‘NOT A NEIL VS JARRYD ISSUE’
TITANS chief Graham Annesley yesterday insisted Jarryd Hayne was not responsible for the controversial sacking of coach Neil Henry despite widespread reports of a rift between the pair. “If it was a player-driven outcome, Neil would still be the coach,” Annesley said.
FORGET Neil Henry, Jarryd Hayne and rugby league headline writers.
The person the Gold Coast board should fear most in the wake of their decision to tell their coach to hand back his clipboard is Jodie Gilbert, a mother of two who today represents every disgruntled Titans fan.
“It’s been disgraceful,” she says of the painfully slow execution of Henry that has left her questioning where she invests her disposable income.
“We pay about $600 a year for season tickets. We’re a football-mad family so we see it as a good investment, but I can assure you that if they don’t get their (expletive) together, it won’t be happening again next year.”
When Jodie talks about TITANS MEMBER JODIE GILBERT ON JARRYD HAYNE
the smell wafting from Parkwood, she’s not just referring to what the players have been serving up on the field. Her love for a club goes much beyond that.
She wants to support a joint that stands for something and seeing what she considers a good man seemingly brought down by an entitled star player doesn’t sit easy with her, let alone the fact the crew calling the shots won’t level with her.
“I want them to tell me why they’ve sacked him,” Jodie says of the board and chief executive Graham Annesley.
“You’re prepared to take $50 off my credit card every month (for tickets) but you won’t tell me why you’ve sacked our coach.
“I don’t believe them (when they cite various reasons). I think there’s just no money to pay out Hayne so it’s easier to get rid of Henry.”
That lack of clarity threatens to haunt Titans supremos.
Annesley went to great lengths when addressing the media – and in turn Titans fans – to stress the decision to sack Henry was complex.
He said it wasn’t all about Hayne. He said it wasn’t solely a financial decision. He even said if it was up to the playing group, Henry would still have the job.
Confused? Don’t worry — so are most Titans fans.
“If there’s more to it, they need to disclose that or they’ll lose a lot of support,” said one grassroots administrator.
“They’ve made a decision to sign a bloke who hasn’t lived up to the hype and get rid of a bloke who came in when the club was on its knees, always applied himself and didn’t back out.
“That won’t wash with fans and the club really needs to explain well why Henry had to go because they don’t have enough diehard fans to be able to alienate them.”
The Titans undoubtedly have passionate fans.
The concern is that, on the back of past crises that still rankle with some to this day, do they have enough to risk the blowback from tapping Henry on the shoulder and, metaphorically at least, wrapping their arms around their most polarising player?
“I think we can’t afford to pay Hayne to go elsewhere so they’ve let Henry go, but is that the morally right thing to do?” asks Jodie, whose young sons play for Burleigh.
“I’ll admit we were excited when Hayne signed but we were thinking he’d show some commitment … but he’s just not performing and doesn’t look like he wants to.
“His arrogance is the thing that gets me. As a mother of boys who play footy, I’d hope my kids wouldn’t look to him as a role model.”
“I’d better see 100 per cent from every player this weekend to prove Neil was the problem and not them.”
HIS ARROGANCE IS THE THING THAT GETS ME ... I’D HOPE MY KIDS WOULDN’T LOOK TO HIM AS A ROLE MODEL