The Cessnock Rugby League Club committee will meet on Wednesday night to back Kidd as first grade coach in 2018.

Cessnock secretary David Cleaves said the club was eager to retain Kidd as coach in 2018 and to mend any fractures from media reports and speculation over Kidd’s tenure.

Kidd said he had been contacted by Cleaves and would sit down with his family and a couple of close friends to decide whether he would have a change of heart about coaching next year.

At the end of the first year of a two year contract, Fairfax Media reported Kidd had written to the club last Wednesday morning to clarify his position amid rumours he could be sacked.

Kidd was believed to have expressed his view on back-room issues and his disappointment at a perceived lack of support from some members of the club’s committee.

Given the speculation over his future, Kidd was believed to have offered to negotiate a release from the final year of his contract.

“I asked some questions and didn't get the answers I was looking for, so we agreed to part ways,” Kidd told Fairfax Media last week.

Cleaves said Cessnock was deeply embarrassed by media speculation late last week which led to the club and Kidd parting ways.

“There was a lot of speculation about Steve’s position, which did not come from the committee, and we will meet on Wednesday night to try to rectify the unfortunate ramifications of that,” Cleaves said.

“Unfortunately, speculation from external sources led to this situation and we are very keen to rectify it and have Steve coaching Cessnock in 2018.”

Cleaves said Wednesday night’s meeting had been called to deliver the committee’s full backing for Kidd to continue as coach.

He said he was hopeful Kidd would rethink his position and that they could work out any issues at Wednesday’s meeting which had arisen out of the embarrassing media reports.

Kidd said on Monday night that he had been contacted by Cleaves and asked to stay as coach of the club.

“At this stage I couldn’t see myself going back, but I’ll never say never,” he said. 

“I don’t really know what has happened to lead in the change of heart.

“I just wanted to be there and be supported. I was basically told that wasn’t the case, I wasn’t supported and wasn’t really required. 

“I don’t know what has happened for them to change their mind.

“The fact that it made it to the papers is disappointing.

There was a lot of stuff that I wasn’t supposed to know about that was fed back to me. The whole thing is disappointing.

“I’ll let David (Cleaves) know how I’m feeling and I may attend the meeting on Wednesday night and go through some things and hear their response.

“I was disappointed how it was portrayed that I didn’t want to be there as that was never the case.