Bar bills from NSW Blues State of Origin camps sealed Laurie Daley’s fate as coach

IN THE end it was the hefty bar bills from three team camps and a drinking culture that contributed to the downfall of Blues coach Laurie Daley and his staff.

Laurie Daley has been sacked Blues coach.

• KENT: Blues had no choice but to dump Daley

• GONE: Daley sacked as Blues coach

• REPLACEMENT: Contenders to take over from Daley

IN THE end it was the hefty bar bills from three team camps and a drinking culture that contributed to the downfall of Blues coach Laurie Daley and his State of Origin management staff.

Three weeks ago Daley’s position as NSW State of Origin coach was “safe”.

NSWRL chief executive Dave Trodden and two influential board members told me so.

They said that while the review into the Blues’ performance this year would be damning, Daley would be given one more year.

Trodden completed the review last week and recommended Daley be reappointed for 12 months.

Before he had a chance to present to the NSWRL board on Friday, the directors had made the decision themselves.

Chairman George Peponis had conducted his own investigation into costs during the team camps.

Invoices from The Star in Sydney and a Peppers Salt resort at Kingscliff on the NSW North Coast revealed thousands of dollars were spent on beer, wine and cocktails during the team camps.

They were signed off by team manager Andrew Farrar.

There is no suggestion the players were involved in running up the huge bar bills.

But according to sources, Peponis was “horrified by the size of the bills”.

“George was astonished by it,” the source added.

The coaching and management staff drank most evenings after training.

On the back of Blake Ferguson and Josh Dugan having an all-afternoon session on the booze and the punt at Lennox Head before game three, the directors decided there was only one way to fix the drinking culture.

To start again from the coach and work backwards.

That all positions in the Blues coaching staff and management team would reviewed.

Whether Trodden survives remains to be seen.

Laurie Daley calls time during a New South Wales Blues training session.

He has been Daley’s biggest supporter and was convinced he had enough support in the boardroom to save his job.

He texted me on Friday and said: “You need to speak to the board — I only just found out as well.”

The fact his recommendations were tossed aside would indicate Trodden is under pressure.

Last month when the Daily Telegraph broke the story of Dugan and Ferguson’s booze binge, Trodden defended the Blues culture.

“I don’t think we have a boozy culture, and you can’t make judgments about the culture of an organisation on the basis of what is an unsubstantiated report about an incident that may have occurred in Lennox Head,’’ Trodden said.

“We treat all of our guys like adults. We trust them to do the right thing. If you start imposing bans to achieve a certain objective, I think you’re going about things the wrong way.’’

So the question remains … who will come in to replace Daley?

There was speculation Daley’s sacking had been driven by Bulldogs board members Peponis and Ray Dib to give the job to Des Hasler who they were trying to remove from Canterbury but it was denied by board members.

That being the case, Blues legend Brad Fittler would have to be the frontrunner to replace Daley.