Graham is over and out
IT seems a strange admission from a man who has achieved so much in a career spanning business, sports administration, politics and refereeing.
However Graham Annesley, who officially winds up his tenure at the Titans on October 26 after four weeks of annual leave which starts today, insists most of his career has happened “organically”.
His move back to the NRL as head of elite football programs comes not as a result of hunting a job at league headquarters in Sydney but because Annesley realises it would be folly to pass up the offer from boss Todd Greenberg to play such a significant whole of game role in one of Australia’s most popular sports.
Timing is everything in sport and Annesley’s return has been welcomed by many who have bemoaned the lack of football IQ at headquarters.
But having spent the past five years fighting to keep an NRL team on the Gold Coast and overseeing the transition of the club back to stability in private ownership with the Kelly and Frizelle families, Annesley believes the Titans are on the cusp of success.
“In some ways I leave with very mixed emotions,” Annesley said.
“I think it probably is a good time now that we’re back under private ownership and everything is stable and the dramas of the past are behind us, so I think it is time for someone to come in with some fresh ideas and give the club an added direction.
“The offer that came from the NRL is a big role that’s across the whole game.
“But I had to think very hard about that too because I’ve invested so much in this club in helping to rebuild it, that in many ways, I would have loved the opportunity to be around for another couple of years to see it reach its potential on the field that I think we’re well on the way to reaching off the field.
“But of course, timing doesn’t always work out exactly and if I’d rejected the offer at the NRL it probably wouldn’t have come again.
“I’m still going to be in the game, so hopefully I’ll be able to watch this club do very well and reach its potential both on and off the field and get some satisfaction out of the fact that I was part of that.”
TITANS TENURE
IT’S difficult to overstate the impact that Annesley has had on the Titans.
Recruited in 2013 by former owner Michael Searle while a sitting member in the NSW Legislative Assembly, Annesley was as significant a recruit as any on-field star. But the former elite referee and NRL chief operating officer quickly realised his Coast move would be no holiday.
“It’s hard to recall exactly when I realised things were in a bit of strife,” Annesley said.
“I don’t think it was immediately but as the weeks and the months passed in the first year I was here it became apparent that we weren’t generating enough revenue to keep us alive and there were any number of occasions where I had to go to Darryl Kelly and say to him that unless there was an injection of funds into the bank account, the club couldn’t meet its commitments.
“Darryl kept bailing us out until the NRL came along and changed the ownership model and then they became the party funding the club.”
Body blows that would have broken many, rained down early for Annesley.
Former owner and founder Searle left the club and foundation coach John Cartwright were axed, while the Titans were forced to sever ties with the Centre of Excellence at Robina.
But it was a player drugs scandal that hit as they were in temporary accommodation that hurt most, coming just ahead of the body blow of the club being placed briefly in voluntary administration before the NRL took over.
“Clearly the whole episode we went through with the drug scandal was probably the low point for everybody,” Annesley said.
It seemed the Titans boss was facing the media every other week during 2014 and 2015 as rumours swirled about the club’s future.
HIS LEGACY
GOLD Coast executive chairman Dennis Watt has worked
alongside Annesley for the past year at the Titans.
But as the former Brisbane Broncos chairman, Watt has a unique perspective on Annesley’s performance, having been both inside and outside the inner sanctum.
“He’s a man of honour and integrity but he’s also showed, along with the club, remarkable resilience,” Watt said.
“He’s the man who’s had to face the music on every occasion when things are going wrong – and plenty of things were going wrong – including when they (the Titans) were actually homeless.
“All those other people (the Kelly and Frizelle families and Titans staff) deserve credit too but for many people, Graham’s been the face of it all. He’s been that man who has always gone out there and been accountable.
“He really will be missed, not just in the club but in the Gold Coast community.”
FINAL FAREWELL
ANNESLEY says there have been many more highs than lows during his time at the club though – and he certainly never regretted coming to the club.
“There were plenty of challenges to me but that’s no different to any other job,” he said. “You’re confronted with challenges and you try to overcome them. So I never got too bogged down worrying about: ‘What have I done, why am I here?’
“I was more concerned about how do we address these issues and keep moving forward.”