Justin Holbrook says he was “shocked” and blindsided to be sacked as Gold Coast head coach without any inkling his job was on the line.
Holbrook was told on Thursday morning by CEO Steve Mitchell that his services were no longer required.
His assistant coach Jimmy Lenihan will fill the void as interim coach for the rest of the season and two-time premiership-winning coach Des Hasler will take the helm in 2024.
Thursday began like any other for Holbrook. Ahead of Sunday’s derby clash with Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium he arrived at Titans headquarters ready to get down to work.
He said there was no inkling of what was to come and no prior warning that he had a certain amount of weeks to get to a specific position on the ladder.
“I turned up for work and the CEO called me and said I was going to finish up today,” he told AAP.
“That was it. I was shocked. Especially after we’d won the last game (against Wests Tigers). It would have been different if we had been flogged.
“We’d won and came off a bye and I was preparing for the Broncos game.
“It is all a bit raw at the moment. It feels a bit awkward. Usually a coach is on notice, there’s a board meeting and there’s a whole big hooha. I just walked in today and got told … so I am really disappointed.
“I am going to miss the playing group and the footy staff.”
Holbrook took the Titans to within two points of finals in 2019. They reached the semis in 2020, finished 13th last year and are currently just outside the eight on 18 points.
Holbrook has been without key spine members AJ Brimson, Kieran Foran and Sam Verrills for extended periods, but all were ready to play the Broncos.
“I had all the players coming back from injury and I was looking forward to the back half of the year,” he said.
“We’d thrown a couple of wins away against the Bulldogs and Dolphins where if we’d hung on we would have been sitting equal second.”
Holbrook had done a sterling job re-signing key players such as David Fifita, Moeaki Fotuaika, Brimson, Phil Sami and Jayden Campbell while also recruiting premiership winners Foran and Verrills.
“It had taken a while to get to this place and I thought we were in a great spot,” Holbrook said.
“The (salary) cap is in a great spot and we have a core group of players signed until the end of 2026.
“Now I get moved on and don’t get the chance to get the rewards of all that hard work.
“I know it is about results but I feel like if they gave me another five or six weeks and said ‘You’ve got everyone there so perform and get into the eight’ … then I’d be OK with the decision. I understand it is results driven but we are sitting ninth.
“I haven’t had my nine, six and one playing for most of the year and I felt like we were ready to go for the back half of the year.”
A father of four boys, Holbrook was signed until the end of next year but is now in limbo and unsure about his next move.
“I’ve got no idea,” he said.
“It is not as though I was told we had to win three out of four. Then you start thinking about something else but I hadn’t thought about anything except this weekend. It is all new to me.
“I knew I had to perform this season but I am just disappointed I didn’t get the opportunity to finish the year.”
