Jarryd Hayne breaks silence on Neil Henry’s sacking

JARRYD Hayne has broken his silence on Neil Henry’s sacking, saying one act from the Titans coach finally went too far.

One moment put Hayne “over the edge”.

JARRYD Hayne has broken his silence on Titans coach Neil Henry’s sacking, saying there was one moment that took him “over the edge” as the pair’s relationship reached breaking point.

Gold Coast axed Henry on Monday after a highly publicised spat between himself and Hayne. CEO Graham Annesley said there were more factors at play in the decision, but there’s no doubt the friction between the boss and the star player was too big an obstacle for the club to overcome without one man losing their job.

Hayne addressed the media on Wednesday afternoon, saying he was upset at news being made public Henry didn’t want him at the club. News Corp rugby league journalist Paul Kent revealed Henry was opposed to the big-name recruit joining the Titans last year, but was overruled by the board.

Henry denied that suggestion, but it comes on the back of reports earlier in the year the Titans mentor wasn’t happy with Hayne’s attitude at training. The representative fullback says learning these things through the media rather than being told from the horse’s mouth is what hurt him most.

“When Paul Kent wrote that article (that was a tipping point),” Hayne said. “I thought if that comes out from Paul, if he (Henry) and Paul have that relationship, I’d rather that come from Neil rather than having a journalist write about it.

“For that to come out in the media instead of (Henry) coming up to me and talking about it … it was a bit disappointing.

“There was an article at the start of the year (about my attitude at training) and I felt if someone had an issue they could come up and talk to me rather than going to a journalist about it. That really upset me.

“For that to happen again pretty much took me over the edge. If you’ve got an issue with someone you take it up with them man-to-man, not through a journalist.”

Hayne denied he and Henry ever had a verbal argument and said he was honest with the 56-year-old when saying he would quit the club if the coach didn’t want him because “it’s always the coach who has the right of way, most definitely”.

Hayne also said he has a great relationship with all of his teammates but feels sorry for them having to constantly answer questions about him.

Hayne survived but Henry didn’t.

MEN TO TAME THE HAYNE PLANE

Queensland Cup-winning coach Shane Walker unequivocally believes he and his brother Ben are the men to turn Gold Coast into an NRL powerhouse.

The pair, who won the 2015 Queensland Cup with Ipswich playing a brand of football that was labelled revolutionary, have declared they want to fill the Titans’ vacant coaching role. Younger brother Shane, 39, who played 150 NRL matches with Brisbane and South Sydney in an 11-year career, believes there’s no reason their possession-first philosophy couldn’t translate to success in first-grade.

“The way we coach with Ipswich — basically we do two days a week — so we’re more than confident if we’ve got a team full time ... if we’ve got a team where we do 30-40 hours a week with, well, anything’s possible,” Walker told AAP. “We see it as a sleeping giant. People on the Gold Coast love their footy, they just need a reason now to love the team.

Are these the guys to fix the Titans?

“We’re sure that we can bring out the best in the Titans.” The Walkers are one of several potential candidates being touted for the Titans’ role including Queensland coach Kevin Walters.

Despite having no NRL coaching experience, Walker says he and his brother were part of NRL organisations from the time they were 14 and cited Paul Green’s transition from Queensland Cup-winning coach to NRL premiership winner with North Queensland as a blueprint.

“We had careers where we played for 11 or 12 years at NRL level,” Walker said. “We’ve been coached by Wayne Bennett, we had Craig Bellamy as his assistant.

“We’ve had success with our own team, with an organisation that was on the scrapheap themselves. They were wooden spooners and very low budget. We’re no stranger to building successful organisations.”

Walker is also confident their coaching style would fit with Hayne.

“Across our time as coaches and also our time as owners of our own individual businesses which we’ve built from the ground up, we haven’t encountered anyone so far that we haven’t been able to get the best out of,” Walker said. “Jarryd would be no different.”

— with AAP