Thrust into his position when Neil Henry slipped away via a little-known exit clause in 2008, Furner, only a few years retired from playing, had fewer coaching runs on the board than most when entrusted with an NRL club.

What he had was a unique position of support from the club's powerbrokers that has verged on the fanatical.

The son of the club's first coach, Don Furner snr, and the brother of the chief executive, Don jnr, he was a man who ''bled green''. He was one of the club's great players.

He has almost defined the term ''favourite son'', so much so that his chairman's wife changed his nappies.

While nepotism was an inevitable charge against his appointment, he was, in the view of former teammates and coaching colleagues, gifted enough to succeed with a team that had made the finals the previous year. He was given an extraordinary four-year term in charge, a dream opportunity for a rookie coach.

But Furner's first season in charge started in disaster, with the loss of seven of the first nine games. As the first headlines questioning his appointment were published, the team staggered to finish the year 13th, continuing an infuriating habit of making the finals then missing out in subsequent years.

In 2010 the club continued that record, but only in the most dramatic fashion. Midyear, with the team on a four-game losing streak and rumblings among the playing group, the Raiders stunned Manly at Brookvale, beginning an amazing winning sequence that led them into the finals, where they first beat Penrith then lost at home in a thriller to the Tigers.

On the back of that, the club very quietly extended his contract for another two years through until the end of the 2014 season.

That decision puzzled many and disquiet among the fan base reached an angry crescendo midway through 2011 when, after another horror run of defeats, board member John Mackay pledged Furner ''would have to lose another 30 games'' before his position was questioned.

Club chairman John McIntyre and former teammate Mal Meninga were among many who backed Furner through that season, and his position seemed as safe as ever.

By June 2012, the heat of media and fan scrutiny was on him again. Yet again, Furner's team turned around a mid-season crisis to make it through until the second week of the semi-finals.

It says a lot that this year has been more dramatic for Furner than any before it.

When Josh Dugan infamously gave the finger to his mobile phone on a rooftop in March, signs were that things weren't right off the field, even though the club was winning games and sitting soundly in the eight.

The pressure of recent events involving the futures of Blake Ferguson and Anthony Milford suggested a club in turmoil.

Yet, given the support for Furner over the past four years, no one saw it coming on Tuesday when one of the Furner brothers drove to the coast to end the other's coaching career at the club.

History had been made at a club that had until Tuesday afternoon boasted it had never sacked a coach.