Greg Inglis reneged on deal with Brisbane Broncos due to concerns over then coach Ivan Henjak SOUTH Sydney ace Greg Inglis reneged on a handshake deal with Brisbane over concerns about a culture of "paranoia" at the Broncos that eventually led to coach Ivan Henjak's sacking. As Souths prepare to take on Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium tonight, News Limited can reveal the reasons for Inglis backing out of his Broncos deal In August 2010, Broncos recruitment chief Andrew Gee engineered one of the club's great coups when he shook hands with Inglis on a two-year deal worth $1.2 million. But ex-Broncos boss Bruno Cullen was left stunned when Inglis baulked, announcing his defection to Souths days before he was due to fly to Brisbane to formalise the deal. Inglis has never publicly detailed the motivations for his Broncos backflip. But Henjak's failure to personally meet Inglis during talks, coupled with a toxic environment and scathing critiques of the coach from Broncos players, convinced the Maroons star he would not settle at Red Hill. Henjak was sacked six months later after an internal review, leaving Broncos insiders to rue the sight of Inglis terrorising rivals for Souths. "Right until the death, Greg was going to the Broncos, but I don't think he heard from Ivan Henjak," his manager Allan Gainey said. He got on well with Andrew Gee but Greg didn't know where he stood with Ivan. Then Russell (Crowe, Souths co-owner) made his move. Queensland superstar Greg Inglis (L) never knew where he stood with former Brisbane Broncos coach Ivan Henjak (R). Greg dealt mainly with 'Gee Gee'. He knew Ivan, obviously, but there were no formal meetings or conversations. The biography of Darren Lockyer, the Broncos skipper at the time, laid bare the "pressure cooker environment" under Henjak that Inglis feared entering. "His obsessive nature and the intense media scrutiny on his performances as coach often led to him being on the edge," Lockyer wrote of Henjak. It sometimes felt as though we were paddling upstream . . . the tension and negativity emanated from his body language. Asked if Inglis was concerned at settling under Henjak, Gainey said: "I got the feeling there was a bit of that. The senior players there didn't know who was going to be coaching, there was a bit of angst towards Ivan and the word was the place was a bit disjointed. Greg felt all of that. I was honest with Greg. I said, 'Mate, you do have a handshake agreement, but there are circumstances where I can see where you are coming from'. At that point, there was nothing signed. If he had signed, we would have had to ask Brisbane for a release. I told Greg, 'You are going to cop flak over this but it won't last forever and if it's what you want to do it's your decision'. There was a lot of talk about how much the Broncos could afford under the salary cap. But then Souths came into it. Greg felt he could engage himself with the indigenous community in the South Sydney area and he has a great respect for 'Madge' (Souths coach Michael Maguire). That was the clincher for him. A source close to Inglis added last night: "Greggy left Melbourne vulnerable after the salary cap scandal and wanted to be with a club that would show him some love. He didn't get that feeling from Henjak. That's why he ended up at Souths. Henjak's coaching successor, Anthony Griffin, says the Broncos are wary of the threat posed by Inglis tonight. He is their X-factor player. He can run 100 metres on you if you relax on him," Griffin said. How we handle him on kick-chase and in general play will be a big part of whether we are successful or not.