Matty Johns’ main role after buying into the Titans is to stop the player drain from some of the best Gold Coast schoolboy rugby nurseries to rival NRL clubs.

Johns and wife Trish recently bought a minority stake in the Titans’ club and he wants to take a hands-on role in keeping some of the best young rugby league stars in the country on the Gold Coast and aspiring to play for the blue and gold.

Speaking on SEN radio, Johns aims to put a stop to Gold Coast juniors like Payne Haas leaving the Titans to join the Broncos in the future.

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“I’ve said to them (the Titans), anything I can help with at all just let me know … but the main area I’m going to get involved with is in and around the juniors,” Johns told SEN’s The Run Home with Joel and Fletch.

“They have up there some of the most powerhouse rugby league schools but for whatever reason the kids get out of Year 12 and they bypass the Titans and they go elsewhere. That’s the area they’ve got to get right.”

Johns has been approached for coaching roles in rugby league in the past and did a lot of work with the Storm in that area.

However, he believes he can best serve the Titans by working with their juniors and helping improve their pathways, so they keep the best NRL stars of tomorrow on the Gold Coast.

“If I was going to throw myself into any coaching or anything, that’s what it’s going to be: in and around the juniors,” Johns said.

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Matty Johns presents to the Future Titans players and parents. Picture: Gold Coast TitansSource: News Corp Australia

“(Wednesday’s parents and players night was) having a talk to them and getting into those schools, and not so much selling the club, but trying to strike a bit of a connection between the big schools and their players and the club.”

The Panthers are the most successful NRL club of the last decade and they have arguably the best rugby league nursery and pathways system in the game.

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Johns noted the key to building successful rugby league clubs is having most of your squad come from within the club and its junior pathways.

“If you look at clubs that have had great periods or dynasties … and the best example is the Penrith Panthers right now – the magic formula is 75 per cent of your squad need to come through your juniors, who are taught your system as they come through,” Johns said.

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Broncos star Payne Haas was signed with the Titans as a youngster.Source: Supplied

“The 25 per cent are the blokes you buy to complement the 75 per cent. That’s the big thing the Titans have to get right.”

The Gold Coast is home to some of the best rugby league schools for producing NRL stars in Australia.

Keebra Park State High School and Palm Beach Currumbin State High School have featured in 10 of the past 17 national schoolboy finals and won seven of them.

However, that dominance at schoolboy level has not resulted in players signing with the Titans, who narrowly avoided the wooden spoon last season and are yet to win a premiership or make a Grand Final since joining the NRL in 2007.

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Reigning national champions Keebra Park are based just 6km south of the Titans’ Parkwood headquarters, but signed a three-year exclusive affiliation agreement with the South Sydney Rabbitohs from 2024.

Keebra fielded 16 NRL contracted players in September’s national final victory but just

five of those players are signed to the Gold Coast Titans.

The other 11 players signed with the Rabbitohs, Broncos, Bulldogs, Storm, Dolphins, and Tigers.

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Johns wants to make sure the best young talent on the Gold Coast are looking at the Titans as their first option for breaking into the NRL.

“Everyone looks at the top end and thinks we’ve got to buy this bloke, buy that bloke, but the most important thing is they’ve got to get that base right and that junior structure right,” Johns said.

“They need the best kids in the area coming out of those powerhouse schools wanting to play for the Titans.”