Toxic culture plagues Dogs
NEW coach Trent Barrett is about to walk into the most venomous snake pit at the Canterbury Bulldogs.
Forget about the football team’s dismal performances, Saturday’s loss to the Titans and the likely wooden spoon coming their way in three weeks.
Forget about the crappy roster and the fact they’ve won only two games all year.
The problems are far deeper and far more serious behind the scenes.
A bitter internal row has erupted and fractured this once great club like never before.
At senior management level CEO Andrew Hill and general manager of football Steve Price have had their differences. Board member Paul Dunn has stepped in as a mediator.
Hill was appointed by the old board more than three years ago and Price was brought in by the new directors. They don’t gel.
The atmosphere and morale among football club staff is dire.
Last week Andrew Mortimer, the son of club legend Steve Mortimer, quit his sales role after 10 years. Others have walked out in recent months.
At board level it is even more poisonous and hostile.
Last week Canterbury Leagues Club directors held four board meetings to try to sack their chairman George Coorey over allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women earlier this year.
Yet according to the club’s constitution, only members can remove a director.
He refuses to step aside, having been cleared in an independent investigation by Barringtons, the management compliance specialists who were brought in by football club chair Lynne Anderson.
Coorey even challenged the board to call in police to investigate the claims, so determined was he to prove his innocence.
The split between Coorey and Anderson is threatening to explode. They haven’t spoken for months.
Coorey has his legal team poised and has not ruled out taking legal action.
Leagues club chief executive Greg Pickering issued a statement last week, saying the club and investigators had considered all available material on Coorey and, until more information was received, the allegations were “unsubstantiated.”
This is as messy as it gets. Messy because Coorey is a long-time Bulldogs man who has enormous support from members, despite the seriousness of the allegations.
The same can’t be said for Anderson who was swept into power three years ago.
The problems she vowed to fix have, if anything, worsened.
Coorey also has the backing of influential club powerbroker
Bill Diakos, who carries enormous sway with long-time members. Anderson has been seeking his support too.
Diakos’ preference is for the pair to patch up their differences and work together. Yet this seems an impossible scenario.
There’s also an option of Coorey calling an emergency general meeting to challenge Anderson and the current football club directors on a new ticket that would further split the club.
Such is the dissatisfaction among members, it could potentially turn into a bloodbath.
The NRL should be monitoring this situation closely.
The football club is bleeding and will be needing around $6m from the League Club this year to break even.
The old super coach Jack Gibson always said winning premierships starts in the front office.
It’s why teams like the Roosters and Melbourne Storm are so consistently strong and powerful.
Boardroom stability is as important as two competition points.
The Bulldogs are like the old Parramatta Eels. It is bordering on management incompetence as they stumble from one crisis to another.
You’ve got to feel for Barrett. The poor bugger had no idea he was taking on such a basket case.
This club is no hope of climbing the premiership ladder until there is a ceasefire to the boardroom brawling.