In fact, it made an offer to pay $4000 in legal bills to make it go away. But that may be about to change after this column obtained a series of text messages that clearly suggest that due process was not carried out when punting him from the club.

Carney was told by the boss of the club at the time, Steve Noyce, on the day Carney's "bubbling" went viral that nothing would happen to him.

Thirty minutes after Carney spoke to Noyce, Sharks players received a text message letting them know Carney had been sacked. Carney learnt he was gone by reading the message on Wade Graham's phone.

Now for the first time, we can show you the text messages from Cronulla board member Craig Airey to Carney, where Airey claims the board was not consulted, and that there was support among board members for Carney.

Airey clearly has a soft spot for Carney, and not much time for Noyce. There was even talk of a plan to bring Carney back to the Sharks.

Here are the messages that followed Carney's sacking on June 29 last year.

■ Text received by Carney on July 1 at 7.12pm (from Airey):

"No I haven't I'm in London. I read an article this morning that said the board had decided to sack you. That's not true, it was decided by Keogh and Noyce. I was never asked for my opinion and either were a number of others on the board. This decision will have repercussions for our 'friend'. I am so sorry mate, I will do everything I possibly can, I'm back on the 19th July and be around to see you. If you need anything just contact me."

■ Text received by Carney on July 5 at 11.18am (from Airey):

"Ok mate, I'm in your corner I've run the past a few people I trust on the board and have their support, if your catching your manager, the idea is to get you to apologise to NRL, Club and Fans and take responsibility, (will need to get some wording), to enter some sort of counselling/Rehab (Sharks to Pay), to then have you involved in ordinary work, (my company, don't have to attended), then for Sharks to apply to NRL around Dec to have you reinstated around rounds 3 or 4 next year. Very rough outline at the moment and the less people know about it the better chance of success, I've had a long call with Keogh and he doesn't know I'm talking to you, but has agreed that if you can 'lay low, have no more f--k ups we may go back to NRL and see what happens', keep positive mate and hold your head high, if you were a nobody this wouldn't be a problem, don't let people look down at you, everyone's got something they regret, yours is just public."

■ Text received by Carney on July 5 at 11.18am (from Airey):

"Hi mate I've got the numbers on the board to support my reinstatement plan, just need to get it happening, I'm sure more than ever we can get you back for start of 15!"

Under pressure: Jason Taylor. Photo: Anna Warr

Taylor's cloud

Ivan Cleary developed a very close working relationship with Justin Pascoe in their time together at Penrith – and it will be something that will hang over Jason Taylor the minute that results start to go the wrong way for the Tigers.

Taylor is already fighting battles on at least two fronts – Robbie Farah and Marty Taupau – and he needs to get off to a flyer if he gets the chance to coach the Tigers in 2016. It is worth explaining that Taylor has board support, but what is not known is that Cleary and Pascoe, who is now the Tigers chief executive, were so close that they worked together to move Trent Barrett on once he had committed to Manly.

What's more, they did it without the knowledge or the approval of Phil Gould. Ultimately that worked against Cleary. It wasn't the reason he was not required, but it played a part.

Cleary is in the Maldives, quite possibly wondering just how quickly things went south for him. But at some point, as he sits by a pool or dips in the ocean, he will know that Gould's decision was right. And it was one that Cleary saw coming. In fact, a few weeks ago Gould told Cleary that it was time for him to have a break. But after considering that for three weeks, Cleary said he wanted to coach on. But he knew in his heart his time was up.

It's only a small thing, but often they are telling: when Cleary's very promising son was negotiating a new deal with the Panthers, his agent wanted a get-out clause if his dad was no longer the coach. In other words, Ivan knew the writing was in big red letters on the wall.

Gould knows what it is like to be sacked as a coach. He got speared by Peter Moore after winning a comp, and was replaced by Moore's son-in-law, Chris Anderson.

Gould had no such relationship with Anthony Griffin. But he knew it was time for a change. He'd done his research, but only offered Griffin the job on Sunday night. Griffin accepted in a heartbeat.

Gould spoke to Griffin's manager, Wayne Beavis, on Friday to discuss what kind of package would be required and then told Griffin the first year of his deal may not be that great because of the cost of paying out Cleary.

Griffin will relocate this week and he's already had a three-hour tour of Penrith – driven around by Gould. Griffin is as country as his drawl and he loved the rural feel of Penrith.

Mum's the word

The organisers of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame awards and The Don award – taken out by Jason Day – deserve enormous credit for including the mums of the stars in the night's festivities. Day's mum, Dening, Mick Fanning's mum, Liz Osborne, and Julian Wilson's mum, Nola, all had a real connection, says Jarryd Hayne's mother, Jodie.

"It was the best night I've had in ages," Jodie said. "It was so nice to sit there with a group of mums who know what it is like to ride the roller-coaster with our sons. People think we are sitting back on our yachts sipping champagne ... but, as Dening Day said to me, it was nice to have a night out because we all have to work for a living.

"You know, our sons may be superstars in some people's eyes and, of course, they are in the eyes of us mums, but they still bleed and they still cry and they still need their mums. I was so excited when I found out I was sitting with them and they were so nice to me and saying such great things about Jarryd. I was a little bit blown away, to be honest. I had a real connection with Mick Fanning's mum, Liz ... we both raised our kids in the same area and we went through some of the experiences we had. I didn't ask her about the [shark] attack on Mick because I didn't think it was right to bring it up. Then they showed it on the big screen and I just gave Liz a hug when we watched it ... I know I had tears in my eyes and so did she. It's the kind of stuff that mums just really get and I knew she'd do it tough to watch it – no matter how many times she had seen it."

Ready to rock: Rick (left) and John Brewster (right) with Glenn Hillier and (front) Jeremy McQuillen and Luca Guarrera. Photo: Supplied

Angels, Hawks set to take flight

Legendary Australian rockers The Angels have had plenty of big hits in their time, and they're hoping the North Ryde Hawks under-eights produce a few in 2016. After hearing about the exploits of the Hawks under-sevens in 2015, founding band members Rick and John Brewster decided to sponsor them next year.

"We believe this is a first for the rugby league and music industry to come together for a sponsorship of a junior footy team and we are very proud to have The Angels on board," North Ryde Hawks president Glenn Hillier said.

Next year, the under-eights will wear jerseys featuring TheAngels' distinctive script logo on the front.

The Angels have sold more than 3 million albums throughout the world during 40 years in music. North Ryde have produced their share of big-name NRL stars, including Curtis Sironen, Mitchell Pearce, Dene Halatau and Matt Ryan.

Hayne options

And when it comes to Hayne, this columnist is as big a fan of his "chase your dream" story with the 49ers as there is. The phone started to ring on Friday as soon as he was made an "inactive" player for San Francisco's clash with the Seahawks. Rival clubs were saying that Hayne would end up at the Roosters as early as next year if things went south.

Yes, the Roosters have cap problems, but surely the NRL would come up with allowances to ensure that a player as good and as marketable as Hayne would get a start. If anyone could make it happen it would be Roosters head honcho Nick Politis. Here's hoping it doesn't get to that point and Hayne continues his NFL journey.

Father Ferguson

Blake Ferguson continues his maturation. He became a dad on Saturday. Mum and their 3.7-kilogram son are doing well.

Tiger troubles

There are more worrying stories coming out of the Tigers. We are hearing reports that will come out of the club saying they are not up to scratch when it comes to player welfare. It's worth keeping an eye on.

The official line

Paul Gallen had every reason to dislike departing NRL boss Dave Smith. Gallen once famously tweeted his thoughts and it cost him $35,000, and Smith changed the punching laws in the game following Gallen's crack at Nate Myles in an Origin match. Smith also oversaw the ASADA drama. But in the end the pair had a good relationship.

"We had a few moments and he cost me a few dollars," Gallen said, laughing. "But in the end I thought he was all right. We got on."

Gallen does have an issue, not just with Smith, but officials of the game in general. "What I struggle with, as someone who has been in the game all of my life, is that officials, if they are at Cronulla or at the NRL, can come in and make decisions that can affect the game or individuals and then they take off to other jobs and those involved in the game on a long-term basis are left to deal with what has taken place under that official's time in the game."

Danny Weidler is a Nine reporter.