Penrith 2003 premiership forward, Joel Clinton, has launched explosive criticism at his 2009 Brisbane Broncos head coach, Ivan Henjak.
Speaking on the Andy Raymond Unfiltered podcast, Clinton, 43, didn’t hold back when asked about his final season at the Queensland glamour club in 2009, having been recruited by super coach, Wayne Bennett, in 2008.
“I signed for three years, but unfortunately he (Bennett) was only there for one,” Clinton lamented, revealing he'd struggled with injury throughout the 2008 season.
“The year I went to Brisbane was the worst year of my career, I went and spoke to Wayne about it, I started to come good—and then he left.”
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Ivan Henjak assumed the Brisbane reins in 2009 following Bennett’s much-publicised move to the St. George Illawarra Dragons, and whilst the NRL season began well enough for Clinton, they soon took a turn for the worse.
“That next year (2009) I really knuckled down,” Clinton recalled.
“My stats were great, I was one of Brisbane’s best forwards, but Ivan Henjak didn’t see eye to eye with me.”
“He upset quite a few boys there, I had another year on my contract, but I asked for a release.
“(Former Panthers coach) Johnny Lang had called me up and asked me to come to Souths for three years on a good deal, good coin, and I knew my time was up with Ivan.
“I asked for three releases, and he said ‘no we’re keeping you’.”
Clinton accepted he’d being seeing out his contract with the Broncos—then his manager, David Riolo, called on Mad Monday and his NRL career turned upside down.
“It came to the end of 2009, and I got a phone call from my manager, I’d been on the p*ss for 24 hours straight, and he said ‘yeah, they don’t want you next year’,” Clinton revealed.
“By then all the salary cap was gone, there was no money left at Souths, there was a little at Wests, but to get the money I was after at 28, I had to go to the UK, purely because of (Henjak).
“If he could have f****ed me around any more he would have, I tried three times to get out of that contract, and he wouldn’t release me.
“You’re at that time of your life where you want to get every cent you can out of the game, and that was the reason I ended up in the UK.
“It was upsetting—and I still hold a bit of a grudge about it to this day.
“I haven’t seen him (Henjak) since, but I’m looking forward to running into him and giving him my opinion.”
Clinton signed for Hull Kingston Rovers in the UK and played 59 games between 2010 and 2012.