Jarryd Hayne accuses axed Titans coach Neil Henry of leaking stories in lead up to his sacking
Hayne reacts to Henry sacking
JARRYD Hayne has launched a stunning attack on sacked Titans coach Neil Henry, accusing him of leaking stories to the media rather than thrashing out his issues with his star fullback man-to-man as their feud played out in public.
Henry was sacked as a direct result of the bitter falling out, with the club taking the extraordinary step of calling an emergency meeting last week as the club tore itself apart from the inside out.
Clearly unsatisfied with his points victory in the power struggle, Hayne, who survived to continue playing for his $1.2 million salary, fronted the media for an explosive vent on Wednesday afternoon.
Pointing to Henry’s “relationship” with senior News Corp journalist Paul Kent, Hayne pointed the finger directly at the coach for causing his own downfall.
“Paul Kent and Neil had a relationship and I thought if that comes out from Paul, that was Neil giving his side rather than journalists writing it,” Hayne said.
“That was disappointing from my point-of-view, having my coach, the head coach, having a journalist that he has a relationship with and for that to come out in the media instead of coming up to me and talking to me about it, and for that week to have no communication with me personally, that was probably a bit disappointing.
“It wasn’t to the point where I wanted to come in and kind of blow up or go off my head but he should have said, if that’s the case, then so be it.
“At the end of the day he was the coach and it’s always the coach who has the right of way.”
The accusation from Hayne is based on a remark NRL 360 co-host Kent made on the
Fox League show on Monday August 7: “It was the board that wanted to sign Jarryd Hayne, not the coach,” Kent said, leading to a flurry of stories about the souring relationship between coach and star player.
Kent never revealed his source, yet Hayne clearly formed the view the story got rolling due to a conversation the journalist had shared with his coach.
No doubt we’ll hear more on that on NRL 360 tonight, with Kent telling
foxsports.com.au: “I’m happy for Jarryd to have his say. I’ll be replying tonight on 360.”
Clearly it wasn’t the first time Hayne’s suspicions were aroused by a story that found itself into the media, with the fullback attracting headlines after he was fined by the club’s senior players in pre-season for skipping a training session so he could seek treatment in Sydney.
Jarryd Hayne arrives at Titans HQ with Ash Taylor.Source: AAP
Hayne famously tweeted: “Loose lips sink ships!” as a result of that story and he brought it up again on Wednesday.
“There was an article again at the start of the year that I felt was something where if someone had an issue they could come and speak to me about it instead of going to the press,” Hayne said.
“That’s something that really upset me but I got over that and for it to happen again, that took me over the edge.
“When you have an issue with someone you just speak to them not to a journalist and that’s something that was very disappointing but life goes on and I wish Neil all the best and I don’t hold grudges or anything like that, he’s a good guy, unfortunately it didn’t work out for the coach but for myself I wish him all the best.”
Apart from alleging Henry was the prime leak among the Titans, Hayne also hit out at the coach’s team selection during 2017, claiming the side could never get a rhythm due to constant chopping and changing in key positions.
“I just think it wasn’t working as a whole. As an outside back it was tough, we didn’t get a lot of fluency, there was people changing positions and not having a set spine really hurt us and ... the imbalance really showed up through the year,” Hayne said.
“I think personally the last two games were really disappointing for myself, mentally I wasn’t there and that’s something I really pride myself on.
“Personally it has been tough and there’s not much we can do about it now other than our last home game at Cbus, in front of the home fans, and that’s something we’re definitely focused on.”
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...g/news-story/f05a3b23e2b27ee2df6e6bb07fe97534
