Codes happy to coexist in battle of the Titans

A ceasefire has been called in the Gold Coast battle of the football codes, with the city's fledgling rugby league team now keen to "coexist" with a visiting AFL team next year.

As the Gold Coast Titans prepare for their debut season in the National Rugby League next year, the team's lack of a home ground and need to use the Carrara Stadium has caused headaches for Gold Coast City Council.

The council had agreed to have the Melbourne-based Kangaroos AFL team play three games at Carrara next year and its initial refusal to allow the Titans to put temporary seating on the playing surface had the NRL threatening to move the team's 12 home games to Brisbane.

But Gold Coast Mayor Ron Clarke said yesterday he believed both teams could play at Carrara with clever scheduling and the use of more appropriate temporary seating.

Mr Clarke said the council had temporary seating for 2495 that would limit the impact on the playing surface and still square off the ground to meet NRL standards. Another 600 seats could also be accommodated.

"We want to be able to retain both teams' games if we can," Mr Clarke said, before further talks in the coming days and a council meeting on the issue next Tuesday.

"But if you have to favour one or the other, it's a rugby league city, even though I'm an AFL supporter."

Titans chief executive Michael Searle said he believed the council, the teams and the codes could reach a compromise. "We're quite genuine in wanting to coexist with the Kangaroos next year because it will be good for the Gold Coast," said Mr Searle, whose team will move to a purpose-built, 25,000-seat stadium at Robina in 2008.

Kangaroos chairman Graham Duff was similarly confident of a breakthrough, saying: "We think there will be an amicable result for all parties."