Sport Confidential: Sione Katoa set to sign new Sharks deal as Tim Tszyu-Jeff Horn fight enters record books
The Sharks are certainly building nicely for the future while the NRL silly season is almost upon us. And what a future Tim Tszyu has in front of him after his demolition of Jeff Horn.
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He sits near the top of the top try-scorer’s list, now Cronulla flyer Sione Katoa is set to be rewarded with a long-term deal.
Katoa has been a revelation this year scoring 13 tries from 15 matches to come into round 16 just one behind South Sydney winger Alex Johnston.
The 23-year-old – who scored a treble against the Bulldogs in round six – is expected to sign a three-year deal to extend his stay at the Sharks.
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Cronulla are also confident Toby Rudolf will remain at the club despite the Warriors trumpeting his signing earlier this year.
Rudolf has cited personal reasons for wanting to remain at the Sharks.
Katoa’s impending extension and Rudolf likely sticking around has given Cronulla a strong core of impressive young players having already locked down the likes of Ronaldo Mulitalo, Teig Wilton and Royce Hunt to long-term deals and securing Will Kennedy and Siosifa Talakai to a year extension.
Scott Sorenson, Jackson Ferris and Brayden Trindall are the only players who have played first grade for the club this year who are off-contract.
Despite a long injury list and hampered by salary cap constraints, the eighth-placed Sharks are almost certainly finals bound given they sit four points clear of nearest rivals, the Tigers, Dragons and Sea Eagles.
The retention of the club’s best up and coming talent is a huge boost for the Sharks given the struggles of some of their higher-paid players.
Andrew Fifita is expected to be squeezed onto the interchange bench to play the Cowboys on Saturday having been sidelined with a finger injury.
One player on a rich deal who won’t be playing is Matt Moylan after coach John Morris axed his out-of-form player in favour of Connor Tracey in the halves. Moylan has battled form and confidence in his body throughout the season.
Morris said he expected Moylan to return to the side at some point.
“He knows the key parts of his game need to be better particularly defensively,” Morris said.
“We need to set some standard that all of players need to be held accountable. Matt has said himself, he is a bit off in the game.
“Hopefully he works hard and we see a response from this and he comes back and plays to his potential.”
Stay tuned! Things are about to get interesting
The silly season is almost upon us in the NRL with player movement expected to ramp up in the coming weeks.
A host of players – including some rep stars – have been quietly shopped to rivals. We haven’t named them given we aren’t sure they even know that they could be on the outs at their clubs.
Big day for de Belin
Jack de Belin returns to court on Friday where he will learn if he will head to trial for the rape case agains him in November.
The Dragons and the Warriors have put in rich offers for the off-contract representative player.
Meanwhile, Dragons boss Ryan Webb wrote to members on Thursday describing his first four months in the role as “eventful”.
Webb detailed the four elements the club are looking for in their next coach; strong discipline (needed for ongoing improvement), ability to develop young players (leverage our strength as a development club), defensively minded (defence is the bedrock of all successful teams) and comes from a culture of success (knows how to win).
Webb also rejected suggestions Jason Saab had been released.
“We will consider allowing him to depart on compassionate grounds if we were to receive a commensurate compensation in the form of a player and/or cash consideration,” Webb wrote.
Great opportunity to reward Warriors
The NRL could do worse than hand the Ken Stephen Medal to the Warriors.
It would be unprecedented to recognise a club rather than an individual but given the sacrifices each member of the organisation has made, it would make for a fitting recognition.
Individual players have also been hamstrung by the community work they have been able to do given they are in the bubble. It’s a perfect fit.
Will on-loan players face Parramatta?
The Eels are yet to make a decision on George Jennings and Daniel Alvaro turning out against them when Parrmatta play the Warriors next week.
The pair are on loan with the Warriors but it is expected Parramatta will follow a similar path to that of Penrith who wouldn’t let Jack Hetherington play against the club after he was on loan.
Warnie joins illustrious company
Shane Warne’s prized baggy green has a new home at the Bradman Museum in Bowral.
Warne raised $1 million for the Red Cross bushfire appeal after the Commonwealth Bank won the auction.
The cap has since spent time visiting bushfire areas across Australia but will now be housed alongside Victor Trumper and Don Bradman’s baggy green’s at the museum.
Superfight enters record books
Aussie boxing’s new king Tim Tszyu is also going to be one of our most bankable stars.
Wednesday night’s super fight between Tszyu and Jeff Horn rocketed into the top five most watched events all-time on Main Event, eclipsing Horn’s epic win against Manny Pacquiao.
There were close to 100,000 pay-per-view subscriptions and livestreams across Foxtel and Kayo.
It’s a remarkable result considering the overall figure would have been significantly higher if it wasn’t for the COVID-19 restrictions around the number of people allowed into pubs and clubs plus the strict lockdown rules in Melbourne.
The Tszyu v Horn fight was the fourth most watched fight in Australian pay-per-view history.
The Floyd Mayweather v Connor McGregor remains the most watched fight on Main Event ahead of the respective Anthony Mundine and Danny Green battles. Green’s fight against Roy Jones Jr sits equal third alongside the Mundine and Green sequel.
One Fox Sports contact told Sport Confidential the excitement around Tszyu was building after just 16 professional fights.
“This kid is going to be a rock star,” they said.
“He’s going to take us on a pretty good ride.
“There’s been a lot of whispers around the joint boxing is on the comeback bigtime.
“The figures for the Tszyu v Horn fight more than prove that.”
How Tamworth shaped Knights season
Tamworth may be considered a makeshift home for the Warriors but it is the Knights who are returning to the region with fond memories.
The Warriors are taking their home game to Tamworth on Saturday as a way to thank the locals for looking after the side when they arrived for quarantine from New Zealand earlier this year.
But the Knights also have a soft spot for the area.
It was a week last December which helped shape Newcastle’s season.
Faced with setback after setback as key players have gone down with injuries during the course of the season, the Knights have shown a different mindset this year.
The framework of resilience and mental toughness was forged during the pre-season when new coach Adam O’Brien planned the club’s Tamworth camp.
It was far bigger than footy. While football was still a focus, the Knights players mixed with locals. They were up at 3.30am and sent off to farms in the New England region where they helped the drought-ravaged locals with whatever task they had for them. Some milked cows, others built fences. By night the players mixed with local, sipping beers and telling stories giving the region a much-needed morale boost.
“That week was where we got a lot of our physical and mental resolve done,” O’Brien said.
“We did something for someone else and we had our own struggles with the physical load. There was witnessing and helping someone else’s resilience. There was us getting through tough periods of the week.
“At night we laid down some trademarks and framework for our season. We’ve got deep connection to that community.”
The story which resonated most with the Knights was that of Sally McFarland who O’Brien had tracked down after watching her story on A Current Affair. There was barely a dry eye in the room when McFarland’s story was shown as she spoke about being unable to have running water for her five children and her daily battle for survival. They couldn’t shower.
The undrinkable bore water they did use McFarland sprinkled around the house to give the children at least some greenery to play.
O’Brien then surprised the team with McFarland’s presence. McFarland said she was blown away by the reaction.
“It brought tears to my eyes,” McFarland said.
“I welled up pretty quickly. I was nervous as hell. I suppose they made me see what I do in a different light which was really lovely.
“I thought it was a hoax when Adam called. It was hard to fathom how they saw me and what I was going through. I didn’t see it how they perceived it. I don’t feel anything special. I do what I do, it’s just my life.
“Things are looking up. We are definitely not out of the woods. I’m starting to re-stock the place. It’s a million times better than what it was end of last year.”
McFarland will make the 45-minute drive to Tamworth along with her children to watch the Knights play for the first time.
Her eight-year-old triplets have been fighting to tick off the days on the countdown calendar they have at home. McFarland often shares post-game messages with O’Brien and shows off her children proudly wearing Newcastle gear.
Newcastle ended their camp at McKinnon Oval in Aberdeen where Alex McKinnon spoke about his own struggles and mental toughness to the group.
The Knights have ensured the farmers they spent time with have tickets and O’Brien said it was important to again give back after the community left such an impression on his side.
“A quote from Sally sits at the bottom of our big screen,” O’Brien said.
“They were words which resonated about her story. We have referred to them throughout the season. During the COVID shut-down, during games. We want to try and find the section where Sally and the farmers will be sitting. We can’t make a physical connection with them but we know they are going to be there and we have spoken about it as a group.
“We’re excited to get back there.”
FLASHBACK
Brisbane’s current side are a shadow of the ones which took out the NRL grand final. The Broncos were splashed across the front and back page of the paper on this day 20 years ago with the grand final happening early in the season because of the impending Olympics.
Brisbane beat the Roosters 14-6 in what was supposed to be Kevin Walters’ retirement match before he returned for five games the following season.
BLAST FROM THE PAST
Marc Glanville 197 top grade games (nine St George, 188 Newcastle) from 1986-1997
Marc Glanville’s first and last games could not be more contrasting. Scouted by St George after a successful Australian Schoolboys campaign in 1984, he started his first game in round two of 1986 where the Dragons were thumped by the Eels at the opening of Parramatta Stadium.
“I got hooked at half-time,” Glanville said. “I missed a few tackles. One might’ve led to a try. I didn’t think I was the worst playing in the team.”
Glanville didn’t play first grade again that year. He made seven more appearances for St George in 1987 before joining the newly-formed Newcastle Knights.
“I was a boy from the bush who didn’t enjoy Sydney,” Glanville said.
“I thought I was going to sign with Gold Coast before I spoke with David Waite. He coached me in the Australian Schoolboys and was going to be Newcastle’s reserve grade coach.
“The Knights were chasing people with three t’s. People who were tough, made tackles and had plenty of tomorrow’s. Gold Coast were buying blokes at the end of their careers.”
Glanville signed one-year deals for his first few seasons before injury struck in 1989.
“I backed myself to always earn more money the following season,” Glanville said.
“The first year I signed for $35,000 plus match payments. The next year $40,000. Then I got injured and they only offered me $10,000. I had no option but to sign it. I won player of the year and then signed a (multi-year) deal.”
Glanville’s final match was the 1997 grand final win and recalls a pre-game meeting by Paul Harragon.
“We had a meeting like we always did with the coach the day before a game,” Glanville said.
“That afternoon Chief (Harragon) said we should have another one by ourselves. We were like ‘don’t worry’. But he was adamant. He did something Phil Gould did when Chief was in Origin.
“He went around the room and said if the grand final was the last day on the planet and you were going to die what would you do to win it. I hadn’t thought about it. .I said I hadn’t achieved too much, didn’t play for NSW, didn’t play for Australia. I haven’t got too much for my kids to look at when I finished the game. This was my moment. I was tearing up.”
Originally published as Sport Confidential: Sione Katoa set to sign new Sharks deal as Tim Tszyu-Jeff Horn fight enters record books