Gold Coast are considering playing Kieran Foran off the bench to start the NRL season in a role similar to the one played by Benji Marshall in the final year of his career.
Foran, 34, played halfback last year. He had ankle surgery at the end of the season and is yet to train with the squad in field sessions.
The Titans play two trials in just over a month and want to hit the ground running when their NRL season kicks off on March 16 against Canterbury after a first-round bye.
A move to the No.14 utility role for Foran would enable coach Des Hasler to find spine positions for his rising stars while also being kind on the veteran’s battered body, which has undergone 17 surgeries in 17 years, the latest to stabilise his ankle and repair several lateral ligament ruptures.
AAP has learned that if the switch goes ahead Jayden Campbell and AJ Brimson would likely play in the halves, where they have been training in pre-season.
Marshall joined South Sydney in 2021 and was used mostly by Wayne Bennett in the No.14 jersey, where he was a revelation at dummy-half, in the halves and in a roving role, where his game sense and vision ignited the Rabbitohs on their way to the grand final.
It is a position 303-game stalwart Foran could fulfil with distinction for the Titans, given his toughness, nous and team-first mentality.
Foran, signed until the end of 2025, has not ruled out playing in 2026, and the positional move could well prolong his career.
The No.14 jersey is not foreign to Foran. He played there in the 2022 World Cup for New Zealand. In 2023 he lined up at hooker and was a huge success as the Kiwis won the Pacific Cup with a 30-0 win over Australia.
Hasler did consider playing Foran at hooker in 2021 at Manly when he rejoined the club where he won a premiership in 2011, but ultimately kept him at five-eighth for the ensuing two seasons.
Former Wallabies No.10 Carter Gordon, who is expected to line up at five-eighth for Tweed Heads in the Queensland Cup, is another contender for the Titans No.6 jersey long-term.
The Titans have locked in 2024 player of the year Keano Kini at fullback, blocking a move by Campbell and Brimson to the position they have also shone in previously.
The "Brimson to centre" experiment, which did not work last year on the six occasions he played in the position, has been abandoned.
