No sign of Smith as Titans extend Cbus deal

The Titans have announced an extended deal with their home venue Cbus Super Stadium but despite plenty of social media speculation, Cameron Smith was unsighted at Tuesday's announcement.

A picture on Facebook of the unsigned 37-year-old at training for local club the Mudgereeba Redbacks sparked media speculation Tuesday's press call could be to announce the signing of the 430-game veteran.

In welcoming the extended deal with Stadiums Queensland, club CEO Steve Mitchell also addressed the Smith speculation as an "endearing" sign of interest in the club.

"Retention and recruitment is something we don't comment on, but we haven't had any discussions [with Smith]," Mitchell said.

"The start of the season's about three weeks away… It's never been looked at as an option."

The public and media interest was still a positive sign for the club though, he added.

"Media speculation around Cam coming to the club has been a wonderful PR campaign for us," he said.

"We've got media exposure you couldn't buy so I have to be grateful for that. It's really good intent.

"The population and the fanbase and the media are very excited about the future for us so that speculation is endearing. We're very grateful."

Mitchell said the long-term deal at the home venue was a great sign of stability for fans, who had filled the stadium under its COVID-reduced capacity through its five-game winning streak to end 2020.

"We have extended our agreement with Stadiums Queensland which gives us the ability to be here right through to the back end of the next broadcast cycle. For us that's an enormous statement," he said.

"The Gold Coast is our home… We're very excited about being here for that time, we want to build this venue as a fortress for Justin [Holbrook] and the team. We've got some really big games coming this year that we're looking forward to.

"We're hoping for at least 25,000 at the Broncos game which will be our first home game this year. It's a super exciting piece for us. It talks to our commitment for the Gold Coast and the region.

"It talks to our future which is about success on the field and off the field and to make our region proud of what we're doing. We want to thank our partner in Stadiums Queensland and Kristian (Blundell, operations manager) in particular."

Despite some specualtion last year, Mitchell said the club had never contemplated leaving Cbus.

"We were never going anywhere. We're really excited about the future," he said.

"We've got a team that's really starting to rally. Culturally we're in a really strong space with our player roster, we have a wonderful coach on our hands. We have great owners in the Frizell and Kelly families.

"We're aligned and we're excited about the future and as testimony of that we've had the opportunity to do a partnership, if we take the options, right through to the back end of the next broadcast cycle. Which for us gives us a real runway for stability and success over the next seven years and the opportunity to bring a premiership back here.

"Those five games we won at the back end of last year on capacity at the time under the restrictions with COVID, we sold out those games and we still had waiting lines at the back of that so we're looking forward to an active participation fan base here on game days. We want to out cheer our opposition crowds which historically could have been the reverse.

"In line with that our membership conversion rate this year is the strongest it's been since 2011. We're buoyed by that confidence."