Hayne bombshell could ease pressure on Henry
A bombshell report regarding the signing of Jarryd Hayne at the Gold Coast Titans could ease the pressure on under-fire coach Neil Henry, days after his side's humiliating 54-0 loss to the Broncos.
Speaking on NRL 360, Paul Kent revealed that the decision to sign Hayne to a deal worth a reported $1.2 million per season was made by the board of the Titans, overruling the opinion of coach Henry.
"It was the board that wanted to sign Jarryd Hayne, not the coach," Kent said.
"So if the board’s going to call Neil Henry in and ask him for a ‘please explain’ about winning or losing the dressing room, about performance, then they have to then tell the coach why they insisted he had to take this player.
"He (Henry) didn’t want him (Hayne) there because for Neil it was about managing the salary cap, there was too much money being put into one player for the salary cap.
"They went out and they said from a marketing point of view he was going to bring X number of dollars to the club. That doesn’t help Neil Henry."
Henry refused to deny the claims when questioned on Tuesday.
The experienced coach is feeling the heat, with the Titans losing a major sponsor after their woeful 54-0 last-round home defeat to Brisbane.
Asked whether it was true he did not want to recruit him, Henry said: "To sign high-profile players is a collective decision and I will leave it at that.
"It's not for me to comment on how we go about how we sign any player really - I will leave it at that."
Henry accepted his future would be questioned after their Brisbane capitulation preceded the loss of a major jersey sponsor.
Aquis will cut ties with the Titans at season's end, amid amid reports it had been contracted to Gold Coast until 2021.
"Things fall with the head coach. That is the nature of the game and I accept that," Henry said.
"But we all agree that it was not a good performance at all. We accept that and now we have to react to it."
Henry was unfazed by rumours over his future.
"That is speculation. There has to be something to talk about," he said.
"It comes with the territory but I am determined to move on and we play some decent football.
"We need to resurrect ourselves and prove to ourselves we are a better team than that."
It's not the first time Paul Kent has shed light on the troubled relationship between Henry and Hayne.
Earlier in the season, the News Corp journalist revealed the pair weren't seeing eye-to-eye on the training paddock.
"Neil (Henry) likes to coach a certain way, and that is that every man is equal and if one guy doesn’t do his job then he’s let down the team so the team suffers," Kent said on Triple M.
"The players are the meat in the sandwich here because you’ve got Neil on one side and Jarryd Hayne, who’s a noted superstar, on the other.
"When Jarryd doesn’t quite do what he’s required to do at training, Neil says everyone is going to do extras at training and they’re all going to get punished for it.
"It’s starting to annoy the players because from their point of view, they see themselves doing extra work because Jarryd has caused it, and they’re tired of that happening, and they’re also tired of the fact that it’s not changing.
"Jarryd doesn’t care, so that’s the issue with the players as well."
With AAP
