It's quite obvious they made him walk with a juicy 500k payout, just like how the previous board made Pay walk out with a pay out......because if they really did leave "on their own terms", they would not of received a payout
Barrett was not an employee, he was a contractor and, as with terminating all contracts, both parties have to agree. Which means compromise from those involved.
My question is with the timing of all this?
Why would you sack Barrett, give him a payout and than bring in Potter for half a season and upgrade his contract to reflect that of a first grade coach....
You just contradicted you own argument, obviously Barrett wanted to leave and wasn't sacked.
More to the point who the fark cares who gets paid what on the coaching staff, there is no Salary Cap, you just pay a "tax" to the NRL if you exceed it. The fact is we have plenty of money, thanks to a very profitable leagues club, so no one give a shit about what coach gets paid what or when.
Wouldn't you leave Barrett until the end of 2022 and than give him his marching orders? It doesn't make sense if the club will "hopefully" have a coach by September, which means that it is likely a current contracted coach while sacking Barrett half way through the year?
Again further evidence that your claim of Barrett being sacked is illogical.
Could it be that the club already had a handshake agreement with a coach before Barrett was sacked?
Almost anything is possible, but it doesn't seem likely.
Could it be there is a current contracted coach who has cornered Gus to act now, giving him a guarantee that the job is vacant, instead of waiting until the end of the year where it "might" be vacant?
There would be nothing stopping a current coach from formally applying for the gig, coaches don't have a November 1 deadline, they can sign anytime they like (as long as their current contract doesn't preclude it). Sign up now and then take up the role when the preseason starts is quite common.
I find it hard to believe that a NRL club would sack their head coach half way through the year, in "hope" with replacing him with a contracted coach at the end of the year
There is no "hope" involved, there are plenty of aspiring NRL coaches, those that are assistant coaches aspiring to move up to head coach, those that are head coaches out of a job and those that are coaching at an inferior club that aspire to coach the mighty Bulldogs.
Always a Bulldog