Google News
Newsbot
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2005
- Messages
- 79,853
- Reaction score
- 34
Hughes, who captained the Bulldogs against the Sharks yesterday, has appealed a $10000 fine imposed after the 29-year-old retaliated against beer-fuelled ...
Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/4067387a10713.html
Corey exit political: Hughes
Roy Masters and Jamie Pandaram
May 21, 2007
BULLDOGS hooker Corey Hughes will not be offered a contract for next year because the club is anxious to rid itself of the last member of the Hughes clan, according to family members.
Hughes, who captained the Bulldogs against the Sharks yesterday, has appealed a $10,000 fine imposed after the 29-year-old retaliated against beer-fuelled antagonists who abused him at a Kembla Grange race meeting.
His manager and uncle, Graeme Hughes, said he received a phone call from Bulldogs coach Steve Folkes stating the appeal is the reason for the club's decision not to re-sign Corey.
With Corey's father, Garry - a former Bulldogs football manager - and another uncle, Mark, no longer working for the club, the Hughes family is convinced Corey is a victim of a purge by the new administration led by president George Peponis and chief executive Malcolm Noad.
The Hughes brothers, Folkes and Peponis all played in Canterbury's 1980 premiership team, demonstrating that when fallouts occur at Belmore, the chemistry can be worse than that in the Parramatta River.
Graeme Hughes, angry it was left to Folkes to communicate the message of the club's disinterest in Corey, said the coach was willing to re-sign the hooker but possible legal action over the fine was an issue.
"I cannot believe the head coach can't get his way, but it is the Mal and George show," Graeme said in reference to the Noad-Peponis partnership. A Bulldogs spokesman said last night: "It's the club's policy not to comment publicly on the status of contract negotiations, such as with Corey. It is disappointing, but not surprising, that his manager has chosen to air private discussions."
Hughes indicated the club had gone downhill since the exit of patriarch Peter Moore, uncle of the Hughes brothers. "We look forward to someone, some day, standing up to be counted at the club," he said.
The sentiment was shared by his brother, Garry, who was sacked by the club in fall-out to the Coffs Harbour scandal of 2004 which saw players cleared of rape allegations.
"I'm absolutely disgusted," Garry said. "They've got a bloke who knows and understands the history of the club, and they tell him, 'We no longer need you'.
"I can't ever be disgusted with a bloke like [Bulldogs doctor] Hugh Hazard, who has been there for a very long time and is a great bloke, and I can't say I'm disgusted with the club itself. I am disgusted with the people making the decisions.
"I can only hope that in the future, decent people come back and make the club what it was again. The values and traditions which have made the Bulldogs so strong for such a long time no longer exist."
Graeme Hughes said Corey had appealed to the NRL over the fine, but that the matter is unresolved. He claimed Folkes had told him no employer offers re-employment to someone pursuing legal action. "I want it out there that Corey and I were told he is suing the club," he said. "He is not."
Corey said: "I am absolutely shattered. I love the players and the club and the group that I've played with over the time. I would have dearly liked to have finished my career at the club."
Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/4067387a10713.html
Corey exit political: Hughes
Roy Masters and Jamie Pandaram
May 21, 2007
BULLDOGS hooker Corey Hughes will not be offered a contract for next year because the club is anxious to rid itself of the last member of the Hughes clan, according to family members.
Hughes, who captained the Bulldogs against the Sharks yesterday, has appealed a $10,000 fine imposed after the 29-year-old retaliated against beer-fuelled antagonists who abused him at a Kembla Grange race meeting.
His manager and uncle, Graeme Hughes, said he received a phone call from Bulldogs coach Steve Folkes stating the appeal is the reason for the club's decision not to re-sign Corey.
With Corey's father, Garry - a former Bulldogs football manager - and another uncle, Mark, no longer working for the club, the Hughes family is convinced Corey is a victim of a purge by the new administration led by president George Peponis and chief executive Malcolm Noad.
The Hughes brothers, Folkes and Peponis all played in Canterbury's 1980 premiership team, demonstrating that when fallouts occur at Belmore, the chemistry can be worse than that in the Parramatta River.
Graeme Hughes, angry it was left to Folkes to communicate the message of the club's disinterest in Corey, said the coach was willing to re-sign the hooker but possible legal action over the fine was an issue.
"I cannot believe the head coach can't get his way, but it is the Mal and George show," Graeme said in reference to the Noad-Peponis partnership. A Bulldogs spokesman said last night: "It's the club's policy not to comment publicly on the status of contract negotiations, such as with Corey. It is disappointing, but not surprising, that his manager has chosen to air private discussions."
Hughes indicated the club had gone downhill since the exit of patriarch Peter Moore, uncle of the Hughes brothers. "We look forward to someone, some day, standing up to be counted at the club," he said.
The sentiment was shared by his brother, Garry, who was sacked by the club in fall-out to the Coffs Harbour scandal of 2004 which saw players cleared of rape allegations.
"I'm absolutely disgusted," Garry said. "They've got a bloke who knows and understands the history of the club, and they tell him, 'We no longer need you'.
"I can't ever be disgusted with a bloke like [Bulldogs doctor] Hugh Hazard, who has been there for a very long time and is a great bloke, and I can't say I'm disgusted with the club itself. I am disgusted with the people making the decisions.
"I can only hope that in the future, decent people come back and make the club what it was again. The values and traditions which have made the Bulldogs so strong for such a long time no longer exist."
Graeme Hughes said Corey had appealed to the NRL over the fine, but that the matter is unresolved. He claimed Folkes had told him no employer offers re-employment to someone pursuing legal action. "I want it out there that Corey and I were told he is suing the club," he said. "He is not."
Corey said: "I am absolutely shattered. I love the players and the club and the group that I've played with over the time. I would have dearly liked to have finished my career at the club."
