The inside story of Valentine Holmes’s shock move away from Cronulla

There was no teary farewell from Valentine Holmes as he made the decision to turn his back on Cronulla’s millions and chase a career in the NFL.

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There were no speeches or a teary farewell.

Valentine Holmes simply sent a text message to his Cronulla Sharks teammates on Tuesday afternoon to confirm The Daily Telegraph’s exclusive story that he was off to the NFL to chase his dream.

Earlier Holmes had a 10.30am meeting with chief executive Barry Russell at the Brighton Novotel.

It was just Holmes, his agent Gavin Orr and Russell.

“I just asked him as soon as we sat down,” Russell said. “I wanted to hear it from Val.

“I also wanted to make sure that he understood all the consequences.

Holmes was poised to become Cronulla’s highest paid player. AAP Image/Craig Golding.

“It was obvious that he’d made his mind up and there was nothing we could do about it.”

Russell and the Sharks board later granted him a release from the final year of his contract.

They knew it would hurt members and sponsors but had no choice.

“If we hadn’t have released him he could have just retired from the NRL and then gone over to America,” Russell said. “If we wanted to take legal action he stays in your salary cap until it’s sorted so we couldn’t have gone looking for a replacement.

“He is loved by our club, corporate partners, members and fans. We’re incredibly saddened he’s going but we’re hoping one day he may wear the Sharks jersey again.”

Holmes has turned his back on Cronulla. Picture by Brett Costello.

The Sharks had wanted to sign Holmes to a five-year extension, which would have made him the highest paid player in the club’s history. Should he be unsuccessful in his NFL bid and return to the NRL, the Sharks stipulated that Holmes cannot play for another club in 2019.

Surprisingly, Holmes chose not to address the Sharks squad at training.

He has always been anxious speaking in front of big groups.

Instead, Holmes rang a handful of players and sent the group a text message.

Late on Tuesday coach Shane Flanagan was bitterly disappointed that he had still not heard from the runaway star.

Not necessarily at Holmes but more at his managers, Gavin and Chris Orr, who were aware of the NFL plan weeks ago but didn’t inform the club.

Holmes made his decision three weeks ago. AAP Image/Dean Lewins.

“The timing is obviously bad for us,” Flanagan said. “I think they’ve handled it poorly.

“Still, it’s not the end of the world. There’s some other good players around.

“At the start of last year he was on the wing with Matt Moylan at fullback. We’ll be OK.”

The Sharks are furious the Orr brothers didn’t alert them earlier.

Sources revealed on Tuesday Holmes’ decision was made three weeks ago.

This also caught North Queensland coach Paul Green by surprise. He had been told Holmes was all but a done deal for the Cowboys in 2020. That he was heading home to Townsville to be with his family.

Instead he’s flying 12,000 kilometres away.

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