As much as I enjoy living on the Sunshine Coast and watching its variety of sporting talent, there is a chunk of me that’s envious about what is happening on the Gold Coast just now.

You see, in a former working life, I had the job of covering the Gold Coast Seagulls, then the Chargers, in the Australian Rugby League competition.

Those were interesting times. Often it became depressing, even when you’re meant to be an impartial observer, when the Coast would lose game after game.

Sometimes there’d be a weekend of happiness when a side like the Broncos or Newcastle was beaten and then, ultimately, despair mixed with anger when the club was booted out of the premiership even though it had millions of dollars in the bank.

It’s amazing to all of us connected with Gold Coast rugby league back then what the new club, the Titans, is like.

This time around the job has been done properly and that’s why the Titans will be around for a long, long time.

There are many stories about what life was like when the Seagulls were around.

Here’s my favourite from the dozens of away trips I made with the team during those years.

Usually a visit to Wollongong to face the Illawarra Steelers entailed staying at the reasonably swish Novotel at North Beach, the best place in town.

That was until, if my memory’s right, 1991.

Then, with finances tight, the team, with the great Wally Lewis as coach, was housed in a caravan park on the northern edge of the town.

The stunned look on the King’s face as the bus drove in to the accommodation for the night remains stuck in my mind to this day.

Instead of relaxing by the Novotel’s pool, or in a plush room, the best players on the Coast were stuck in cabins with the park residents, who were among those who couldn’t believe what was happening, persistently knocking on the door, looking for autographs.

The King, the target of most of the residents, was furious and stormed into the journos’ room thinking we had the power to do something about it.

No such luck.

A 46-4 loss followed – part of another year which featured 19 losses in 22 rounds.