King Henry defends his Titans crown

WHAT GOLD COAST COACH NEIL HENRY SAID IN HIS EMOTIONAL PRESS CONFERENCE FOLLOWING THE LOSS TO PARRAMATTA:

* Do you expect to be coaching the side next week?

“Until someone says I’m not. We’ll do our reviews tonight with the coaching staff and tomorrow we’ll look at some vision with the players, do our recovery. Hopefully it’s not my last game at the club, I’m contracted and I want to stay here.”

* Has it been hard for the team to focus?

“It’s been pretty relentless. That comes with it, it’s not pleasant, you try to take the heat off the team. The boys, being able to get that white noise away, they really came out and in the first 20 minutes they got into them. It’s a credit to them, it’s a young team. You’ve got Morgan Boyle, Ben Nakubuwai on debut, he got called in because Jarrod Wallace’s knee didn’t respond.”

* Have you taken it personally?

“It’s tough. You can try and deflect some of it but it’s hard. But it’s not just me, my family, people that know you. But I’ve got people who support me and I’m a realist about things. You can’t control a lot of stuff that’s happening.”

* Were Kane Elgey and Ash Taylor rattled by stories they had threatened to leave the club?

“I tried to settle them down, Kane was really upset when the back page came out. He’s said ‘where’s that come from?’ He addressed that. Ash Taylor said the same thing. You can fabricate a story, have no decent quotes in it, you can run it back page. You can throw it out there and it’s my integrity, my character, my image. It’s two young halves and you’ve put them out there and you’ve got absolutely nothing in there that validates that headline.”

*Are there people out to get you?

“I think it’s relentless. And Dessy (Hasler) has been through it too. Once you get something, they keep rolling with it. The normal thing is you win a couple of games, it goes away for a bit and it might come back. It’s been tough and it’s been talked about a lot. I’m determined to stay here until I’m told otherwise. We’re trying to build something on the coast.”

* Can you and Jarryd Hayne work together next year?

“We’re both contracted and professional. There’s this so-called feud, we’re getting on with it, we’re talking game plans, he gets out there and does it. He’s one of our players. It’s a pity he wasn’t out there tonight against his old club, hopefully he’s right for next week and his ankle’s OK.”

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