The thing that is holding that up is Price has nowhere to go. If he had a job offer and the option to go now, we couldn’t need to pay him off. If Henderson was to be appointed to replace Powell, we could then negotiate a release to essentially swap them. But we won’t pay off Price and buy out Powell’s contract.
There are some jobs coming up in the NRL though I would imagine. Barrett can’t have long left at the Bulldogs if they don’t start performing. Fitzgibbon is leaving the Roosters for the Sharks at the end of the year, so an Assistant role there may come up and be appealing. Or he could go with Fitzgibbon to the Sharks, he has history as an assistant there. Maybe his old mate Holbrook will take him up to the Gold Coast with him.
It’s a difficult position to be in. Sometimes when a coach announces he’s leaving, that evokes a response, almost as if the players are indebted to him and they try to send him off with a win. But without that, it is easy to lose the control of the dressing room, as someone else is doing the hiring and firing (quite publicly too).
If I were KFP, I’d be meeting with Hughes, Hill, Ratchford, D Clark and testing the water of the senior players. We have 2 games before the cup quarter, which is immediately followed by fans being back on the stadiums. If the players don’t back Price, and won’t play for him, cut him loose and put an assistant in charge.
If we lose against Catalan, which is possible, they’re a good team and back that up with a loss or even a poor performance against HKR, it’s backs to the wall for the cup game. That’s a must win or the environment will be toxic when fans get back in. The whole occasion will be soured.
