In a sport where close secrets are as rare as rocking horse droppings, the sudden announcement of David Gallop departure as ARLC chief executive took everyone by surprise.

The news broke as media assembled for a NSW State of Origin team media call at a Sydney hotel on a Tuesday afternoon that had appeared to be one of a routine build-up to next week’s game two at ANZ Stadium.

Players, media, team staff and NRL officials alike were shocked by a media release at 1.55pm announcing the abrupt end to Gallop’s 10-year reign as the game’s most senior administrator.

A media conference was convened for 3.30pm at Rugby League Central, the shiny new state-of-the-art HQ opened this year which Gallop often spoke about with pride.

It was a building he’d said was testament to the direction the code was heading under the new Australian Rugby League Commission, led by elected chairman John Grant.

And it was there that the 46-year-old was ousted from his position, just four months into a four-year contract, by the eight-person commission led by Grant, a former Kangaroos winger with a hard-nosed business approach developed as the head of his own successful software company.

Grant and Gallop held separate press conferences one after the other.

Gallop walked in through a separate door as Grant departed from another.

The ARLC chairman had unconvincingly insisted to the media throng that the decision was mutual, then admitted the game needed a change of direction with a lot more money about to come in under the looming new broadcast deal.

While praising Gallop’s contribution, he rather pointedly observed the game had been “reactive” during his 10-year reign as NRL CEO, when more limited by financial constraints and an unwieldy structure.

Gallop, looking mentally drained, walked into the room flanked by his loyal, long-serving director of communications John Brady.

Although he held himself together in a dignified manner, the tension in the room was almost tangible as he discussed his departure and expressed his pride at the resurgence he oversaw.

He noted that he’d been used to doing things his way – a clear indication that could no longer be the case under Grant – but accepted that after 10 years it was “the right time for a fresh approach”.

Having stoically dealt with countless scandals and controversies in his time at the top, he had some advice for those taking over.

“The game does have a unique ability to attack itself and that passion needs to be harnessed,” he said.

And as thunder clouds gathered over Sydney’s east, Gallop left the same room where, less than five months ago, he and Grant had sat side by side talking of a brave new rugby league world and how they would work together.

In a game where egos have a habit of clashing, the pair were never going to be a match made in heaven and many doubted it would last the distance.

No one envisaged it wouldn’t last the year.