Monday Buzz: Weekend highlights, lowlights

BEST tackle in 10 years, NRL’s tough call, where is the players’ union and more — check out the highlights, lowlights and talking points from another memorable weekend in sport.

Jackson Hastings training with the Sea Eagles earlier this year.

CHECK out the highlights, lowlights and talking points from another memorable weekend in sport.

HIGHLIGHT

Penrith centre Dean Whare’s phenomenal hit on Canterbury Bulldogs five-eighth Jeremy Marshall-King was as good as any tackle I’ve seen in the past decade.

HIGHLIGHT II

The incredible toughness and durability of Jeremy Marshall-King to get back to his feet and continue playing.

MORE MONDAY BUZZ: Manly in turmoil on and off the field

HIGHLIGHT III

Two screaming A-League semi-finals to set up a decider in Newcastle between the Jets and Melbourne Victory. #GotheJets

LOWLIGHT

A shocking crowd of 5700 at Brookvale Oval for the Manly Sea Eagles game against the Newcastle Knights. Don’t blame the unpopular 6pm kick-off time. This was more a case of northern peninsula fans boycotting the most poorly run club in the game.

SPOTTED

The Mayor of Gunnamatta, Marty Downs, driving an $800,000 Rolls Royce Wraith (2018 model), near his Southern Highlands estate over the weekend.

SPOTTED II

NRL media man Glenn Jackson refereeing his daughter’s under-8s soccer game on the north shore on Saturday morning.

SPOTTED III

Sharks coach Shane Flanagan enjoying the business-class luxury of his Virgin Airlines flight home from the Gold Coast on Sunday.

A TOUGH HALL

The NRL has revealed the next 25 players to be considered for induction into the Hall of Fame when six names are added in August. To give you an idea of how exclusive this club is, outstanding players such as Gavin Miller, Nathan Hindmarsh, David Gillespie and Brett Kimmorley have missed out.

Jackson Hastings training with the Sea Eagles earlier this year.

SILENT UNION

Why is the NRL players’ union doing nothing about the apparent victimisation of Jackson Hastings at the Manly Sea Eagles? Every player deserves the right to be picked on form, not popularity.

LET’S WRAP IT UP

Catch you on NRL 360 tonight with Ben Ikin and Paul Kent to discuss the biggest issues from round eight of the premiership and later on Controversy Corner during Yvonne Sampson’s Big League Wrap.

NRL FICTION PARADED AS FACT

THE new home of fake news is the NRL’s $150 million digital department.

This has become nothing more than a propaganda machine for chief executive Todd Greenberg and his #NRLtalkthegameup campaign.

Last week NRL journalist Brad Walter interviewed his boss about the state of the NRL in a longwinded, 2200-word piece that avoided Greenberg’s handling of the Matt Lodge situation, refereeing mistakes, bunker blunders, the rejection of two women’s teams from an elite competition and other ­issues.

Afterwards, Walters tweeted the interview: “Crowds are up, television ratings are up, player participation numbers are up”.

This was almost identical to Greenberg’s own tweet two weeks earlier: “In 2018 our crowds are up, TV ratings are up, participation/junior registrations are up, investment into grassroots is up.”

In 2018 our crowds are UP...TV ratings are UP....participation/junior registrations are UP....investment into grassroots is UP....investment into our clubs & players is UP...Premiership games played in the bush are UP...Revenues are UP...Costs are DOWN....#NRLtalkthegameup

— Todd Greenberg (@Todd_Greenberg) April 15, 2018

Crowds are up, televisions ratings are up, player participation numbers are up – and player misbehaviour is at an all time low
CBA helping to keep off-field incidents down: Greenberg https://t.co/zpGXLHC8gt via @NRL pic.twitter.com/HhKCUFvc3z

— Brad Walter (@BradWalterSport) April 27, 2018

Let me make one thing clear. There are some very good journalists on the NRL site who are hamstrung by their ultimate bosses and their demand to #NRLtalkthegameup.

That the game is spending $150 million to talk itself up in this manner is a disgrace.

And let’s properly analyse Greenberg’s fake news and the spin against actual facts.

TV ratings are not up this year. Fox Sports is holding its own but Channel 9’s ratings have fallen below last year in seven of the eight rounds.

Round one was the only weekend it received higher numbers than last year.

As for crowds, attendances were down on last year in four of the eight rounds despite much better weather.

NRL CEO Todd Greenberg.

Also, Greenberg’s claim that investment in the game’s grassroots has increased is false.

The NRL has delayed spending $40 million earmarked for junior development because no one knows when, where or how to invest it.

Meanwhile, Greenberg is spinning the message via his digital department that junior participation numbers are up on last year. This is not entirely correct because the final figures for registrations are not complete until June 30.

Originally published as Monday Buzz: Weekend highlights, lowlights