The Gold Coast Titans have demanded the NRL investigate explosive claims their former recruitment manager worked to sabotage the club by courting a host of its biggest names to
join the Perth Bears.
In a major integrity scandal,
Ezra Howe – a long-time confidante of inaugural Bears coach and league Immortal Mal Meninga – has been accused of secretly compiling a list of target signings for Perth on his Titans work laptop and instructing player managers to “go slow” in contract negotiations with the Gold Coast.
The Titans have demanded the NRL probe whether the fledgling Bears had any knowledge of Howe’s alleged plotting, which was exposed following a forensic search of his computer.
In their submission to the NRL, the Titans claim Howe:
Compiled a spreadsheet targeting as many as nine Titans players, including captain Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, halves Jayden Campbell and Carter Gordon, hooker Sam Verrills, and winger Jaylan De Groot;
• Was caught on audio recordings telling player managers to delay re-signing Titans players;
• On June 1, forwarded a confidential email thread about commercial negotiations and performance matters to Fa’asuamaleaui’s manager, Simon Mammino;
• On June 2, emailed a letter of offer to Howe from the Bears from his work email to a personal account.
Reports in June linked Howe to the Bears however he is yet to officially join the club.
“The club and our owners are viewing this as a very serious matter,”
Gold Coast chief executive Steve Mitchell said on Saturday.
“We can’t go into details because of pending legal proceedings. However, this is something we are very strong on moving forward.”
Titans owner Rebecca Frizelle, who took complete control of the club earlier this year, said: “I’m not commenting while legal proceedings are underway.”
The last-placed Titans, who
earlier this week announced the departure of coach Des Hasler, are furious a staff member was allegedly actively compiling a roster for one club while working for another.
While the Titans are likely to finish the season in last place, they have some of the best young talent in the game – as well as Fa’asuamaleaui, one of rugby league’s most feared props.
Not only do the allegations have major ramifications for the Bears, but also the NRL, which owns the licence. The NRL declined to comment.
Bears chief executive Anthony De Ceglie said Howe was not employed by the club.
“Ezra Howe is not an employee of the Perth Bears,” De Ceglie said. “Any matters involving Ezra Howe and the Gold Coast Titans is a matter between those two parties.”
Howe, who also declined to comment, has a close relationship with Meninga formed during their days together at the
Canberra Raiders before they both joined the Titans in 2019.
Meninga left his Titans post as a high-performance and culture consultant early last year after his contract wasn’t renewed. He was appointed Bears coach in early June around the same time reports emerged about Howe joining him.
Howe resigned a month later but has not yet joined the Bears.
“No comment at this stage,” Meninga said via text on Saturday.
Titans management ordered the forensic search of Howe’s laptop after hearing from a player manager that Howe had allegedly told him to go slow on re-signing players to the club.
They discovered a spreadsheet outlining roster and football resourcing for the club’s inaugural season in 2027 until 2030. Howe emailed the spreadsheet to his personal account on May 20, according to the Titans’ submission.
At the top of the hit list were Fa’asuamaleaui and
Broncos prop Payne Haas, with both valued at $1.5 million a season. Campbell is valued at $1 million a season while Gordon would be worth $750,000, according to Howe’s figures.
The Titans were incensed when a Sunday Mail story appeared on August 10, declaring that Fa’asuamaleaui was hitting the open market on November 1.
In 2023, Fa’asuamaleaui signed a 10-year Titans deal until the end of 2033, but the contract has two get-out clauses, the first of which can be activated for the 2027 season.
In their submission setting out the allegations to the NRL they have pointed out the “disturbing correlation” between his asking price in the Sunday Mail story and that quoted in Howe’s spreadsheet.
The Titans’ lawyers hit Howe with a “show cause” notice earlier this month but were left unsatisfied with his response.
Gold Coast argue he should never have had them, nor distributed them, in the first place. Out of frustration, the Titans lodged their complaint with the NRL last week, including a bundle of related documents.
The investigation could not come at a worse time for the Bears, who will start officially negotiating with off-contract players from November 1 as they build their inaugural roster for the 2027 season.
Howe’s imminent arrival was hailed as a masterstroke. In 2021, he and Meninga worked closely in luring a young Fa’asuamaleaui from the Melbourne Storm and David Fifita from the Brisbane Broncos.
Tellingly, Fitita was not mentioned in any of Howe’s spreadsheets or emails, but several players from other clubs were, including what a 2027 NRL team would look like.
The inaugural Perth Bears’ line-up, per Ezra Howe’s laptop
Jaylan DeGroot (Titans)
Allan Fitzgibbon (Roosters)
KL Iro (Sharks)
Jesse Arthurs (Broncos)
Sam Stonestreet (Sharks)
Jayden Campbell (Titans)
Carter Gordon (Titans)
Naufahu Whyte (Roosters)
Sam Verrills (Titans)
Ata Mariota (Canberra)
Jacob Laban (Warriors)
Tom Cant (Knights)
Tino Fa’asuamaleaui (Titans
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