Andrew Farrar among four Bulldogs staffers moved on by the club

Dean Pay has been given the ultimate vote of confidence with the Bulldogs sacking four high profile staff including club legend Andrew Farrar which will enable Pay a greater say on his support staff.

**This picture has a scanned reverse - see associated content at the bottom of the details window**ndrew Farrar, rugby league player.

• KENT: NRL’s hypocrisy exposed again

• HOME: Manly bring the legends back

Canterbury coach Dean Pay has been given the ultimate vote of confidence with the Bulldogs sacking four high profile staff including club legend Andrew Farrar which will enable Pay a greater say on his support staff.

The Bulldogs decision to extend Pay’s contract by a further 12 months last month paved the way for Canterbury to revamp its off-field staff which will see team manager Farrar, head of football Gareth Holmes, recruitment manager Warren McDonnell and pathways performance manager Andy Patmore moved on as early as this week.

It was a set-up largely inherited by Pay when he joined the club last year but the changes will now allow Pay to have greater control at his club.

The quartet were told of the news on Friday with a confirmed end date yet to be set. Some were on hand to watch the Bulldogs play Manly on Saturday afternoon after the Sunday Telegraph broke the news just hours before kick-off but others opted not to attend.

Andrew Farrar.

Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs Andrew Farrar has been axed.

The Bulldogs ruled out making a play for premiership winning coach Phil Gould while the Sunday Telegraph has been told the sackings won’t increase the role of fellow premiership winning coach Chris Anderson. Anderson already wields significant power at the club as a board member and part of the retention committee. Wife Lynne is also the club’s chair with the changes the most significant since Anderson came to power last year.

The Sunday Telegraph has learnt Mounties Rugby League football manager Stephen Litvensky will step into one of the vacant roles. Litvensky previously worked at the Sharks and Melbourne.

LISTEN! Matty reveals the biggest lie he ever told coach, the song he can’t get out of his head, an Origin rumour that won’t go away and what it’s like to have a video session under Tommy Raudonikis. Don’t miss this week’s episode of the Matty Johns podcast.

Chief executive Andrew Hill refused to comment specifically about the impending changes.

“We refreshed our strategic plan last year,” Hill said.

“At the end of last season we added a number of new positions to the football operations — Steve Jones as skills coach; Yvette Davey to work with players and their families, Tony Ayoub as our physical performance manager and Dr Dave Givney as the new head of medical.

“We’re now looking at our football operations. It would be inappropriate and unfair of me to make any comment on those discussions at this stage.”

Holmes only joined the club from Manly last year while McDonnell has been at the club since 2016 following 17 seasons at the Tigers.

Farrar forfeited his board position to take on the role as general manager of football in 2017 before being shifted to team manager last year.

Farrar represented New South Wales and Australia while at the Bulldogs from 1981 to 1990, playing 186 first grade matches and winning premierships in 1984, 1985 and 1988.

Patmore played 51 games for Canterbury between 1990-1993 before spending many years as part of the club’s pathway systems.

Originally published as Andrew Farrar among four Bulldogs staffers moved on by the club