Cronulla last night delayed the decision on whether to sack Greg Bird after the player appeared before the club's board of directors for almost two hours.

Bird's manager, Gavin Orr, indicated after the meeting that it would become clear today whether Bird would see out his contract, which has four years to run. "We met with the board and got a fair hearing, and now we're going to wait for the results of that hearing until some time tomorrow," Orr said.

However, Sharks chairman Barry Pierce later emerged to say the board needed more time to deliberate over Bird's future. "We have only received today a 10-page reply to the club's show cause notice, issued on November 12, which has been discussed at length tonight with Greg and his legal counsel," Pierce said. "The full board will now continue its deliberations. The next scheduled full board meeting is on December 16 … there will be no decision tomorrow, I can assure you."

Bird has been stood down from playing or training with the club since August, when it is alleged he was involved in an incident with his girlfriend, Katie Milligan, which left Milligan with a fractured eye socket and Bird facing police charges.