Lodge in dust-up with Warriors owner

Cameron George has refused to comment on a $766,309 golden handshake for Matt Lodge but Warriors owner Mark Robinson – whose heated confrontation with the controversial player, in part, led to Lodge’s exit – hasn’t denied the figure.

George, the club’s chief executive, did confirm Robinson and Lodge’s fiery ‘‘debate’’ in the Belvedere Hotel last December and that it played a part in the former Brisbane Bronco’s shock exit last Friday, 24 hours before the Warriors lost to the Dragons.

Lodge’s departure was mysterious and abrupt and after George fronted the media yesterday, the situation remains just as baffling. Lodge instigated the release. ‘‘It’s not ideal. There’s nothing more to it. You boil it down you’ve got two guys who had an argument and it kept simmering along underneath and we came up with a solution,’’ George said.

‘‘I didn’t see the split but obviously underneath it might have been simmering a little bit.’’

Many Warriors fans are fuming with how the situation has been handled and it’s not hard to work out why.

George said he could understand fans being frustrated with how the Lodge split had unfolded but what had transpired was best for the club, the playing group and the people involved.

‘‘This is the best outcome we could come up with,’’ George said. ‘‘We had to do what’s best for everyone.’’

George confirmed the payment would stand against the salary cap for the remainder of this season and next and said the club was comfortable with that.

But for a club that has a history of having to pay overs to attract quality players and has made the top eight finals only once in the last decade, it has to be a massive disadvantage.

Lodge played only 14 games for the Warriors, a figure that was limited by suspensions.

It was Robinson who made the final call to buy Lodge out of his contract.

‘‘He doesn’t have to answer to anyone else,’’ George said of Robinson’s decision.

Robinson told the Daily Telegraph he and Lodge exchanged words late last year. He says Lodge never got over it.

‘‘We had an argument in a hotel, two alpha males in a pub last December,’’ Robinson said.

‘‘Two days later we shook hands and moved on but it never came right.

‘‘Plus, he didn’t want to come back to New Zealand next year.’’