Bears hold steady in bid to buy Coast
THE North Sydney Bears have confirmed they are still preparing to launch a bid for the Gold Coast NRL licence, with no amount of turmoil able to shake their interest in the Titans.
Speculation and commentary over the future of embattled coach Neil Henry and his out of sorts star Jarryd Hayne have swirled relentlessly over the past week after Titans chief executive Graham Annesley and chair Rebecca Frizelle emerged from an emergency board meeting to declare they had made no decision on the pair’s future.
The delay has only increased the media frenzy over the past week though, with many arguing the Titans’ inaction has damaged the brand.
The NRL are set to take the Titans officially to market any day after the Wests Group’s takeover of the Newcastle Knights was overwhelmingly endorsed by their members.
And the Bears remain ready to enter negotiations with the league, undaunted by the Titans’ off-field woes. Bears chairman Perry Lopez said the Bears interest in the franchise had not waned.
“We’re just waiting for the process to come out from the NRL, so nothing’s changed,” he said.
Lopez said blow ups like the one between player and coach happened from time to time in football clubs.
“That’s just typical of any sporting organisation every now and then to come across these hurdles,” Lopez said.
“You read it from afar and it’s all just a matter of speculation. For us, it’s just a matter of wait and see (when expressions of interest are called by the NRL).”
The Bears are set to share information on their plans with members at a meeting in Sydney on Wednesday night.
The club emailed members to invite them to a meeting “to provide an update on the bid and to answer any questions”.
Frizelle said the spotlight on the Henry-Hayne situation would not affect the interest in the sale of the club.
“I don’t think this is the first time we’re going to see a situation like this happen in a club,” she said.
“We’ve seen it before and we’ll see it again and we won’t be the last, it’s about how we address the issues at hand and how we move forward in the interest of the club.”
Titans board member and former part-owner Darryl Kelly also remains interested in buying the Titans despite their woes.
Kelly, who did not return calls to the Bulletin yesterday, is a member of the board that could decide as early as today the fate of Henry and Hayne after a massive week of unrest at the club.
While senior players Ryan James, Kevin Proctor and Nathan Peats have fronted chief executive Graham Annesley to declare their support for Henry, speculation continues to mount that the coach will not see out the final year of his contract in 2018.
Any action though will have to be green lighted by the NRL, who still own the club despite preparing for its imminent sale.