Fulton was apoplectic.

“I’ve been thrown under the bus — it’s outrageous,” he told Fairfax Media. “I’m watching and thinking, ‘What have I done wrong?’ I was in a bind. I couldn’t work out what the situation was. I had no idea that this was going to happen, otherwise I would’ve been proactive in trying to solve this.” As this column wrote in December, when the NRL released “preliminary findings” into alleged cheating at Manly, Fulton has been the elephant in the room in this so-called scandal. He was parachuted into Manly in 2015 by co-owner Scott Penn to help turn the club’s on-field performance around. He was in charge of recruitment, he convinced captain Daly Cherry-Evans to backflip on his deal at the Titans to eventually stay (‘‘It took some massaging and telling him what we were going to do’’) and he came agonisingly close to getting Kieran Foran to renege on his deal at Parramatta (‘‘We were as close as it gets’’). Then he suddenly stood down in October last year, declaring that his work was done. But it raised suspicions that he didn’t want to front the integrity unit and answer any hard questions. In December, I gave him the chance to clear the air publicly, but he declined. But he’s speaking now. He’s furious because he doesn’t know any detail around what he’s been accused of. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video

“I want transparency,” Fulton said. “I want to have a conversation with whoever I need to talk to — Todd Greenberg or [chief operating officer] Nick Weeks or [integrity unit boss] Karyn Murphy or whoever — to set me straight on what I have done. ‘‘I want clarity. I want them to be transparent. It’s all right for others. They’ve got a breach notice and they know what they have to answer. I just don’t know. Everybody who has been involved in this from Manly have had an opportunity. I’ve been given dribs and drabs of information, but nowhere near as much as I should have got when my name has been mentioned. That’s why I am so angry because I have had no access to anything.” Firestorm: Todd Greenberg (left) and NRL chief operating officer Nick Weeks front the media on Monday. Credit:AAP Fulton is also angry because he says he told Greenberg in August about his intentions to stand down. He didn’t rush out the door before Murphy came knocking. And he’s angry he’s been reportedly “banned” from the game when he no longer had any official role and doesn’t want one. He is no longer an Australian selector. “I pulled out as an Australian selector after the World Cup!” he said. “I got out of all forms of the game. The only thing I am doing is with Ray Hadley [on 2GB] on the weekend. Or I go and watch the grandkids play. I’m 70 years old.”

What he is most angry about is that he says he told Murphy he was prepared to be interviewed face-to-face when he returned from a holiday in Honolulu but didn’t get that chance after Murphy had told him Greenberg wanted the investigation wound him. “I offered my services in a face-to-face interview,” Fulton said. “I’ve got a number of text messages indicating that. I’ve got evidence to say that I put myself up for interview. I’ve given them my phone. I’ve done everything I possibly could to assist the process.” Loading For their part, the NRL says they are comfortable with the way they have handled Fulton and the rest of the investigation. “We interviewed the people we wanted to interview,” Weeks said at Monday’s media conference.

Said Greenberg when asked if Fulton would not be allowed back in the game: ‘‘That’s an inference you can say. The reality is I have no jurisdiction over Bob Fulton. That’s the reality of the rules.’’