Gold Coast Titans sack coach Neil Henry

TITANS coach Neil Henry has impressed fans with a classy gesture after being told of his axing from the side’s horror season.

GOLD Coast has sacked coach Neil Henry after a highly publicised feud with superstar fullback Jarryd Hayne.

The club held crisis talks with the pair last week after which it was reported Henry was a dead man walking, but no official decision was made.

That changed this afternoon when the Titans mentor was officially given his marching orders.

“The board were driven by one agenda and one agenda only: having the best possible chance of success for 2018 and beyond,” Titans CEO Graham Annesley told the media in a press conference after Henry’s axing was announced.

“I made it clear he’ll always be welcome around this club. We’re very very regretful it’s come to this. We would have loved to have got to Round 26 (with Henry). I don’t think anyone takes any joy out of this situation.

“We need to now come together as an organisation. Splintering even further is not the answer.”

Annesley said Hayne’s publicised fued with Henry was the “catalyst” to today’s axing and it ‘brought to the fore’ other issues that had already become a problem.

“This is not a Neil vs. Jarryd issue solely,” he said.

“I know the media has been focused very much on a head-to-head issue between Neil and Jarryd but that was really just the catalyst that brought the issue to the fore and meant it needed to be addressed before we got to the end of the season.

“But there were wider issues, many of which I can’t go into, that the board needed to consider.”

The Titans named Terry Matterson and Craig Hodges as Henry’s replacements for the remainder of the season.

Henry impressed fans with his reaction to the sensational axing after reportedly turning up to watch Titans feeder club the Tweed Seagulls play over the weekend

Speaks volumes of the bloke & his character, too many egos ! Good luck #NeilHenry https://t.co/wRdjn0R94L

— Jim Wilson (@JimWilsonTV) August 21, 2017

Neil Henry has been all class the last week. I hope he isn't lost to the game. He deserves better.

— Peter Psaltis (@peterp79) August 21, 2017

Henry last week rubbished talk of any feud between himself and Hayne, saying he wanted to see out his contract with the Titans (keeping him there for the 2018 season). But he won’t be given that opportunity as club bosses opted to dump the 56-year-old.

The drama on the holiday strip that had been festering for much of the season exploded in recent weeks with revelations Henry never wanted Hayne at the club. He denied those allegations, saying the decision to sign the 29-year-old after his stints playing NFL and rugby sevens was one made with input from multiple parties at the Titans.

Hayne threatened to quit the club if Henry didn’t want him there, further fuelling a battle that was always going to have at least one loser.

There were suggestions Hayne would also be moved on, but at this stage Henry is the only scalp in the latest soap opera to strike the NRL.

The decision to sack Henry comes just hours after Titans pair Kevin Proctor and Jarrod Wallace insisted he had the support of all the players and urged the NRL club’s board to stick with the under-fire coach.

Proctor backed Henry to remain in the role, while his forwards partner Wallace argued all the noise around the coach’s fallout with the playing group is unsubstantiated.

Neil Henry has been dumped.

Jarryd Hayne survives.

“I reckon he’s the right man for the job ... we’re all backing him as players and I’m hoping the board does that too.” Proctor said.

“He’s been getting hammered by the press and I feel sorry for him.

“Our bad performances have been back lashing on him and he doesn’t deserve it.”

He said reports Henry and Hayne, as well other players, were at odds was a “media twist up”.

“He (Hayne) is a great player and we benefit from having both (he and Henry) at the club,” Proctor said.

“Hopefully they can sort out their differences but I don’t think there’s much there to sort out.

“It’s been a bit of a media twist up to be honest and I’m sure they can work it out.”

Proctor and fellow leaders Ryan James and Nathan Peats met with Annesley last week to vouch for the coach in a meeting he said was not pushed on them.

The New Zealand international said replacing Henry was not the answer, despite the side being in the midst of a five-game losing streak.

“We went there (to meet Annesley) by ourselves and said what we wanted to say, spoke for the players and told him our side of the story,” Proctor said.

“We had a good yarn and got our point across.

“A new coach means we’d have to start from the bottom again to do that rebuilding phase again ... we’re backing him and hoping for a positive result.”

— with AAP

Originally published as Gold Coast Titans sack coach Neil Henry