Shane Richardson’s sensational departure leaves NRL high and dry without a chief on eve of 2016 season

SHANE Richardson’s sensational departure from the NRL leaves Commission chairman John Grant high and dry on the eve of the 2016 NRL season.

Daily Telegraph - Pictured LTR: Shane Richardson, Nicholas Pappas (Chairman) and John Lee - Shane Richardson has resigned from his position as South Sydney Rabbitohs CEO today, handing the role to John Lee (current CEO of Casinos and Resorts Australasia and formerly the boss of Sydney buses). All photographs taken at Redfern Oval, Redfern NSW Australia

ONE year to the day after Shane Richardson choked back tears when he announced he would leave South Sydney to join the NRL, the former club boss sensationally quit his post at League Central.

After a year of turmoil at Redfern, the Rabbitohs former chief executive will now take on the newly created position as general manager of football back at Souths.

But his departure from the NRL leaves Commission chairman John Grant high and dry on the eve of the 2016 NRL season.

Shane Richardson on the day he quit the Rabbitohs — only to rejoin one year later.

It means the NRL now has no chief executive or head of game strategy and development heading into the new year.

Current Souths boss John Lee will also be walking on eggshells after a disastrous year following Richardson’s premiership winning departure.

Lee did not return phone calls on Thursday night but said in a statement he welcomed Richardson’s return.

“Shane is arguably the most experienced football brain in the country,” Lee said.

“He has a wonderful understanding of the football side of the business and a deep appreciation of what our club stands for, having been part of the organisation for over a decade.

“I’m looking forward to Shane’s contribution to the future success of the Rabbitohs.”

Former South Sydney Rabbitohs CEO Shane Richardson is returning to the club he loves.

But The Daily Telegraph was told otherwise, with talk Richardson would not answer to Lee but directly to the people above him, including chairman Nick Pappas and Russell Crowe.

While the Rabbitohs have crashed from one crisis to the next on Lee’s watch that culminated in this week’s revelation about Luke Keary’s run-in with Crowe on a pre-season bonding camp, Richardson’s return will no doubt be welcome news for Rabbitohs fans after the disappointment of 2015.

But for the NRL it could not have come at a more precarious time.

With the game already without a chief executive following Dave Smith’s demise, they have now lost the man who was touted as a potential saviour and the most important executive signing under Smith’s troubled administration.

Any way you look at it Richardson fell well short of the expectations that greeted his announcement last January, when he arrived on a reported salary said to be worth more than $700,000 a year.

While Richardson was charged with coming up with a blueprint for the game’s future, when the details of that became public late last year they were met with a lukewarm response from the people in club land.

Shane Richardson’s time as NRL head of strategy has been short-lived. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Grant denied that Richardson had left the game in the lurch, saying Richardson’s contribution had been “critical” in defining the future of the game’s elite pathways.

Asked if Richardson’s job was complete given the backlash by clubs, Grant said: “I think the next stage of it is to go through the implementation stage, the first part of which is to get the clubs on the same page.”

While the rumours about Richardson’s future have been the talk in league circles for weeks, Grant would not say when he was told about the news.

“It can’t tell you that. I am not prepared to talk about that,” Grant said.

Reminded that it left the NRL without a chief executive and a head of football on the eve of the season, Grant said: “We have been without a chief executive for some time now.

“The reality is the process we are going through to appoint the CEO takes time.”

The NRL has yet to appoint a CEO after Dave Smith’s resignation in October.

It may well fast-track Todd Greenberg’s expected appointment as the game’s new chief executive.

Asked if Richardson’s decision came as a surprise, Grant added: “I think when any executive tells you that they are leaving it catches you.

“But Shane has been working in a role which had a very small team. He has been working broadly across the game with the stakeholders who remain in position.

“It is a manageable situation.

“In going back to Souths and going back into football that is exactly what he wants to do.

“Shane has done a great job for us from a strategy point of view but he is also a coalface guy.

“Shane has made a decision that he has got a long-term opportunity to go back to Souths.”

Souths owner Russell Crowe has had an enduring relationship with former club CEO Shane Richardson.

Richardson would not answer or return calls but said in a statement: “I really enjoyed the experience of working at NRL headquarters but this new role — and its direct involvement with the players and the game — is what I want to do next in life.

“I am looking forward to moving from a strategic role back to the coal face.”

The NRL and South Sydney will work on a transition plan over the next 60 days. It is understood Richardson’s role will be similar to Phil Gould’s position at Penrith.

Richardson will be in charge of recruitment and retention, meaning he will oversee the Rabbitohs’ playing roster and have power over coach Michael Maguire.

It could help with securing the future of players such as Keary, Adam Reynolds and Greg Inglis, who have all been linked to rival clubs.