{"id":216325,"date":"2026-01-04T13:03:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T13:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/216325\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T13:03:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T13:03:08","slug":"gold-coast-titans-selection-questions-for-2026-brimson-campbell-and-replacing-a-star-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/216325\/","title":{"rendered":"Gold Coast Titans selection questions for 2026: Brimson, Campbell and replacing a star &#8211; NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/gold-coast-titans\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gold Coast Titans<\/a> enter 2026 with serious questions to answer.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/coaches\/des-hasler\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Des Hasler<\/a> has departed, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/coaches\/josh-hannay\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Josh Hannay<\/a> is looking to build a new era, and the Titans are looking for consistent success for the first time in their history as an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRL<\/a> club.<\/p>\n<p>That is hardly going to be a walk in the park, though. There are still contract discussions happening, selection conundrums that need sorting, and, more importantly, upgrades in talent needed.<\/p>\n<p>Hannay will have his own ideas, though, to begin the retransformation of the squad, and that has to start with consistent selections, faith in his playing group, and the right replacements being found for departing stars.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/david-fifita\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">David Fifita<\/a> headlines that list, but has been joined by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/coaches\/kieran-foran\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kieran Foran<\/a> heading into retirement, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/alofiana-khan-pereira\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alofiana Khan-Pereira<\/a>, who has been released, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/reagan-campbell-gillard\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Reagan Campbell-Gillar,d<\/a> who has shuffled to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/rugby-league\/international-teams\/england\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">England<\/a> after a single, fairly disappointing, it has to be said, season on the Gold Coast following his move from Parramatta.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the big selection questions to be answered by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/coaches\/josh-hannay\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Josh Hannay<\/a> heading into 2026.<\/p>\n<p>1. Where does AJ Brimson play?<\/p>\n<p>One of the key selection disputes regarding the Titans in recent years has been around what position <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/alexander-brimson\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">AJ Brimson<\/a> should really be playing in.<\/p>\n<p>He has spent his best days playing at fullback, but has, in recent times, been used at either centre or five-eight.<\/p>\n<p>Despite all of that, he was back at the number one for much of 2025 owing to a serious injury to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/keano-kini\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Keano Kini<\/a>, and again looked to improve the team at both ends of the park.<\/p>\n<p>Even though the Titans ended at the wrong end of the table, they have, for most of Brimson&#8217;s career, looked a far better side when Brimson is playing at the back.<\/p>\n<p>Despite all that, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/coaches\/josh-hannay\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Josh Hannay<\/a> can&#8217;t possibly leave <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/keano-kini\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Keano Kini<\/a> sitting on the sidelines for the entirety of the season ahead.<\/p>\n<p>It means Brimson likely needs to line up in the number six jumper again.<\/p>\n<p>At the moment, that doesn&#8217;t look like the worst call in the world. It&#8217;s fairly clear <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/jayden-campbell\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jayden Campbell<\/a> is going to remain in the number seven after playing there throughout 2025, but there are clearly questions here for coach Hannay with the retirement of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/coaches\/kieran-foran\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kieran Foran<\/a> adding to this picture over the off-season.<\/p>\n<p>        &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n        &#13;<br \/>\n                        &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; The Gold Coast Titans enter 2026 with serious questions to answer. Des Hasler has departed, Josh&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216326,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-216325","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}