Colman’s Call: Where the Titans went wrong

COLMAN’S CALL: Well that’s that then. The Gold Coast Titans are officially screwed.

WELL that’s that then. The Titans are officially screwed.

The moment players are asked to give the coach the thumbs up or thumbs down, a football club is doomed. It doesn’t matter what code or what country. Once the lunatics take over the asylum, you might as well put up the white flag.

I’ve been around long enough to have seen it happen time after time. I can’t believe that Titans boss Graham Annesley hasn’t seen it too.

According to reports by my colleague Peter Badel this week, following the Titans’ miserable past fortnight, Annesley interviewed 12 players and asked for their opinion of coach Neil Henry.

Gold Coast’s supposed marquee player Jarryd Hayne. Picture: Getty Images

Apparently some said they liked him, others were critical. Well fancy that. Let me guess, the ones who get picked every week have no issues. The ones who feel their position is under threat want him out.

We don’t have to guess which way Jarryd Hayne leans.

After Henry refused to deny reports that he had been opposed to Hayne’s multimillion-dollar signing, I can’t see the club’s supposed marquee player giving him a rousing endorsement.

One report I read said Henry’s future at the club was under threat “due to claims of a rift between the coach and some senior players, including Jarryd Hayne”.

Are they serious? I would have thought the fact that Henry didn’t see the value in throwing buckets of cash at Hayne, and hasn’t allowed himself to be pushed around by him since he arrived, would be the best reason the Titans board could have for extending the coach’s contract and upping his salary.

Titans coach Neil Henry. Picture: AAP

The signing of Hayne has been an abject failure from day one. Annesley shouldn’t be asking the players what they think of Henry. He should be asking them what they think of Hayne.

Just as Henry feared, the disparity between what the club is paying Hayne and what it is paying everyone else has caused a rift in the playing ranks and sent morale plunging to rock bottom. To say he hasn’t earned his massive pay cheque is an understatement of Andrew Fifita proportions.

While at times he has shown all-too infrequent glimpses of his enormous skill, for the most part he has appeared disconnected and lazy.

Never was that more evident than in the embarrassing shellacking at the hands of the Broncos. From his brainless, selfish kick that went touch-in-goal on the first tackle to a series of disinterested attempts at defence, he looked like he wanted to be anywhere but Cbus Stadium. The Titans’ long-suffering fans knew just how he felt.

Titans captain Ryan James. Picture: AAP

Compare that to team captain Ryan James who never stopped trying for the entire game, despite knowing it was a lost cause.

He was the one I most felt sorry for when watching the worst day in the Titans’ history.

Him, and the coach saddled with Jarryd Hayne.

Originally published as Colman’s Call: Where the Titans went wrong