HAYNE PAIN

Titans superstar hits out as coaching fallout continues

TITANS chief executive Graham Annesley is confident the sacking of Neil Henry will not deter any other mentor heading to the club, as Jarryd Hayne rubbed salt into the departed coach’s wounds.

Annesley said he was confident Hayne would be able to work with any incoming coach. That’s despite Hayne having given Henry a salvo yesterday, accusing the coach of leaking information to the media and saying he should have been able to sort his issues with Hayne “man to man”.

Hayne fronted the media yesterday to deny he had had a feud with Henry.

But he said a column by Sydney-based News Corp journalist Paul Kent suggesting Henry had not backed the Titans’ board’s decision to lure the superstar to the Gold Coast had taken him “over the edge”.

“There was an article at the start of the year (about Hayne being fined in the pre-season) where I felt if someone had an issue they could speak to me about it instead of going through a journalist,” he said.

“That’s something that really upset me, but I got over it, and for it to happen again, that pretty much took me over the edge. If you’ve got an issue with someone, you speak to them about it man to man, not through a journalist and that was something that was very disappointing.”

When announcing Henry’s sacking on Monday, Annesley said the central figures involved were in some way “polarising” personalities.

But he said yesterday he was confident Hayne would be able to work with any incoming coach.

“Jarryd is no different to any other contracted player,” he said.

“He’s required to meet all of his obligations under his contract and when a new coach is appointed, the management of our entire roster is the responsibility of the new coach.”

From Hayne’s perspective, his reputation as a coach killer is all media hype.

“I understand the media and you guys have to sell papers,” he said.