GOLD COAST whiz kid Jordan Rankin has knocked back a $240,000 contract from a Sydney-based NRL club to dedicate his best years to the Titans.
The 16-year-old received a two-year, $120,000-a-season offer from an NRL rival last month but chose to stay at the Gold Coast on a base salary of just $20,000.
The sacrifice underscores the maturity that saw Rankin last week become the youngest halfback debutant in the code's 100-year history.
Mindful of interest from six clubs, including the Cowboys, the Titans handed a new three-year deal to the Australian Schoolboys sensation a fortnight ago, just before his top-grade debut against the Knights.
Rankin's upgraded Titans deal is laced with incentives, with the Year 11 student in line for a significant bonus if he plays 10 first-grade games next season.
Titans boss Michael Searle revealed the pressure Rankin was under in the face of big-money plays from rival teams.
"Jordan had some huge money on offer,'' Searle said.
"Six clubs were keen on Jordan but, to the boy's credit, he didn't want to go to Sydney, he wanted to finish school on the Gold Coast and he wanted to represent the Titans.
"To be honest, he could have earned substantially more by going to Sydney before he even played first grade. But life isn't all about money.''
Searle said the Titans were keen to secure Rankin for the long term before handing him his NRL debut, aware his promotion would have sparked a bidding frenzy if he remained unsigned for 2010.
"The new deal for Jordan was in the mix for months. We weren't going to play him in first grade before we signed him to an extended deal,'' he said.
"Our base deal is what you'd expect a 16-year-old to earn. We're happy with it and he's happy with it.
"It just removes a bit of pressure off Jordan. He's a Gold Coast kid and he wants to stay on the Gold Coast. Now that we have longevity with his contract, we can bring him along gradually instead of rushing him through to see if he's up to it. Jordan's contract with us is structured in a way that the more NRL he plays, the more he stands to earn.
"I hope I have to continue paying him bonuses.''
Life has returned to normal for Rankin after his 28-minute cameo last Monday night against the Knights. The Palm Beach Currumbin student still gets driving lessons from his mother, Tracy, still embarks on a 90-minute bus trip to Titans training when he can't score a lift, and still has a poster of Broncos captain Darren Lockyer on his bedroom wall.
The only noticeable change in his bedroom is on the rack containing every jersey he has owned since the age of five. Next to the Burleigh Bears jumpers and the Queensland and Australian Schoolboys representative jerseys sits the Titans No20 he wore last week.
"Jordan's got this beam at home and on it he hangs every jumper he's had,'' Tracy says.
"They are exactly how they were when he played in them. He says, 'that's how I wore it, that's what I did in it, that's the stain I got wearing it and you can't wash it'.
"His room smells like a locker room, but they're all there.''
Tracy admits she is only mildly surprised her boy made the big time so soon. At five, he told her he wanted to be a football star.
By 10, he would record league games to study key moves. However, Tracy urged him to have a Plan B just in case fate shattered his NRL dreams.
"I told Jordan, 'you need a back-up plan'. He said, 'no Mum, I just want to play football','' she says.
"I'm just so proud of him. As a kid, he'd record a game on the video, watch a part of the game, pause it, then run outside and practise what he just saw.
"Some kids take the wrong path, they drink or go to parties, but Jordan has no interest in that.''
And already he's been forced to modify his goals. Next year, he wanted to play NRL. Now, he's thinking State of Origin.
"I know he would love to play for Queensland and I'm sure he'd love to captain the Titans,'' Tracy said.
"I said to him the other day, 'you've played first grade - what are you going to do now?' He said, 'I don't know, I'll think about it'.''
Heaven help us if Jordan Rankin dares to aim high.
