After farewelling eight members of their Top 30 squad at their club's end-of-season presentation night, the Gold Coast Titans are reportedly set to upgrade one of their most talented youngsters.
Debuting in the final round of the 2025 NRL season against the Wests Tigers, Cooper Bai may have only played a single match, but he has already impressed fans and club officials with his attitude and hard work ethic on both ends of the field.
Still only 18, Bai is on a development contract for next season, but The Courier-Mail has reported that the Titans are set to move to upgrade him to a spot on the club's Top 30 roster.
In what would be one of Josh Hannay's first contract decisions since taking over the head coaching role, the Under-19s Queensland Maroons representative is destined to add more matches to his career tally in 2026 and beyond.
“I played against his father Marcus Bai and he is one of the hardest guys I ever had to tackle,” ex-NRL, State of Origin and international player Gordon Tallis told the publication.
“He was off the back fence, he was built low to the ground and if his son has his dad's fabric, which it looks like it does, he will be pretty special.
“I watched him play in the Queensland under-19s and he was one of the best players on the field."
The son of former NRL player Marcus Bai, Cooper made two tackle busts, 15 tackles and 76 running metres in his first and only first-grade appearance - he crossed the line for a try before it was disallowed.
Adding to this, he scored five tries, made 22 tackle busts and 172 tackles and averaged 148 running metres per game in his seven QLD Cup appearances for the Tweed Seagulls.
“Cooper Bai is young. The talent has got him this far," Tallis added.
"When you are 17 or 18, talent gets you this far, but it looks like Cooper has a great attitude and he has a great sounding board in his father.
“Subconsciously, he would have watched and heard his dad and how he got to the top.”
