King of the Hill
Coach
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- 15,203
SEEMS Chris Anderson's career at Cronulla began dying the moment it first began breathing.
Slowly and almost from the start, the Cronulla board began turning against Anderson, one by one, until eventually they had the numbers.
Now, as it heads for court, all that is left is to apportion blame and costs.
No doubt flashpoint was reached in October when chief executive Steve Rogers and recruitment officer Theo Burgess sacked Anderson's son Jarrad and Anderson responded.
The coach walked into chairman Barry Pierce's office and threw everything at him but the furniture.
Anderson told Pierce that he was sacking Burgess and also his son Greg, not only as the club's operations manager but from the upcoming Kangaroo tour as well.
Then he walked into Rogers' office and for 30 minutes again the conversation went one way.
Then he called Burgess. That lasted 45 minutes, and the sum of Burgess's comments wouldn't have fit in a thimble.
When Greg Pierce heard from his father he knew what he had to do.
He called Anderson - where the conversation was said to be quite polite.
In sacking Jarrad Anderson the Sharks had finally provoked Anderson into a reaction strong enough to enable them to issue their third breach notice.
The Sharks were certain that they were now able to sack him, which occurred when Anderson returned from the Kangaroo tour a fortnight ago.
How it got to that stage is still being examined, and with Anderson set to launch legal action early next year everybody has clammed up, making it difficult to determine.
What is clear is that almost as soon as he took over at the Sharks, Anderson got himself offside with his new board.
A trial in Auckland, the team bus halfway between its hotel and the ground, and Anderson ordered the bus to pull over and then ordered the board members off and on to the side of the road.
He told them to get a cab.
That it was raining only added to their mood.
Still honeymooning with him, though, some tried to see it as simply his way and forgave him. What irked other board members was that Anderson's "team only" stance was already corrupted - a non-official that Anderson regularly uses as a masseuse in Auckland was already on the bus, and stayed.
As the season rolled on the board stuck solid with Anderson even though grumblings had begun in the backroom. They were still among the minority, though, and publicly the support remained on issues such as the sacking of Preston Campbell and his willingness to clean out the club and its culture.
But the boat was taking on water and slowly, over time, one board member turned against him, then another, then another.
When the Sharks went through the first eight rounds of last season without a win, Anderson was issued a breach notice.
While there were public comments that the club was in a better position than the previous year, privately board members were wondering, "How?"
After all, they figured, the club didn't have the same players as the previous year, when they dug their way out of a hole to eventually reach the elimination final.
NOT only had the club lost experienced players such as Campbell, Chris McKenna, Andrew Pierce and Paul Mellor, but by round six Anderson had also dropped Nick Graham and Dean Treister, with the pair to be shortly released.
Anderson's second breach notice came when he abused referee Rod Lawrence after a match at Shark Park.
The NRL fined Anderson $15,000. Not only that, but NRL boss David Gallop phoned Pierce and Rogers to say that such behaviour would not be tolerated.
And swirling around this the team continued to perform poorly.
Slaughtered by injuries - the club had more than any NRL club - Anderson's aggressive player turnover was cutting deep. The Sharks simply didn't have the depth.
It festered and then erupted after the Sharks lost to Penrith in round 17, as fans in the auditorium booed Anderson and the coach left the stage. Senior players were left to step in and calm it down.
Speculation about Anderson's future escalated as the numbers continued to swing against him. Finally he told the board to "sack me or back me" following a loss in Canberra.
They backed him, but the voting was close.
The small doubts among the board when they were sacked from the Auckland bus trip some 17 months earlier had now manifested itself into significant numbers, and they were rallying.
By the time the season was over Anderson had lost the support of the club.
Simply, they had been down too many dry gulches together.
As the club began looking to next season club officials began worrying that Anderson was going to rank Jarrad in the club's top 25 players.
Rogers and Burgess stepped in, sacking the youngster. They believed he didn't warrant a top-25 contract, and thought the early decision would give him a better opportunity to find a start elsewhere. It wasn't lost that it might also save what could be an inevitable and destructive fight with the coach on season's eve.
But Anderson's supporters believe it was premeditated and malicious, designed to provoke him to sack him.
For evidence they offer simply the case of Anderson's departure from Melbourne, again when he was in dispute with management.
Then they had sacked Ben Anderson while Anderson was away.
He walked into their office.
Slowly and almost from the start, the Cronulla board began turning against Anderson, one by one, until eventually they had the numbers.
Now, as it heads for court, all that is left is to apportion blame and costs.
No doubt flashpoint was reached in October when chief executive Steve Rogers and recruitment officer Theo Burgess sacked Anderson's son Jarrad and Anderson responded.
The coach walked into chairman Barry Pierce's office and threw everything at him but the furniture.
Anderson told Pierce that he was sacking Burgess and also his son Greg, not only as the club's operations manager but from the upcoming Kangaroo tour as well.
Then he walked into Rogers' office and for 30 minutes again the conversation went one way.
Then he called Burgess. That lasted 45 minutes, and the sum of Burgess's comments wouldn't have fit in a thimble.
When Greg Pierce heard from his father he knew what he had to do.
He called Anderson - where the conversation was said to be quite polite.
In sacking Jarrad Anderson the Sharks had finally provoked Anderson into a reaction strong enough to enable them to issue their third breach notice.
The Sharks were certain that they were now able to sack him, which occurred when Anderson returned from the Kangaroo tour a fortnight ago.
How it got to that stage is still being examined, and with Anderson set to launch legal action early next year everybody has clammed up, making it difficult to determine.
What is clear is that almost as soon as he took over at the Sharks, Anderson got himself offside with his new board.
A trial in Auckland, the team bus halfway between its hotel and the ground, and Anderson ordered the bus to pull over and then ordered the board members off and on to the side of the road.
He told them to get a cab.
That it was raining only added to their mood.
Still honeymooning with him, though, some tried to see it as simply his way and forgave him. What irked other board members was that Anderson's "team only" stance was already corrupted - a non-official that Anderson regularly uses as a masseuse in Auckland was already on the bus, and stayed.
As the season rolled on the board stuck solid with Anderson even though grumblings had begun in the backroom. They were still among the minority, though, and publicly the support remained on issues such as the sacking of Preston Campbell and his willingness to clean out the club and its culture.
But the boat was taking on water and slowly, over time, one board member turned against him, then another, then another.
When the Sharks went through the first eight rounds of last season without a win, Anderson was issued a breach notice.
While there were public comments that the club was in a better position than the previous year, privately board members were wondering, "How?"
After all, they figured, the club didn't have the same players as the previous year, when they dug their way out of a hole to eventually reach the elimination final.
NOT only had the club lost experienced players such as Campbell, Chris McKenna, Andrew Pierce and Paul Mellor, but by round six Anderson had also dropped Nick Graham and Dean Treister, with the pair to be shortly released.
Anderson's second breach notice came when he abused referee Rod Lawrence after a match at Shark Park.
The NRL fined Anderson $15,000. Not only that, but NRL boss David Gallop phoned Pierce and Rogers to say that such behaviour would not be tolerated.
And swirling around this the team continued to perform poorly.
Slaughtered by injuries - the club had more than any NRL club - Anderson's aggressive player turnover was cutting deep. The Sharks simply didn't have the depth.
It festered and then erupted after the Sharks lost to Penrith in round 17, as fans in the auditorium booed Anderson and the coach left the stage. Senior players were left to step in and calm it down.
Speculation about Anderson's future escalated as the numbers continued to swing against him. Finally he told the board to "sack me or back me" following a loss in Canberra.
They backed him, but the voting was close.
The small doubts among the board when they were sacked from the Auckland bus trip some 17 months earlier had now manifested itself into significant numbers, and they were rallying.
By the time the season was over Anderson had lost the support of the club.
Simply, they had been down too many dry gulches together.
As the club began looking to next season club officials began worrying that Anderson was going to rank Jarrad in the club's top 25 players.
Rogers and Burgess stepped in, sacking the youngster. They believed he didn't warrant a top-25 contract, and thought the early decision would give him a better opportunity to find a start elsewhere. It wasn't lost that it might also save what could be an inevitable and destructive fight with the coach on season's eve.
But Anderson's supporters believe it was premeditated and malicious, designed to provoke him to sack him.
For evidence they offer simply the case of Anderson's departure from Melbourne, again when he was in dispute with management.
Then they had sacked Ben Anderson while Anderson was away.
He walked into their office.
