David Furner's support for Blake Ferguson contributed to Raiders sacking Canberra Raiders chairman John McIntyre say David Furner's support for troubled star Blake Ferguson contributed to his sacking as coach.
Furner had been head coach of the Canberra rugby league side since 2009 and had a year to run on his contract.
The Raiders board decided to terminate his contract on Tuesday after lobbying by some players in the wake of Canberra's 28-16 loss to the Bulldogs on Saturday.
Raiders chairman John McIntyre says he had no hesitation but to quickly call a board meeting after being briefed on the players' meeting.
And in the end McIntyre says a tough decision had to be made.
"At the end of the day it was unanimous but myself and a couple of other directors were very close to the family," McIntyre said.
"But you have to sit back and make the decisions in the best interests of the future of the club."
McIntyre says Furner's support for Ferguson was partly the reason for his dismissal as was not implementing some of the recommendations from a 2012 review of the club.
Ferguson is due to face an assault charge that goes to court again next month, after originally adjourned, but has been reinstated to the team.
"I don't think it was entirely that (supporting Ferguson), it was partly due to that and obviously associated with a number of other things that were supposed to have come out of a pretty comprehensive review that was done.
"Some of those recommendations that we saw as being vital were not taken up and fulfilled in a way that we would have expected."
McIntyre said communication with the players was one aspects but he declined to refer to further details.
"David's got his future to think of and we don't want to be too critical," he said.
Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-21/furner-support-for-ferguson-behind-raiders-sacking/4901390
Topic: McIntyre says Furner's support for Ferguson partly contributed to sacking
