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http://www.canberratimes.com.au/rugb...#ixzz1xEmMlZBs
Raiders chairman settles the score
Chris Wilson
June 9, 2012 - 12:00AM
John McIntyre is the patriarch of the Canberra Raiders, chairman and a successor to his father Les who founded the club in 1981.
McIntyre is the most powerful man in Canberra rugby league, so what he says goes. And right now the man, who admits he's "boneheaded", says Raiders coach David Furner is going nowhere.
You've been at the Raiders since the start, how do you view last weekend's 40-0 loss to the Wests Tigers at home?
From my experience it's probably our worst ever defeat given that the other times when scorelines might have been worse our level of expectation wasn't what it has been through this season. But it is so difficult these days with the restraints of the salary cap ... [when there's injuries] you've got to throw these young fellas in with your fingers crossed that the team hasn't been forced to put those fellas out there in the firing line too early.
Are fans justified to be frustrated?
Of course they're justified in being critical of that performance, but they're not justified in blaming the coach as a standout for it, they're not justified in blaming the board. The board's got bugger all to do with it, that sort of thing.
But home crowds are as small as they've been in a decade, are fans walking away?
The weather had a fair bit to do with that. We've still got our hard core of about 8,000 or 9,000 people.
A long-term sponsor, Gary Sykes of Canberra Milk, came out publicly this week saying he's considering his sponsorship arrangement. How does that sit with you?
Not good, but my view is sponsors enter into sponsorship because of corporate value, entertaining at the game. I was talking with another significant sponsor a couple of nights ago and he said from their point of view there's no point in being in the middle of the road — you're either on top or bottom, that way you get the most publicity [laugh]. I'm not too happy about pleasing sponsors by staying at the bottom ... Canberra Milk has been a wonderful sponsor as part of the Canberra community, supporting a sports team which is also a very significant part of the Canberra community. As has been said by others, we don't tell Syksey how to sell milk.
Some fans are threatening to boycott games and return memberships. What's your message to disgruntled fans?
Disappointed. If you take the AFL-type supporters ... regardless of where those teams are at in terms of positions on the ladder, those people still support through thick and through thin. I would like to think that the vast majority of our supporters are those type-supporters ... walking away from memberships, we'll see what happens at the end of this season.?
Does that mean you've written off chances for this year?
It doesn't mean we've written off chances for this year at all, but the next couple of weeks is going to tell that story.
Will David Furner see his contract out until the end of 2014?
Yes, most definitely.
How can you be so sure given his current winning percentage sits at 38 per cent?
The winning percentage of a football team has got absolutely no correlation with the ability of a coach. None at all. It's more about the individual performances of those fellas to make up a team. There'd be nobody working harder than David this week, that's why he took everybody away so they can forget about the comments on talkback radio and so on ...
Is the coach's job to bring those individuals together as a team. The results over the past two seasons haven't been good.
No, not at all. Again, it's just disappointing.
Are you confident David Furner has the support of players?
Yes. This will be the first time in about a month I've missed the captain's run ... there's certainly no signs of player discontent.
Because of the unexpected departure of Neil Henry after the 2008 season, was David Furner thrust into the role too early?
I wouldn't have thought so. I had discussed the possibility of him taking the job before Neil Henry was given the job. David himself said that was too early. It certainly wasn't too early when he took it up himself. He was confident, as was Ricky Stuart confident when he appointed him as an assistant coach for Origin as was Tim Sheens confident in his ability when he appointed him as assistant coach for the Australian team. I've got no concerns about that whatsoever.
There's speculation that Henry left the Raiders because he felt the club's plan was always to have David Furner succeed him. Is that right?
I know of nothing about that. Around that time if anybody felt under threat from anybody it was more likely to be Ricky Stuart at that time.
What do you mean?
He was the one being pushed as likely to be taking over from Matt Elliott in the first place. The reason that Henry left here and went up there [to North Queensland] was because he thought he'd have a better chance of winning a premiership with a Johnathan Thurston-led team. On reflection, looking at the results, he probably made the right choice ...
Is Ricky Stuart being considered for a future role at this club?
No. We have had exchanges over a period of time, but it's an inside joke between Ricky and I. Because he was called little JR in his playing days here, there was an association with him taking over from me when I retired. When there was an article [in a newspaper] a few years ago listing the top-10 salaries of sports administrators in NSW and my name wasn't there, I got a text message from Ricky to say he wasn't interested any more [laugh].
In early 2010, when David Furner was first under pressure to retain his job, did you or a member of the Raiders board approach Stuart to gauge his interest in becoming coach?
No, not myself and no one from the board.
What about any representative of the club?
I'm not sure about that.
My understanding is there was an approach made to Stuart in 2010 that caused some angst with David Furner.
I've got a recollection, it might have been in David's first year, that he had concerns. He came in with myself and a couple of other board members with [chief executive] Don [Furner] and we assured him his position was not under threat from Ricky Stuart or anybody because we'd heard that as well.
Ricky Stuart's name keeps coming up, can you categorically say he will not be at the club?
You never say never, who knows what's going to happen in 2015.
Has the club explored the option of coaching director role?
There's been limited discussion on that, but using the example at Eastern Suburbs [with Phil Gould as coaching director of Ricky Stuart] it was far from successful there ... it didn't have a good look about it sitting from afar ...
How can support be so unwavering, given you don't know what's to come in the next two years?
I don't like to think that I'm a grumpy old man but I am pretty boneheaded. I have a lot of confidence in my ability to know whether the right person is in the right job ...
Is the board unanimously supportive of David Furner?
Yes
So the board has discussed his position?
No we haven't.
How do you know the board is unanimously supportive?
David Furner's future has never been an agenda item at any board meeting.
So how do you know?
Our board is a hand-picked group of individual free-thinkers, and you could rest assured that if any of them thought that way it would be raised if it was on the agenda or not.
Where do the rumours stem from?
I've got no idea ... there's a lot of creative thinkers out there.
Mal Meninga was appointed as a mentor for David Furner this season as part of the club's review. Are you confident that relationship is working?
Yes. It's obviously limited through Origin. My impression was [Meninga] was going to come to Canberra the week after Origin I, I don't know whether in fact that happened ... the arrangement is between those two individuals that Mal would call David if something occurred to him and I'm sure David would do the same ... it's only fair to let Mal concentrate on Origin [at the moment] ...
David Furner's initial contract extended to the end 2012, why was it extended two years in advance (in December 2010)?
That was a management decision, not done by [Don Furner] but by the group general manager [Simon Hawkins]. It was done because of, it may have well been again these rumours of offers being made. When examined where the remuneration David was on by comparison with what coaches were getting elsewhere, it was decided by management to extend it and upgrade it.
But why so far in advance? The timing seems curious.
I don't know there's anything curious about the timing. That was a decision that was a proactive one to prevent the threat of something happening, because there's always a turnover of coaches out there in the marketplace so you jump in and take the positive action ...
Was there an approach to David Furner from another club?
Not specifically, but there doesn't have to be. But you've got to realise that if you're playing under the odds that can come back to haunt you. That's why in my back time as chief executive Mal Meninga, Gary Belcher, Ricky Stuart, Laurie Daley, Bradley Clyde never got any closer than about 18 months from the end of their contract.
If David Furner was still under his original contract, which expired at the end of this season, would you re-sign him now?
That's not for me to say, it's a management matter.
You're chairman of the Board though?
But management take that decision and make the recommendation to me because I've said time and time again, that partnership between the chief executive and the coach is the most important partnership.
But the chief executive is Don Furner, who said he's removed himself from coaching negotiations to avoid a conflict of interest with his brother.
But we've got a group general manager [Hawkins] that looks after those things that affect the whole group.
Did you play a personal role in David Furner's contract extension?
No ... The only thing I did on behalf of David Furner, was when I got wind of the fact David finished [his playing career] at Leeds and Ricky [Stuart] was coaching at the Roosters. I went out to Raiders headquarters and I said there's got to be a job here for him somewhere because I was confident at that time that he would make a successful first grade coach. Matty Elliott was happy to take him on as an assistant coach at that time because if we hadn't he'd have gone with Ricky to the Roosters...
You would have heard some of the backlash from fans that have been calling for you to step down?
?The people who say that are ignorant of the fact that the time I was chief executive, I was the one who made the phone calls and negotiations and carting Wayne Bennett around. If it hadn't been for the [Brisbane Broncos] stockbrokers that came down and made him an offer that couldn't be refused, he may still well be coaching the Canberra Raiders. I talk with Wayne on and off and he was the one who said after it had been done, I don't know if I asked Wayne the question ... he said to me 'tell your blokes they did the right thing appointing the young fella' and he was talking about David Furner...
Do you have any intention to stand down?
Not until I find somebody as boneheaded as me to take over. You've got to be thick-skinned, boneheaded, determined and passionate. In my defence I reflect on some of those past things, I do defend the [current] management because it's so much tougher now than it was in my time.
Is this Raiders board answerable to the fans?
They're the custodians on behalf of the fans. Their corporate responsibilities are spelt out in the legislation - the company's act. They've got to comply with corporate governance and they do ... changing the board is not going to change anything ...
The Parramatta Board fronted fans earlier this season, is that something you'd consider?
That's Parramatta's structure, that's their business, that's not our structure.
Is it the right structure?
It's there and like any other business it's on the market if anybody wanted to buy it, that's why it's set up that way. The Canberra Raiders were the first — now called NRL club — the first NRL club to become incorporated for that reason — to make it available as a package to be sold.
Are you putting it up for sale?
Not necessarily, I just wished Russell Crowe followed the other Green Machine instead of the Red and Greens [laugh].
Part of the off-season review examined the board's role. Is this board more conscious of its role?
They're conscious they've got to be seen as doing things in the best interests of the club and sacking the coach is not in the best interests of the club.
Has the off-season review failed?
No it hasn't. Without going into specifics, the position on the ladder has got nothing to do with the outcome of that review.
I understand John Waiser, who conducted the review, met with the board in the past fortnight to discuss its progress. Are you happy with the progress?
What needed to be implemented has been done.
Does David Furner have the right support around him?
David's very happy. They've got this leadership group [of players] that has got one of our board members on it, David Thom ... that presence in that leadership group would alert us if there was any player unrest.
The Raiders defeated Brisbane in the 2008 Under 20s grand final, but you compare where the Broncos have kicked on to now. Are the Raiders bringing juniors through to the NRL in the right way?
They haven't had the key player injuries like we've had in the past two years. What you've got to do, the ideal thing is to be able to develop a team where you don't revolve [around a key playmaker]. That's what the Broncos have been able to do, they've revolved around Lockyer, now they don't revolve around him.
The ACT Brumbies have lost their two first-choice flyhalves and they're top of the Australian competition at the moment?
You're comparing chalk and cheese. I don't watch much rugby but it would probably be fair to say without wanting to be sounding nasty and critical, I think it's more with the introduction of another franchise that the other teams in the Australian conference have come back to the Brumbies level rather than the Brumbies have improved to theirs ...
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/rugb...#ixzz1xEmMlZBs
Raiders chairman settles the score
Chris Wilson
June 9, 2012 - 12:00AM
John McIntyre is the patriarch of the Canberra Raiders, chairman and a successor to his father Les who founded the club in 1981.
McIntyre is the most powerful man in Canberra rugby league, so what he says goes. And right now the man, who admits he's "boneheaded", says Raiders coach David Furner is going nowhere.
You've been at the Raiders since the start, how do you view last weekend's 40-0 loss to the Wests Tigers at home?
From my experience it's probably our worst ever defeat given that the other times when scorelines might have been worse our level of expectation wasn't what it has been through this season. But it is so difficult these days with the restraints of the salary cap ... [when there's injuries] you've got to throw these young fellas in with your fingers crossed that the team hasn't been forced to put those fellas out there in the firing line too early.
Are fans justified to be frustrated?
Of course they're justified in being critical of that performance, but they're not justified in blaming the coach as a standout for it, they're not justified in blaming the board. The board's got bugger all to do with it, that sort of thing.
But home crowds are as small as they've been in a decade, are fans walking away?
The weather had a fair bit to do with that. We've still got our hard core of about 8,000 or 9,000 people.
A long-term sponsor, Gary Sykes of Canberra Milk, came out publicly this week saying he's considering his sponsorship arrangement. How does that sit with you?
Not good, but my view is sponsors enter into sponsorship because of corporate value, entertaining at the game. I was talking with another significant sponsor a couple of nights ago and he said from their point of view there's no point in being in the middle of the road — you're either on top or bottom, that way you get the most publicity [laugh]. I'm not too happy about pleasing sponsors by staying at the bottom ... Canberra Milk has been a wonderful sponsor as part of the Canberra community, supporting a sports team which is also a very significant part of the Canberra community. As has been said by others, we don't tell Syksey how to sell milk.
Some fans are threatening to boycott games and return memberships. What's your message to disgruntled fans?
Disappointed. If you take the AFL-type supporters ... regardless of where those teams are at in terms of positions on the ladder, those people still support through thick and through thin. I would like to think that the vast majority of our supporters are those type-supporters ... walking away from memberships, we'll see what happens at the end of this season.?
Does that mean you've written off chances for this year?
It doesn't mean we've written off chances for this year at all, but the next couple of weeks is going to tell that story.
Will David Furner see his contract out until the end of 2014?
Yes, most definitely.
How can you be so sure given his current winning percentage sits at 38 per cent?
The winning percentage of a football team has got absolutely no correlation with the ability of a coach. None at all. It's more about the individual performances of those fellas to make up a team. There'd be nobody working harder than David this week, that's why he took everybody away so they can forget about the comments on talkback radio and so on ...
Is the coach's job to bring those individuals together as a team. The results over the past two seasons haven't been good.
No, not at all. Again, it's just disappointing.
Are you confident David Furner has the support of players?
Yes. This will be the first time in about a month I've missed the captain's run ... there's certainly no signs of player discontent.
Because of the unexpected departure of Neil Henry after the 2008 season, was David Furner thrust into the role too early?
I wouldn't have thought so. I had discussed the possibility of him taking the job before Neil Henry was given the job. David himself said that was too early. It certainly wasn't too early when he took it up himself. He was confident, as was Ricky Stuart confident when he appointed him as an assistant coach for Origin as was Tim Sheens confident in his ability when he appointed him as assistant coach for the Australian team. I've got no concerns about that whatsoever.
There's speculation that Henry left the Raiders because he felt the club's plan was always to have David Furner succeed him. Is that right?
I know of nothing about that. Around that time if anybody felt under threat from anybody it was more likely to be Ricky Stuart at that time.
What do you mean?
He was the one being pushed as likely to be taking over from Matt Elliott in the first place. The reason that Henry left here and went up there [to North Queensland] was because he thought he'd have a better chance of winning a premiership with a Johnathan Thurston-led team. On reflection, looking at the results, he probably made the right choice ...
Is Ricky Stuart being considered for a future role at this club?
No. We have had exchanges over a period of time, but it's an inside joke between Ricky and I. Because he was called little JR in his playing days here, there was an association with him taking over from me when I retired. When there was an article [in a newspaper] a few years ago listing the top-10 salaries of sports administrators in NSW and my name wasn't there, I got a text message from Ricky to say he wasn't interested any more [laugh].
In early 2010, when David Furner was first under pressure to retain his job, did you or a member of the Raiders board approach Stuart to gauge his interest in becoming coach?
No, not myself and no one from the board.
What about any representative of the club?
I'm not sure about that.
My understanding is there was an approach made to Stuart in 2010 that caused some angst with David Furner.
I've got a recollection, it might have been in David's first year, that he had concerns. He came in with myself and a couple of other board members with [chief executive] Don [Furner] and we assured him his position was not under threat from Ricky Stuart or anybody because we'd heard that as well.
Ricky Stuart's name keeps coming up, can you categorically say he will not be at the club?
You never say never, who knows what's going to happen in 2015.
Has the club explored the option of coaching director role?
There's been limited discussion on that, but using the example at Eastern Suburbs [with Phil Gould as coaching director of Ricky Stuart] it was far from successful there ... it didn't have a good look about it sitting from afar ...
How can support be so unwavering, given you don't know what's to come in the next two years?
I don't like to think that I'm a grumpy old man but I am pretty boneheaded. I have a lot of confidence in my ability to know whether the right person is in the right job ...
Is the board unanimously supportive of David Furner?
Yes
So the board has discussed his position?
No we haven't.
How do you know the board is unanimously supportive?
David Furner's future has never been an agenda item at any board meeting.
So how do you know?
Our board is a hand-picked group of individual free-thinkers, and you could rest assured that if any of them thought that way it would be raised if it was on the agenda or not.
Where do the rumours stem from?
I've got no idea ... there's a lot of creative thinkers out there.
Mal Meninga was appointed as a mentor for David Furner this season as part of the club's review. Are you confident that relationship is working?
Yes. It's obviously limited through Origin. My impression was [Meninga] was going to come to Canberra the week after Origin I, I don't know whether in fact that happened ... the arrangement is between those two individuals that Mal would call David if something occurred to him and I'm sure David would do the same ... it's only fair to let Mal concentrate on Origin [at the moment] ...
David Furner's initial contract extended to the end 2012, why was it extended two years in advance (in December 2010)?
That was a management decision, not done by [Don Furner] but by the group general manager [Simon Hawkins]. It was done because of, it may have well been again these rumours of offers being made. When examined where the remuneration David was on by comparison with what coaches were getting elsewhere, it was decided by management to extend it and upgrade it.
But why so far in advance? The timing seems curious.
I don't know there's anything curious about the timing. That was a decision that was a proactive one to prevent the threat of something happening, because there's always a turnover of coaches out there in the marketplace so you jump in and take the positive action ...
Was there an approach to David Furner from another club?
Not specifically, but there doesn't have to be. But you've got to realise that if you're playing under the odds that can come back to haunt you. That's why in my back time as chief executive Mal Meninga, Gary Belcher, Ricky Stuart, Laurie Daley, Bradley Clyde never got any closer than about 18 months from the end of their contract.
If David Furner was still under his original contract, which expired at the end of this season, would you re-sign him now?
That's not for me to say, it's a management matter.
You're chairman of the Board though?
But management take that decision and make the recommendation to me because I've said time and time again, that partnership between the chief executive and the coach is the most important partnership.
But the chief executive is Don Furner, who said he's removed himself from coaching negotiations to avoid a conflict of interest with his brother.
But we've got a group general manager [Hawkins] that looks after those things that affect the whole group.
Did you play a personal role in David Furner's contract extension?
No ... The only thing I did on behalf of David Furner, was when I got wind of the fact David finished [his playing career] at Leeds and Ricky [Stuart] was coaching at the Roosters. I went out to Raiders headquarters and I said there's got to be a job here for him somewhere because I was confident at that time that he would make a successful first grade coach. Matty Elliott was happy to take him on as an assistant coach at that time because if we hadn't he'd have gone with Ricky to the Roosters...
You would have heard some of the backlash from fans that have been calling for you to step down?
?The people who say that are ignorant of the fact that the time I was chief executive, I was the one who made the phone calls and negotiations and carting Wayne Bennett around. If it hadn't been for the [Brisbane Broncos] stockbrokers that came down and made him an offer that couldn't be refused, he may still well be coaching the Canberra Raiders. I talk with Wayne on and off and he was the one who said after it had been done, I don't know if I asked Wayne the question ... he said to me 'tell your blokes they did the right thing appointing the young fella' and he was talking about David Furner...
Do you have any intention to stand down?
Not until I find somebody as boneheaded as me to take over. You've got to be thick-skinned, boneheaded, determined and passionate. In my defence I reflect on some of those past things, I do defend the [current] management because it's so much tougher now than it was in my time.
Is this Raiders board answerable to the fans?
They're the custodians on behalf of the fans. Their corporate responsibilities are spelt out in the legislation - the company's act. They've got to comply with corporate governance and they do ... changing the board is not going to change anything ...
The Parramatta Board fronted fans earlier this season, is that something you'd consider?
That's Parramatta's structure, that's their business, that's not our structure.
Is it the right structure?
It's there and like any other business it's on the market if anybody wanted to buy it, that's why it's set up that way. The Canberra Raiders were the first — now called NRL club — the first NRL club to become incorporated for that reason — to make it available as a package to be sold.
Are you putting it up for sale?
Not necessarily, I just wished Russell Crowe followed the other Green Machine instead of the Red and Greens [laugh].
Part of the off-season review examined the board's role. Is this board more conscious of its role?
They're conscious they've got to be seen as doing things in the best interests of the club and sacking the coach is not in the best interests of the club.
Has the off-season review failed?
No it hasn't. Without going into specifics, the position on the ladder has got nothing to do with the outcome of that review.
I understand John Waiser, who conducted the review, met with the board in the past fortnight to discuss its progress. Are you happy with the progress?
What needed to be implemented has been done.
Does David Furner have the right support around him?
David's very happy. They've got this leadership group [of players] that has got one of our board members on it, David Thom ... that presence in that leadership group would alert us if there was any player unrest.
The Raiders defeated Brisbane in the 2008 Under 20s grand final, but you compare where the Broncos have kicked on to now. Are the Raiders bringing juniors through to the NRL in the right way?
They haven't had the key player injuries like we've had in the past two years. What you've got to do, the ideal thing is to be able to develop a team where you don't revolve [around a key playmaker]. That's what the Broncos have been able to do, they've revolved around Lockyer, now they don't revolve around him.
The ACT Brumbies have lost their two first-choice flyhalves and they're top of the Australian competition at the moment?
You're comparing chalk and cheese. I don't watch much rugby but it would probably be fair to say without wanting to be sounding nasty and critical, I think it's more with the introduction of another franchise that the other teams in the Australian conference have come back to the Brumbies level rather than the Brumbies have improved to theirs ...
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