Glaring 'problem' Titans need to fix after Fifita exit

Gold Coast should spend the cash freed up by David Fifita's looming exit to go to market for a quality halfback, Darren Lockyer and Wally Lewis have urged.

The Queensland legends have big concerns over the Titans' spine and say they should forget a like-for-like replacement for power forward Fifita.

The team has won just one of eight games this season despite the arrival of experienced coach Des Hasler threatening to turn the perennial battlers around.

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The halves positions have been shared between Kieran Foran, Tanah Boyd, and AJ Brimson - but no combination has ignited the side.

Fifita's exit - once confirmed - will leave the club with close enough to $1 million to play with for next year.

Lewis believes Hasler will be on the lookout for a quality playmaker.

"You've got a guy who's in charge, the coach, who was a good playmaker himself, a good ball runner himself," Lewis told Wide World of sports' QLDER.

"So he's certainly going to have a fair idea of who is needed, the players he can see are going to be beneficial to the side.

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"This, though, is quite a regular problem - we seem to be talking about (their halves) every year."

Foran, 33, is an experienced international playmaker but he's coming to the end of his career.

Boyd was supposed to be Gold Coast's long-term No.7 but has struggled to live up to those expectations.

Brimson has been moved between fullback, five-eighth, and centre this year but isn't considered a genuine playmaker.

Young South Sydney pivot Lachlan Ilias has been given permission to leave the Rabbitohs and is on the lookout for a new home next year.

Dolphins utility Kodi Nikorima is also in search of a contract for 2025 onwards, and his stocks have risen significantly with some impressive early-season form at Redcliffe.

Veteran halfbacks Shaun Johnson and Chad Townsend are also on the market but it wouldn't make much sense for Gold Coast's long-term planning to bring another mid-30s playmaker onto the books.

Jahrome Hughes was recently linked to Gold Coast but quickly smacked down those rumours, while axed Manly enigma Josh Schuster was pictured on the glitter strip with his manager this week but has also denied interest in the Titans.

Lockyer, while conceding the Titans need a quality playmaker, wants the club to firstly figure out who the fullback is.

"The biggest thing for the Titans... AJ Brimson has been outstanding at fullback, and Jayden Campbell's best position is fullback," Lockyer told QLDER.

"We've always been saying they need to fit five players into a four-man spine.

"Kieran's only got a year or two to go, so who's their seven? And can you keep AJ and Jayden at the Titans, that's the problem."

The 16th-placed Titans face North Queensland on Sunday.