TITANS BOSS: THERE'S LIGHT AT END OF LONG TUNNEL
NEXT month marks two years since Graham Annesley resigned from his role as NSW sports minister to become CEO of the Gold Coast Titans. It’s been a roller-coaster period for the former first grade referee who’s overseen a change of coach, implementation of a new board, a drugs scandal and the NRL takeover. Rugby league writer TRAVIS MEYN sat down with Annesley to talk about how big a challenge saving the Titans has been.
TM: How has the experience compared to your expectations?
GA: It’s been very different to my initial expectations.
I didn’t have any clue that we were going to go through some of the things we have.
No one could have predicted the things that have happened, more so in the last seven or eight months than the first year.
It became very obvious to me when I got here that the club was in worse shape financially than I had originally anticipated and been told.
I knew from the early days it was going to be a battle but it was impossible to predict what ultimately happened.
TM: Has it been harder than you expected?
GA: A lot harder. People were saying that I was coming here for an early retirement but that was quickly blown out of the water.
It’s been the most difficult thing I’ve done and that includes sitting around a cabinet table in Macquarie Street.
It’s been tough.
TM: Have you ever thought about quitting?
GA: I’ve never thought about leaving.
I’m not someone who accepts failure. I’m not going to walk away from anything.
Whether it was ultimately a success or failure, I was going to make sure I gave it every opportunity to succeed.
TM: What are you hoping to achieve?
GA: The club reaches its potential. Rugby league on the Gold Coast deserves to succeed. There was probably only one last shot at getting it right.
If we can’t make it work
here I don’t know where else we can.
TM: On February 24, the NRL took control of the Titans due to crippling debts. How close was the club to folding?
GA: The club did collapse. It’s as simple as that.
We didn’t close our doors but the owners of the club decided they weren’t prepared to fund it any longer.
The NRL thinks the club is incredibly important for the game. They’re making sure it gets the support and stability it needs so it can have a chance to flourish.
TM: The team will miss the finals for the fifth straight season. How long will it be until we see success?
GA: That’s a very difficult question to answer.
It’s a very tough competition to be successful in. The Sharks (founded in 1967) still haven’t won a competition.
Everyone should have high aspirations for the club.
We all want to be successful as quickly as possible but we’ve also got to have realistic expectations. The only way you get there is by putting the right building blocks in place and gradual improvement.
This club hit the depths and it is a complete rebuild. I’m confident we’ve got the right coaching staff in place.
We’re rebuilding the play- ing personnel and because of contractual commitments that can take some time to achieve.
Phil Gould said it was a five-year plan at Penrith and they haven’t got there yet.
There are no shortcuts and there will be disappointments along the way. We’ve got to be patient and stick with the plan. We’re going to continue to slowly improve this club by making the right decisions that will stand it in good stead to achieve success. How long that will take? I’m not sure.
TM: The club has battled for crowds and support over the past few years. Are you worried you’ll lose more support?
GA: I’m not suggesting it will take five years. I just don’t know. I’d like to think that we’ll make a strong run home this year and that next year will be better.
“Success in rugby league is measured by consistently finishing in the top half of the competition.
“I know members and fans are anxious for results and they get desperately disappointed when the team doesn’t perform. The team has performed much better this year and more consistently. There has only been a couple of lapses all year.
“I know the fans have been long-suffering but I also know most of them are committed and want this team to be successful.”
TM: What did you learn from the Daly Cherry-Evans debacle?
GA: The biggest disappointment was how long it took.
We were making recruitment and retention decisions based on the fact we thought he was coming.
If the decision had been made earlier it wouldn’t have had the same impact.
We moved on very quickly. The public noise hasn’t really come from us.
TM: Were you too trusting throughout the process?
GA: We did everything
right, we gave him the space he needed and acted professionally all the way.
We were talking to his management about it but we weren’t going to be paranoid.
No matter how many times we were reassured, until that final offer from Manly was put on the table and he decided to take it, the outcome would have been the same.
All you can do in these situations is act professionally.
TM: Five players were charged with cocaine offences in February. How did that impact on the club?
GA: It was probably the most difficult thing we’ve had to deal with because it hit sud- denly. I was listening to the news on the radio that morning and I heard Karmichael Hunt was involved.
I wouldn’t wish it on anybody but I almost felt a sense of relief that it wasn’t us. Within the next half-hour I started getting calls from journos telling me Titans players were involved but I hadn’t heard anything about it.
We couldn’t find the players or contact their legal representatives.
TM: I heard the players didn’t contact the club to inform you they had been charged. How big a kick in the guts was that?
GA: They were acting under legal advice. I don’t blame anyone for that.
The implications that flowed from corporates, having to move out of The Southport School, there was a financial cost.
It created a very difficult situation for the club.
All we could do was confront it honestly and openly.
TM: Did it set the club
back?
GA: Of course it set us back with the negative publicity that flowed from it and impact it had on the club.
But because we’ve got good people involved, strong management and governance, the right steps were taken and we
worked our way through it. But it’s not over yet.
TM: On the day you resigned from Parliament you told me you wanted to help reconnect the Titans with the Gold Coast community. Do you feel you’ve achieved that?
GA: It’s better but there’s still a lot of work to do.
We’ve had some success recently with sponsorship (Aquis Group signing on as major sponsor) and reconnecting with the corporate community.
Ironically, our membership grew on the back of the drugs saga. We now have to retain those people and continue to
grow. Without community support a club has no reason to exist. We’re a representative of the Gold Coast community. That level of support will fluctuate with team performance. Everyone loves a winner.
TM: Neil Henry is putting the cleaners through his squad in preparation for the next two years. Do you think some of them are here for a holiday?
GA: I’m sure none of them think they’re here for a holiday. Any new coach wants to assemble his own playing roster and it takes time to do that because of existing contracts.
A coach lives or dies on
performances. The club has a responsibility to support the coach while they believe the plans he’s putting in place and coaching methods and recruitment strategies are right for the club long-term.
While we’re not going to win a competition overnight, our board understands we have to support the coach.
TM: Is there anything you could have done better?
GA: I’ve always been my harshest critic. I go home at night thinking about whether I could have handled things better. That’s a trait of anyone who wants to improve. Hopefully our players are like that.
I’ve made mistakes, absolutely. There’s times I wish I could relive situations and do it differently.
TM: Your wife Erica must get sick of you working 14hour days and talking about football constantly. What’s the support been like from her and chairwoman Rebecca Frizelle?
GA: Erica and Rebecca have both been a tremendous support.
I couldn’t have seen us through this period had it not been for the support of people like Rebecca, Darryl Kelly, who’s lost significant amounts of money and is still there, Paul Donovan, who’s so parochially Gold Coast it’s not funny, and Fraser Perrin our secretary.
They do it for absolutely no financial reward. They could have easily said it’s all too hard and walked away but they haven’t. If they had walked away I couldn’t have got us through this period.
TM: Can you see light at the end of the tunnel?
GA: I’ve been able to see light at the end of the tunnel since I got here. It’s just a pretty long tunnel sometimes.
I still believe that the club has got enormous promise for the future.
If we get the basics right, success will come. It’s only a matter of when.
South Sydney were kicked out of the competition less than 20 years ago.
Now they’re the powerhouse of the NRL.
People should never think there’s no future or hope.