Saint, Sinner, Shoosh: Broncos get a favourable draw (again) and huge interest in Mundine v Green

A HEALTH scare for Matty Johns, Brett Finch’s broadcasting future in doubt and Ellyse Perry backs a great cause. WHAT’S THE BUZZ PART 2.

A HEALTH scare for Matty Johns, Brett Finch’s broadcasting future in doubt and Ellyse Perry backs a great cause.

SAINT

DANNY Wicks quit the Parramatta Eels on Monday to complete one of rugby league’s most inspiring stories. For everything that has gone wrong at the Eels in recent years, the Wicks comeback after a jail stint and four years on the sideline is a fabulous motivation for all youngsters in all sports. He should be employed by the NRL to work in schools and juniors.

SINNER

GREG Bird says he was disappointed for being “pushed out the door” at the Titans. This is a man who has constantly disgraced himself on the Gold Coast and brought the club and game into disrepute. Surely he wasn’t expecting a club-organised glamorous farewell.

BUZZ: timing of Barba’s first strike beyond belief

SHOOSH

WHICH great old rugby league publication which has been around for nearly 50 years is facing a doubtful future amid talk of severe cost-cutting at the company that publishes the magazine?

SHOOSH

WHICH former State of Origin star has not been sighted since his NRL club resumed training two weeks ago? The chances of him playing next year appear highly unlikely.

Ellyse Perry and her dog Nae Nae a 5-month-old Staffiy who will be getting plenty of exercise this month.

PERRY BACKS MOVEMBER.

CRICKET glamour girl Ellyse Perry is throwing her support behind Movember fund raising awareness for men’s health. The Movemmber Foundation is Cricket Australia’s official men’s health charity partner and Perry has come on-board as an ambassador for MOVE, an element of the campaign which encourages men and women to get active during the month of November.

Perry has pledged to walk her dog, Nae Nae, every day of this smonth.

“It’s a great thing to be active anyway,” Perry told us.

“Little things like walking the dog and getting outside can be better than looking at screens.

“And in doing so, we’re supporting a great charity.”

You can donate to Perry’s page through the Movember website.

NO AIR TIME FOR FINCH

BRETT Finch will not be returning to Channel 9’s footy coverage next year. He has also lost his gig on the 2GB Continuous Call team and his agent Steve Gillis is looking around for other opportunities. He might yet bob up at Fox Sports where the boss Steve Crawley rates him very highly. Crawley, however, will want to see an improvement in his reliability to turn up to work on time.

FRIGHT FOR MATTY

MATTHEW Johns has had a major medical scare that required treatment from his local GP. The 45-year-old Fox Sports star tore his quad muscle while running on the northern beaches. “My whole leg blew up like a balloon,” Johns said. “I hadn’t run for two years and I’m back in retirement. It was bloody painful and I went to the doctor because I thought it might have been a blood clot.”

SPOTTED

ALANA Williams, the very pregnant wife of Sonny Bill, shopping in Auckland. The couple’s second child is expected to arrive just one week before Christmas.

SPOTTED II

Former league great Mario Fenech travelling down Driver Avenue in Moore Park on Friday morning with a flat tyre on his Subaru four-wheel drive on his way to work at NRL headquarters.

SPOTTED III

SOCCER boss David Gallop with Harvey Norman CEO Katie Page at the very flash Paddington eatery Lucio’s this week.

Kieran Foran is back in Australia to see his kids.

SPOTTED IV

New Warrior Kieran Foran back home from New Zealand to spend the weekend with his two children on the northern beaches.

SPOTTED V

Canterbury Bulldogs backline stars Josh and Brett Morris at Sydney airport boarding a flight to Noosa on Friday morning. Over at the international terminal, player agent Khoder Nasser getting on a flight to the US to join up with Anthony Mundine, who is in a training camp for his bout with Danny Green.

There is plenty of interest in the Anthony Mundine-Danny Green bout in Adelaide. Pic Mike Burton

RUMBLE A HUGE DRAW

WHO says there will be little interest when Anthony Mundine and Danny Green step into the ring for their rematch in Adelaide on February 3? All tables near ringside (more than 50 of them) have already sold out at $10,000 a pop. There are no more tickets on sale on the playing arena which takes 6000 seats. And it’s not just Adelaide boxing fans snapping up the tickets. Thousands are coming from interstate for the event.

PRIME TIME BRONCOS

THE integrity of the NRL draw will again be a major taking point when the Brisbane Broncos’ schedule is revealed. In the draft copy of the draw the Broncos are getting all 12 home games at Suncorp on a Thursday or Friday night on free-to-air television. Six of their away games have also been allocated the prime time Thursday and Friday night spots which gives them longer game turnarounds than their rivals and the opportunity to sell sponsorships at a higher rate because they appear on the big ratings nights.

DES’S CREW CULLED

THE savage cost cutting at the Canterbury Bulldogs continues with another member of Des Hasler’s key support staff leaving last week. Highly regarded sports scientist Liz Marin, who left the Manly Sea Eagles to join Hasler at Belmore, is the latest coaching staff member to depart. Another top operator, PR consultant Polly Yuille, is also no longer working for the club. NRL boss Todd Greenberg is a huge fan of Yuille from their Bulldogs days.

Originally published as Saint, Sinner, Shoosh: Broncos get a favourable draw (again) and huge interest in Mundine v Green