JARRYD Hayne’s blockbuster exit from the Gold Coast Titans — a team he spent two seasons at following his return from an NFL stint in the US — left the NRL’s youngest club in a state of disarray at the end of 2017.

A feud with coach Neil Henry late in the season saw the pair trade barbs in the media. Hayne accused the embattled coach of leaking stories and refusing to address issues face-to-face with him.

Hayne bailed from the Gold Coast, a club which some say never suited the 29-year-old and re-signed with the Parramatta Eels on a one-year contract.

Henry was eventually sacked from the head coaching role as the Titans spiralled towards a disappointing 15th place on the ladder. Rookie coach Garth Brennan was brought in to fill the coach’s role at the tail-end of the year.

A fresh start prompted talk of a Gold Coast revival for the 2018 season, but veteran commentator Andrew Voss says fans shouldn’t be too excited for the year ahead as the Titans’ Round 1 clash against the Canberra Raiders on March 11th closes in.

In his “Vossy’s Verdict”column for Big League Magazine, Voss proclaimed 2017’s second-worst side would be sinking even lower this year.

“Here’s a club with a rookie coach, coming off a tough year after finishing 15th,” Voss said. “The turbulent era of Jarryd Hayne has come to an end, but it’s with a little bit of ‘fear’ that I make the season forecast.

“The last time I tipped them as wooden spooners (in 2016), they left me with egg on my face. But a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then.”

Injuries marred the Titans’ 2017 season with gun halfback Ash Taylor the only man in the squad to play every game of the year.

The Titans also drew the short straw in the 2018 draw after being sheduled to play some of the competiton’s strongest sides multiple times.

“The potential ‘plus’ in their draw is that they will appear in 11 daytime games,” Voss said. “The negative is they are scheduled to play what I call this season’s ‘big three’ twice, the (North Queensland) Cowboys, (Melbourne) Storm and the (Sydney) Roosters.”

Coach Brennan responded to doomsday wooden spoon predictions, admitting the upcoming season looks grim on paper with the odds stacked against the struggling club.

“We’re not going to win every game but I want teams who beat us to go away saying, ‘Gee they were a hard team to beat’,” the 45-year-old said.

The signing of former Penrith front-rower Leilani Latu, a powerful prop Brennan oversaw while filling the assistant coach’s role at the Panthers, has the new coach excited.

“He’s a big body, he carts the ball forward well but he’s also got some silky skills, which is handy in a big man. I’m excited he’s made the trip up here and I think he can improve even more.”

MANLY SCRAMBLES AFTER SALARY CAP FRACAS

Manly coach Trent Barrett hopes to have the salary cap situation at the club resolved before the start of the NRL season and with time to add players to his squad.

The Sea Eagles were on Monday granted a third extension, until the end of this week, to offer their response to the NRL’s December 11 breach notice, which surrounded alleged third-party breaches over the past five seasons and threatened a reduced salary cap for 2018.

Since then they have largely missed out on the recruitment merry-go-round, with an experienced replacement for departed five-eighth Blake Green yet to arrive at the club.

They were, this week, unable to land Cronulla Sharks-bound playmaker Trent Hodkinson, while it’s also understood the ongoing investigation played some role in Mitchell Pearce’s decision to head to the Newcastle Knights over the Sea Eagles.

“We’re still stuck with this salary cap stuff,” Barrett said. “We can’t do anything until that’s resolved and I’m hoping that will be in the next few weeks and put to bed before the competition starts. “It’s pretty well documented that we have got space in our cap and spots in our top 30, but until this is resolved we can’t fill them.”

The club has denied any wrongdoing, with chairman Scott Penn claiming last week the matters were “really technicality issues”.

Barrett has left much of the issue with Penn and new chief executive Lyall Gorman, as he puts his energy towards trying to qualify the Sea Eagles for a second-straight finals series.

While he is happy with his playing group, he still has ambitions on adding more talent given this year’s increased $9.4 million salary cap and the official retirements of Brett Stewart and Steve Matai.

“There’s always movement right up until June 30,” Barrett said. “Something always happens, and there will be injuries during a trial or there will be a disgruntled player whose not getting a run that wants to leave.

“I’m really happy with what we’ve got here at the moment but if the cap situation does get resolved and it’s favourable to us, then we will have money to spend hypothetically.”

Manly’s most obvious target remains in the halves with someone to partner Daly Cherry-Evans, but Barrett has thrown his support behind 21-year-old recruit Lachlan Croker.

Croker played one game for the Canberra Raiders in 2016 and is expected to wear Manly’s No. 6 jersey for their opening-round trip to Newcastle on March 9.

“Everyone’s got to start somewhere. He was a Junior Kangaroo and Australian schoolboys captain,” Barrett said.

“I’ve got a good idea in my head of what I’ve got to do and all the players are really comfortable with it.”

— with AAP