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JARRYD Hayne has emerged victorious in his battle with Neil Henry, but he appears unlikely to win the war at the Gold Coast Titans.
Henry will be axed in the coming days after a huge feud with Hayne, who looks likely to also be pushed out the door after a day of carnage at the Titans.
Sacking Henry will cost them $400,000.
If the Titans had moved on Hayne first it would have cost $1.2 million and left the Titans on an $8 million salary cap for 2018.
Neil Henry is set to coach his last game for the Titans.While he is contracted for 2018, the Titans will give Hayne permission to leave the club. However, he will not be an easy sell.
Hayne, 29, is not ranked in the NRL’s top 50 this season and has shown he is far from the player who won two Dally M Medals.
Thursday night’s match against the Parramatta Eels is likely to be Henry’s last game and his axing will be announced within 48 hours of full-time.
Hayne emerged as the short-term winner of his power struggle with the coach after a crisis meeting on the Gold Coast on Monday afternoon.
It was at meeting that included some fiery exchanges, according to sources. Both blamed each other for the current predicament.
Jarryd Hayne arrives at Titans Headquarters at Parkwood on the Gold Coast.Titans officials walked out after the talks convinced them the Hayne-Henry relationship was untenable.
Sources on the Gold Coast have revealed Henry’s problems at the club — and with the players — are not restricted to Hayne.
There have been suggestions for some time of conflict and disagreements with other stars, including boom halfback Ash Taylor.
Henry had similar problems in his coaching days at the Cowboys in Townsville with Johnathan Thurston. It was one of the major reasons he was axed in North Queensland.
Titans chief executive Graham Annesley addressed the media on the Gold Coast on Monday.
“This is a really complex issue and not an easy one to resolve,” Annesley said.
“We don’t want this to drag on. We want to bring it to a head as quickly as possible and make decisions so we can move forward in the remaining games of the season and 2018.”
This was another indication of Henry’s conflict with others in the playing group.
The Daily Telegraph understands directors made a decision at a board meeting later in the day that it was Henry who should go.
Because they are due to play on Thursday night, there wasn’t time do anything straight away.
“We don’t want this to drag on,” Annesley said.
“I think it’s well known that we do make the difficult decisions when we need to make them.”
Annesley said Hayne’s comments about Henry forced the club to act.
“What happened after the game last weekend took us a little by surprise,” he said.
“We weren’t planning to meet this week and interview Jarryd and Neil. The focus that’s been placed on us since the game meant the board couldn’t ignore it.
“Consequently we had to start the investigations and try and get to the bottom of it. Both people are contracted to the club next year. You don’t have to be Einstein to work out the possible options.”
Henry, 56, joined the Titans in 2014 as an assistant to John Cartwright after being sacked as Cowboys head coach.
He took over from Cartwright late in 2014 and coached the Titans to a finals appearance in 2016.
Replies
Don't want him back. We have a team roster with good morale, we don't need to be polluted by all the off field bs and media frenzy that will follow him. Hayne is not the player he once was and any club that takes him on will get more problems than they need
I agree Nitram. People are so easy to turn on others after they are perceived to be betrayed. Lingering resentment among the posters here is clearly evident, which is fine. I'm sure they were cheering for Hayne when he played for NSW. Australia loves chopping down those tall poppies, equality.
My reasoning was that he would lack the motivation to persist with it.
His days at Parra where he was a God adored by the Eels faithful, his stint in the US where he was Australia's biggest sporting star. He was adored by Eels faithful and the rest of the country. Jarryd's mistake? He and his Manager naively believed his popularity was his personally and would transfer with him to whatever nrl club he played for.
The realisation that his Titans move cost him almost his entire fan base hit him hard. He never saw it coming and he reacted badly at the time.
The key to unlocking Hayne? It's the adulation of fans. It's his big motivator. He may deny it but it's so obvious to see.
Moving to the Titans he quickly became just another nrl player playing for a team with a small fan base that rarely made the papers. Training and playing on relative obscurity would be killing Hayne and killing his motivation.
The Titans move was never ever going to work well.
Can Hayne be salvaged at another club? I think so but that club would need to be prepared to feed his need for adulation and fame. I'm not sure which club would be able to do that for him or would want to.
But nevertheless, don't exclude the fact that the board are working this as whole situation as well. And it sounds like Hayne isn't the only one with a problem.
Think Titans board will get a win win out of it and have both gone. It was a mistake from day one for ALL parties.
I'd dare say tits reaped their investment back last year in promo sales but the gig is up.
Think the best thing for Hayne is to quit Australia for French ru
I wonder how much merchandise his clothing line is selling?
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