Kevin Proctor is on the verge of being crowned captain of the Gold Coast Titans in what would cap a story of redemption for the New Zealand international.

The Courier-Mail can reveal Proctor is the favourite to replace Ryan James as Gold Coast skipper in 2020.

Titans coach Justin Holbrook will finalise his leadership model in the next fortnight and Proctor is expected to take on a role, potentially as a co-captain.

The Titans’ captain for the past three years, James will relinquish the duties as he faces a third knee reconstruction which has ruled him out for the entire 2020 season.

LIVE stream Indigenous All-Stars v Maori Kiwis in the 2020 Harvey Norman NRL All Stars match on KAYO. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >

media_camera Proctor has the experience the club needs this season. Photo: NIGEL HALLETT

Proctor, 30, briefly co-captained the Titans with James in 2017 before being stripped of the role following a drugs scandal while on Test duties.

The 240-game NRL veteran has captained the Titans at times since without officially taking on the role full-time.

Holbrook was tight-lipped when asked about the captaincy, but said he wanted to re-sign the off-contract Proctor and praised his leadership.

“We love having Kev here at the club, he’s a great leader of our group,’” he said.

“We want to keep him for 2021, that’s for sure. We just haven’t got around to the details at this stage.

“We’re having some meetings around (the captaincy) now so I’m not in a hurry for that.

“It will definitely be (announced) before our trial against the Broncos (on February 29). We’ll have it worked out over the next couple of weeks.”

media_camera Coach Justin Holbrook wasn’t ready to give much away. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

MORE NEWS

Shock axing for Matt Renshaw

UFC legend Hunt names price to KO Gallen

Proctor emerged as the Gold Coast’s best captaincy contender following James’ injury late last month.

Queensland Origin forward Jai Arrow was earmarked to be a future leader of the club but he is South Sydney-bound in 2021.

Halfback Ash Taylor is coming off a tough 2019 campaign where he took a break from the game for personal reasons and youngsters Moeaki Fotuaika and AJ Brimson are in the infancy of their careers.

Former Origin players Jarrod Wallace and Nathan Peats are other potential leadership options.

Holbrook was contemplating shaking up the captaincy before James’ injury and Proctor told The Courier-Mail last month he was keen to take on the duties again.

“It’s always a massive honour to lead your boys around and be named captain of a club,” he said.

“I haven’t given it too much thought. I’m trying to go about doing my thing and leading by example at training. If that comes it comes, I’ll be happy to take it.”