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Michael Gordon's arrest over the weekend on drug charges has disappointed Gold Coast coach Justin Holbrook, as the NRL club began its pre-season on Monday.
Gold Coast coach Justin Holbrook admitted the off-field drama surrounding their former player Michael Gordon is not the best way for them to begin their pre-season for NRL.
Gordon was one of seven people arrested by NSW police over the weekend after an investigation into alleged MDMA and cocaine supply on the state's far north coast and in south-east Queensland.
The 37-year-old Gordon was charged with two counts of supply prohibited drug and two counts of possess prohibited drug and was granted conditional bail.
He'll appear in the Tweed Heads Local Court on December 14.
The Titans moved swiftly to cut ties with Gordon, who had been working with the club as a specialist coach.
Holbrook labelled the situation disappointing.
"It's not ideal. That's for sure, but it's happened and we'll get on with it," he said after the Titans' first pre-season training session at their Parkwood base on Monday.
"We've got plenty of good coaches and staff in place so, yeah, we'll be fine."
Holbrook dead-batted questions surrounding Gordon's appointment to the club's coaching ranks in late 2019, amid speculation former coach Garth Brennan had expressed concerns about the veteran to the club's management.
While most of the Titans' regular first-grade players are not expected at training for another couple of weeks, new recruit David Fifita was on deck on Monday in a bid to regain fitness from the ankle injury which curtailed his 2020 season.
Holbrook said the former Brisbane back-rower had made an instant impression upon his arrival at his new club.
"A lot of people are obviously taking as much time off as they can get at the end of a difficult year and Dave's been the exact opposite for us," Holbrook said.
"He's come back before the younger boys even started a couple of weeks ago, so really happy with that and look forward to him joining the squad in a couple of weeks."
