David Fifita's aspirations to bring the first premiership to the Gold Coast hasn't changed since the moment he made the move to the Titans in 2021.
It's why he joined alongside one of his close mates in Tino Fa'asuamaleaui to reaffirm their commitment to title success despite various reports suggesting the damaging duo could be on the move.
Returning to his devastating best this season, earning an Origin recall for Queensland and helping lead the charge on the Titans' left edge, Fifita is looking forward to continuing his journey at Parkwood until at least the end of the 2026 season, sitting down with 9 News Queensland to share his desire to stay and continue building at the club he's now played 59 NRL games for.
"Let's be real, I wasn't really going anywhere... it was just outside noise at the end of the day," he said.
"Obviously I did have that stuff there with my contract, but my team behind the scenes did a really good job to get it sorted and I just worried about playing football.
"I just want to enjoy myself here at the Titans and I'm doing that... my family's enjoying it, and I'm enjoying it and even before all the talk, I felt comfortable.
"You could see the way that in the way I've been playing and the way that I've been around the boys. I'm just happy to be here and I'm just looking forward to these next few weeks to finish strong."
Having sat down a number of times with incoming coach Des Hasler to talk about what the two-time premiership mentor will bring to the club to help enhance the 23-year-old's game, his tough love approach, especially with the team's defensive mindset, was one of the biggest draw cards for Fifita to never waver from remaining a Titan.
"I've caught up with Des a couple of times now to have a few yarns and a few cups of coffee with him... he loves his coffees (and chats)," Fifita said.
"He's a tremendous bloke and really into his rugby league with the way he speaks. He didn't go into too much detail (about this year) because he doesn't want to interact yet while the current season is still going, but I'm looking forward to working with him.
"He's really hard on his players and that's something all of us need as a group and I think Des will give us that hard defensive mindset.
"He's really brutal with defence and I'm really keen to work with him."
Match: Titans v Panthers
Round 25 -
home Team
Titans
13th Position
away Team
Panthers
1st Position
Venue: Cbus Super Stadium, Gold Coast
Lamenting not playing a part in the finals race again this season, the powerful edge forwards wants to finish 2023 on a high with their three remaining games - especially against two of the competition's best in Penrith and Melbourne, which will help set the platform for Hasler's arrival come November 1.
"It's disappointing that we have another year without playing finals but now we've just got to finish these next three games off on a high moving into the pre-season and get ready for next year," Fifita said.
"There were a few games there where we lost by very few points, so if we win those ones, we're a potential top eight side.
"I could be sitting here and saying this or that, but we don't want to be thinking that... we want to be winning and that's the main thing.
"We've got a big task this week against Penrith and no better challenge. We had a disappointing result against the Sharks last week, so it'll be good for us to give it to the Panthers."
Despite going into the clash as the heavy outsiders against the defending premiers, Fifita has every confidence his team can cause an upset, much like when they faced North Queensland at Cbus Super Stadium at the end of last month.
"One hundred percent I have all the belief in the boys [that we can get the upset]. A couple of weeks back we played the Cowboys and nobody gave us hope then," Fifita said.
"Obviously, we came up with a disappointing result last week and us boys need to bounce back. There's no better challenge and nothing to lose.
"They're coming up here as favourites and they should be... they've been playing wonderful football and they've got tremendous players all over the park, so we're really looking forward to the contest."
