Group 10 premiership favourites Oberon will wait until next week to determine if they’re in need of a new captain-coach for 2018 after standing down Luke Branighan 17 days out from round one.
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Oberon president Ian Christie-Johnson confirmed on Thursday the club had relinquished Branighan of the coaching duties, for the short term, after a mid-week meeting with the Tigers players.
Christie-Johnson says both the club and Branighan will sort through some “issues brought to the committee by the players” in a bid to have the gun captain-coach remain at the helm of the Tigers’ run to the 2018 premiership.
Both parties will meet again next week to determine if Branighan, who last season led the black and golds to its first Group 10 grand final in 42 years, has a tenable position at Tigerland.
Former NRL prop and off-season recruit Josh Starling has the caretaker’s job, alongside manager Darrin McFawn, while Branighan takes time off to sort through the issues.
Branighan has been named as player-coach of the Group 10 side to play in the All Stars game at Cowra on Sunday, but it’s unclear if he’ll be at Sid Kallas Oval in any capacity.
Christie-Johnson revealed the situation has been festering for nearly a month at Oberon.
The issues are off-field related, with the Tigers committee pleased with the way the team is performing on the back of final appearances at pre-season knockouts at Bathurst and West Wyalong.
“We’ve, by mutual agreement, stood Luke down for a little while as of (Wednesday) to sort some issues,” Christie-Johnson said.
“We’re hopeful to come to a resolution to sort out the problem. It’s not ideal and it’s not something clubs go into lightly. We’ve had several meetings and the playing group has been fully involved.”
The Tigers boss was hopeful Branighan will return to the role.
“We’ve been trying to do a rebuild and there’s a lot of community support and we’ve dug deep to build the team,” he said.
“The committee and the players are very supportive and want him back. We just need to talk to Luke next week.”
Branighan could not be reached for comment.