A tumultuous four years at the Saints
 
The sacking came just hours after Watters went on SEN 1116 and spoke of his confidence that he would remain with the club.

AFL.com.au understands the radio interview on Friday morning may have been the final straw for Watters.

Summers denied the claim at the press conference, saying the decision was made after a review. 

The coach hadn't been authorised by the club's media team to appear on SEN, and personally contacted the station to seek an appearance.

He then told the station he had approval to go to air, which he then did on Friday morning with hosts Andrew Maher and Tim Watson.

Frustrated club bosses have had ongoing struggles trying to keep the coach from running his own agenda.

In recent months there has been a breakdown in Watters relationship with football boss Chris Pelchen and other key personnel.

Despite numerous guarantees from Watters that he was prepared to toe the club's line, on Friday morning he appeared on air of his own accord, and within hours he was dismissed.

The departure of assistant coach Dean Laidley on Thursday is understood to have been another serious blow to Watters.
 
"I know where I sit. When the presidents sits and tells you that you have a long term future as coach, that's good enough for me and I'll get on with business," Watters told SEN.
 
He then addressed rumours of a rift between himself and head of football Chris Pelchen.
 
"I find that sort of statement almost laughable," he said. "Chris and I are absolutely perfectly aligned from that point of view and that really has been from day one. We have discussions about the list on an almost daily basis."

 
And he also refuted claims of a fall out with the club's senior players.
 
"Those sorts of speculative comments are so far off the mark it's a joke," he said.
 
"I think we have a great senior group really committed to where we're going. My conversations with Nick Riewoldt and Lenny Hayes, they're ongoing."
 
"It has been hard at times for them sitting there knowing the club has to go through a rebuilding phase and that's pretty challenging for senior players who three and four years ago were competing in Grand Finals.
 
"It's a natural thing for them to go through, but these are ongoing conversations and you look at year Nick had and Leigh Montagna finishing second in best and fairest, they've been outstanding."
 
Mark Neeld lasted less than a season and a half as coach of Melbourne, while Nathan Buckley has instigated a change in the playing culture at the Magpies.
 
Watters took over the Saints at a difficult time. He replaced the popular Ross Lyon 12 months after a second Grand Final defeat with an ageing player list and only mixed success at the draft before then.
 
Indeed in the SEN interview the morning of his sacking, Watters spoke of how the Saints had had less access to top 20 draft picks than any other AFL club in the last 10 years.
 
To address this, the Saints traded Ben McEvoy to Hawthorn and let Nick Sal Santo join North Melbourne as a free agent, which gave the club three picks inside the top 20 at the national draft later this month.
 
Watters played 109 games for West Coast, the Sydney Swans and Fremantle between 1989 and 1996 and coached WAFL club Subiaco to flags in 2007 and 2008 before joining Collingwood as an assistant coach.