Departing Titans boss Graham Annesley leaves lasting impression on Gold Coast
GRAHAM Annesley will leave a lasting legacy on the Gold Coast, where he has become the face of the Titans through good times and bad.
Sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
IT seems a strange admission from a man who has achieved so much in a career that has spanned business, sports administration, politics and refereeing.
But Graham Annesley, who officially winds up his tenure at the Titans next month after annual leave which starts from today, insists most of his career has happened “organically”.
His move back to the NRL as head of elite football programs comes not as a result of hunting a job at league headquarters in Sydney but because Annesley realises it would be folly to pass up the offer from boss Todd Greenberg to play such a significant whole of game role in one of Australia’s most popular sports.
GET FULL DIGITAL ACCESS FOR $3 A WEEK
FORMER BURLEIGH PLAYER IN NRL SPOTLIGHT
GOLD COAST NRL GRAND FINAL STARS
Timing is everything in sport and Annesley’s return has been welcomed by many who have bemoaned the lack of football IQ at headquarters.
But having spent the past five years fighting to keep an NRL team on the Gold Coast and overseeing the transition of the club back to stability in private ownership with the Kelly and Frizelle families at the helm, Annesley believes the Titans are on the cusp of success and part of him is saddened to leave.
“In some ways I leave with very mixed emotions,” Annesley said.
“I think it probably is a good time now that we’re back under private ownership and everything is stable and the dramas of the past are behind us, so I think it is time for someone to come in with some fresh ideas and give the club an added direction.
“The offer that came from the NRL is a big role that’s across the whole game.
“But I had to think very hard about that too because I’ve invested so much in this club in helping to rebuild it, that in many ways, I would have loved the opportunity to be around for another couple of years to see it reach its potential on the field that I think we’re well on the way to reaching off the field.
“But of course, timing doesn’t always work out exactly and if I’d rejected the offer at the NRL it probably wouldn’t have come again.
“I’m still going to be in the game, so hopefully I’ll be able to watch this club do very well and reach its potential both on and off the field and get some satisfaction out of the fact that I was part of that.”
It’s difficult to overstate the impact that Annesley has had on the Titans.
Recruited by former owner Michael Searle while a sitting member in the NSW Legislative Assembly, Annesley was as significant a recruit as any on-field star the Titans have ever signed.
But the former elite referee and NRL chief operating officer quickly realised his Gold Coast move would be no holiday.
“It’s hard to recall exactly when I realised things were in a bit of strife,” Annesley said.
“I don’t think it was immediately but as the weeks and the months passed in the first year I was here it became apparent that we weren’t generating enough revenue to keep us alive and there were any number of occasions where I had to go to Darryl Kelly and say to him that unless there was an injection of funds into the bank account, the club couldn’t meet its commitments.
“As a CEO of a company that can’t meet its commitments, you’re technically insolvent and you’re required to take action — and the only action we could have taken was to close the doors.
“That didn’t happen because Darryl kept bailing us out until such time as the NRL came along and changed the ownership model and then they became the party funding the club.”
Body blows that would have broken many, rained down early in Annesley’s tenure.
Former owner and founder Michael Searle left the club and foundation coach John Cartwright was axed and the Titans were forced to sever ties with the Centre of Excellence at Robina.
But it was a drugs scandal that hit as they were in temporary accommodation that hurt most, coming just ahead of the body blow of the club being placed briefly in voluntary administration before the NRL took over.
“Clearly the whole episode we went through with the drug scandal was probably the low point for everybody,” Annesley said.
It seemed the Titans boss was facing the media every other week at times during 2014 and 2015 as rumours swirled about the club’s future.
Gold Coast executive chairman Dennis Watt has worked alongside Annesley for the past year on the Gold Coast.
But as the former Brisbane Broncos chairman, Watt has a unique perspective on Annesley’s performance, having been both inside and outside the inner sanctum.
“He’s a man of honour and integrity but he’s also showed, along with the club, remarkable resilience,” Watt said.
“He’s the man who’s had to face the music on every occasion when things are going wrong — and plenty of things were going wrong — including when they were actually homeless.
“All those other people (the Kelly and Frizelle families and Titans staff) deserve credit too but for many people, he’s been the face of it all.
“He’s been that man who has always gone out there and been accountable.
“He really will be missed, not just in the club but in the Gold Coast community.”
Annesley says there have been many more highs than lows during his time at the club though — and he certainly never regretted coming to the club.
“There were plenty of challenges to me but that’s no different to any other job,” he said.
“You’re confronted with challenges and you try to overcome them. So I never got too bogged down worrying about: ‘What have I done, why am I here?’
“I was more concerned about how do we address these issues and keep moving forward.”
Annesley is speaking from behind his desk in an expansive office at Titans HQ at Parkwood, a facility acknowledged as one of the best in the NRL.
“I think that Parkwood here is really one of the highs,” Annesley said.
While Gold Coast white knight Darryl Kelly was ready to put his hand in his pocket yet again to build a permanent home for the Titans at Coomera, a chance conversation with Parkwood International Golf Club managing director Luke Altschwager led to the development of a facility that has given the club a stable home.
“It’s part of his great legacy that he played such a driving role in working with Parkwood to develop a permanent home for the Titans, so he can leave with his head held high after helping to secure the future of the club,” Watt said.
“I think he’s got a great insight that he wouldn’t have otherwise had, being at a club that’s not at the top of the table and that has had its challenges.
“I think he goes back into that (NRL) role with a more rounded view of the game than he had before.”
Annesley agrees — without giving himself the rap that Watt would.
“There are very few people … if any for that matter, who have been on the field (as a referee), part of the NRL administration and as CEO of a club,” Annesley said.
“And I think it does give you a very different view of the game and the administration of the game.
“It gives you greater empathy, I think, for some of the difficulties that clubs can experience and I think that, ultimately, is helpful in the type of role that I’m going into.”
Annesley and wife Erica are determined to return to the Gold Coast though and Watt said he would always remain a part of the Titans family.
“He’ll always be welcome back and he can always take some real pride in whatever it is that the club achieves in future years,” Watt said.
Revealed: QLD All Schools Touch top performers
The world’s largest touch football tournament has wrapped up on the Gold Coast after five days of competition across seven divisions. Discover who claimed gold, and the 80+ standouts across the board. Details inside:
Queenslanders fall short as Cairns Tennis International finishes with a nailbiter
Arguably the best tennis match of the Cairns Tennis International was saved for the very last one of the tournament. READ ALL ABOUT THE FINALS HERE >>>