dealt.

That hand isn't all that appealing right now.

The Titans attack has failed to fire in 2019. Much of that can be put down to Taylor not being available after handing out 18 try assists in 23 games last season. Out of form if not sat in the stands, they've missed his creativity, in particular, during good ball sets attacking the opposition goal line. 

Only the Panthers can lay claim to more tackles inside the opposition 20-metre line than the Titans' 491 for the season. Translating into just 266 total points, the Titans are one of the least-efficient attacking teams in the NRL.

Often resorting to a Hail-Mary kick, the Titans are also second in the competition with 172 total attacking kicks. While not every attacking kick is a result of running out of options, it's not a coincidence that the Bulldogs (16th in attack) and Cowboys (13th) are the two teams either side of the Titans in the attacking kicks count for the year.

The inefficiencies lie in their setup plays. 

Dump-offs to a cutting Wallace, James or Jai Arrow are all too common. Necessary to get to the desired position on the field to run plays or create splits, the Titans look bemused and out of answers when handing it off to a forward rather than in control and setting up for what would normally a shot at the line further out.

That lack of consistency in areas of the field they work toward is further evidenced in the clunky and mistimed shifts that do eventually come.

The Titans look more like a junior team wrapping their head around lead runners in a block shape than they do a well-oiled and professional football side.

Again, a lot can be put down to Taylor being out and the spine being shuffled around.

This here is what the Titans are capable of when approaching the opposition goal line with a plan.

Moeaki Fotuaika fields the dropout and takes the first hit-up toward the right-side before Max King takes the settler on the second tackle. With more room to come back to the right, Tyrone Roberts and Taylor link up to put Kevin Proctor through enough of a gap that he finds his front and produces a quick play-the-ball.

Running downhill and with the Cowboys caught short and scrambling to their left edge, Taylor throws the ball behind Keegan Hipgrave for AJ Brimson to draw the defender and put Anthony Don over in the corner.

It's a perfectly executed play.

We've not seen anywhere near enough of them, though.

To get there more often, the Titans need to put the ball into Brimson's hands more than the 27.8 times per game he's touched it at a fullback. His ball playing is already at a great level and he's even more dangerous on his feet.

Forget the errors and stigma that surrounds Matt Moylan for a second. Brimson's role should be a lot closer to Moylan's (34 touchers per game) than what it is now. Receive the ball out the back on the tram lines, put doubt into the defenders with the potential for footwork, straighten up and make the best decision out wide.

At the moment, Brimson takes it too wide too often and has to slow down before being caught or pushed over the sideline. 

If Brimson, Taylor and Roberts can be put into positions on the field that allow them room to move and target specific parts of an opposition defence, this Titans attack can fly.

From there, the defence will no doubt see some improvement. 

The Titans concede 22.4 points per game. Only the Bulldogs and Dragons have conceded more through 17 rounds. While we can point out the Peachey turnstile defence on the edges earlier in the season and the likes of Keegan Hipgrave and Bryce Cartwright's deficiencies in general, the Gold Coast's last game against Penrith told everybody all they needed to know about the clubs defence.

Disinterested!

It's surely the straw that broke the camels back and saw Brennan fired when he was.

Defence is as much about effort as it is any strategy a coach can employ. However, without the effort, that strategy is meaningless. The Titans weren't playing for their coach and it showed.

It's unlikely that any new coach turns up to the Gold Coast and turns the Titans into a defensive powerhouse. He will have the chance to instill a culture and expectation that promotes effort across 80 minutes, though. 

It's a must.

The Titans have been making the same mistakes for years.

Their recruitment and retention needs an overhaul and the attitude of players arriving at the club must be centred around the opportunity to play rather than the opportunity to get paid. Keep a coach long enough that he can establish a culture and consistent systems the players can be comfortable in. Develop the cohesion that the Storm, Roosters, Rabbitohs and Raiders have over the years to sit inside the top four today.

Rugby League is a simple game.

If the Titans can stop making things so difficult on themselves, there might be hope for them yet.

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