Saint, Sinner, Shoosh: Anthony Milford set to backflip on Dolphins
The Dolphins are set to miss out on another big target. Plus, Blues stars prepared to make big World Cup sacrifice. All that and more in Australia’s best sports gossip column.
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Phil Rothfield reveals his Saint, Sinner, Shoosh in sport’s best gossip column, What’s the Buzz.
SHOOSH
In another potential blow to the Dolphins, five-eighth Anthony Milford has apparently had second thoughts about joining the club.
He is enjoying life in Newcastle and the Knights have indicated they want to keep him.
Milford had all but agreed to join Wayne Bennett — but only on a one-year contract.
He can get a longer deal in Newcastle. The Dolphins are now looking at offering him three years to get the deal over the line.
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SAINT
Nathan Cleary. What a champion. He even stripped down to his underwear to give away his NSW Blues Origin training shirt and shorts to fans in Lismore, who are recovering from the most horrible devastation from the floods in March. All the players were just sensational in their midweek visit to the area.
SINNER
The blow up about Brian To’o, Daniel Tupou, Jarome Luai and Daniel Tupou wanting to play for NSW but not Australia. These boys were born and grew up around St Mary’s, Mt Druitt and Guilford. They are entitled to a Blues jersey as much as anyone. And they are entitled to put their heritage ahead of money to play for Samoa and Tonga at the World Cup. It is actually great for the international game.
SINNER II
Even in retirement, poor old Josh Dugan is still in strife. He pleaded guilty to mid-range drink driving in Sutherland court last week. He was caught behind the wheel at 3.20am. At least he has now completed a traffic offenders’ program and will hopefully learn from it.
SHOOSH
The NRL is being extra careful around Covid in the build-up to Wednesday night’s Origin. Every player in both camps has to take rapid tests twice every day – morning and night.
SPOTTED
Boxers love their flash cars. George Kambosos Jr has picked up an Audi R8 V10 worth around $400,000 and paid for by earnings from the Devin Haney fight in Melbourne. This is an upgrade on Tim Tszyu, who gets around town in a Mercedes C63S AMG Coupe. Tim’s Benz is worth just a touch over $200,000.
SPOTTED
Our northern colleague Peter Badel is fit enough to be playing for the Broncos, not just writing about them. Bomber ran the Gold Coast Marathon last week in an impressive two hours and 50 minutes.
SPOTTED
Matt Lodge has had his first social outing with the Sydney Roosters. Last weekend a bunch of Chooks had lunch at the Light Brigade in Paddo. Apparently they were watching the Sydney Swans on the big screen, not the NRL.
SPOTTED
There are few better role models in the NRL than Roosters centre Billy Smith. He met a young fan, Beau Haigh, after last week’s game against Penrith but had no gear to give away. The next day Billy tracked down Beau’s parents and then personally delivered an autographed jersey and his footy boots to their home.
*****
The Broncos are under fire for parading new signing Reece Walsh in a Brisbane jersey despite him being under contract to the Warriors for another four months.
Walsh’s signing, first revealed by News Corp, was officially announced by the Broncos on their social media platforms 24 hours later.
They used photos of Walsh from the 2021 pre-season while he was still at the Broncos but digitally altered the sponsor logo on the front of the jersey to KIA’s new branding.
There was a huge outcry earlier in the season when photos of Bulldogs new signing Billy Kikau in a Canterbury jersey were leaked to the media.
Reece is coming home 🔥
— Brisbane Broncos (@brisbanebroncos) July 7, 2022
Details 👉 https://t.co/gocL0QONfHpic.twitter.com/YcMChYgmmh
PSA Our designer is very good.
— Brisbane Broncos (@brisbanebroncos) July 8, 2022
We did not do a 2022 Reece shoot.
Happy Friday 😠pic.twitter.com/Gqd5VktA2s
And it brings back memories of the outrage around Benji Marshall posting a video of himself in an Auckland Blues jersey while still at the Wests Tigers in 2013.
It certainly infuriates the punters.
Walsh and his manager Nash Dawson also posted the image on social media of the 19-year-old fullback in the Broncos jersey.
Broncos chief executive Dave Donaghy has defended his club’s actions.
“There was no offence intended,” Donaghy said.
“I guess there’s a whole lot of blurred lines around the free agency business in rugby league.
“I have spoken to Cameron George (Warriors CEO) and they’re okay with it.
“We’re not rolling Reece out in person in Broncos clothes until he officially joins us.”
Walsh has another eight games to play for the Warriors before the end of the season.
The Warriors on Friday showed a lot more class in announcing the signing of their new coach, Penrith assistant Andrew Webster.
“We respect that Andrew still has a job to do at Penrith,” George said, “so we didn’t ask him to be part of the press conference.
“I have spoken to Ivan Cleary to assure him that Andrew will not be starting at our club in any capacity until he has finished at the Panthers.”
*****
Blues Origin superstars Brian To’o, Jarome Luai and Stephen Crichton are prepared to play for Samoa at the World Cup for as little as a $1300 participation fee – and free meals.
This is an extraordinary sacrifice considering Mal Meninga’s Kangaroos stand to earn $50,000-a-man if they win the tournament in England at the end of the season.
It shows the incredible passion and pride these boys have for their heritage.
All born and raised in western Sydney, they are proud to be playing for NSW but are putting family legacy and tradition ahead of the green and gold jersey.
A RLWC document reveals the Samoan player deals:
# Participation Fee: 1300AUD (approx based on pound to AUD conversion) per player provided by RLWC.
# RLWC will also cover all team meals, so players will not be out of pocket or be required to use their participation fee.
# Samoa may choose to top up the participation fee or prize money provided by RLWC and/or offer match payments. (At this stage no decision has been made)
Clint Newton, CEO of the Rugby League Players Association, says international payments eventually need to be looked at.
“The pay disparity across Australia, New Zealand and Pasifika teams is absolutely something that we will address during the upcoming collective bargaining agreement negotiations,” he said.
“We believe there is an opportunity to improve the current system for international players and create a new model that helps enhance national Asian Pacific teams.
“This will ensure the international game will continue to grow, especially after the effects the pandemic has had on it. Now that international rugby league is back, we have an incredible opportunity to kickstart it.”
*****
Boxer Jai Opetaia could not be interviewed for this story.
He’s in so much pain, he can’t talk. His food is pureed and consumed through a straw.
The 27-year-old newly crowned cruiserweight world champion suffered a double fracture of the jaw last Saturday night during a brutal 12-round victory over Mairis Briedis.
Some have called it one of the most heroic moments in Australian sporting history, compared to Rabbitohs legend John Sattler playing the 1970 grand final with a jaw fracture.
Others have called it a failure in duty of care, especially at a time when all sports globally are treating head injuries and concussion more vigilantly.
Scans revealed two shocking breaks that will force him out of the ring for six months.
Opetaia is also fighting an infection after the surgery. And has two plates and eight screws in his face to hold the jaw together.
There are now conflicting views on whether the fight should have been stopped.
Australia’s greatest boxer Jeff Fenech said: “If it was my fighter, there’s not a chance I’d have let him keep going. I don’t care about any of this heroic stuff. You look after your fighter first and foremost.”
However, Opetaia’s trainer Mark Wilson stands by his decision to let him continue.
He said it wasn’t until midway through the 11th round (between four and five minutes from the end) that he became aware of the seriousness of the injury.
Opetaia has since revealed he felt the first break in round two, but didn’t tell his corner.
Asked if he should have stopped it, Wilson said: “Shit no, not with one round to go.
“I could see it was broken, he walked into a couple of good punches but he was in front on the scorecards and this is a world title. All he had to do was move, dance, hold and not get hit. He’d have killed me if I’d have stopped it.
“I understand the duty of care and I would have stopped it if it had got worse.
“It would have been an injustice to Jai. He’s wanted this (world title) all his life.”
Fight medico Ben Manion defended his role on the night.
“If I had known the jaw was fractured, I would have stopped the fight straight away,” he said.
“It’s sometimes difficult medically to diagnose an injury from where we’re sitting.
“No one said anything. If there’s a big laceration, a cut in a dangerous place, a bone exposed or anything where they’d require further treatment, I’d stop it.
“I think the boxers deserve a right to be protected as well as they can.”
*****
Never has Melbourne Storm been under as much contract pressure over one player.
This great club has managed the losses of Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith.
Cameron Munster though is a different story. Without him they can’t win a premiership. Somehow they need to find the salary cap space to keep the champion five-eighth beyond next year.
*****
Storm coach Craig Bellamy copped a hard time at Shark Park on Thursday night from the locals. At one stage police even stepped in to confiscate a banner from a fan in front of his coaching box.
Supporters on the upper level of the Andrew Ettingshausen stand were sledging the super coach all night but it was generally good-natured footy banter.
Bellamy didn’t have too many problems with it when we checked in on Friday.
“Sometimes you think people would have better things to do with their time,” he said. “It doesn’t worry me that much. There was one (banner) that was a bit over the top. That was about it.”
The irony is that Bellamy could have been working at Cronulla instead of sitting inside the Storm box. Last year he seriously considered quitting Melbourne to take on a director of coaching role with the Sharks but stayed at Storm.
*****
Queensland has always had a State of Origin reputation for loyalty in the selection room.
It certainly shows when you look at the number of half-backs the Maroons and Blues have used since Origin started in 1980.
From the great Tommy Raudonkis to Nathan Cleary, the Blues have used 21 halfbacks in 42 years.
And from Greg Oliphant to current skipper Daly Cherry-Evans, the Maroons have used just 13. It obviously helps that they’ve had champions of the likes of Alfie Langer, Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk for such long periods.
Not that the Blues haven’t had superstars wearing the No.7 themselves – Steve Mortimer, Peter Sterling, Ricky Stuart, Brett Kimmorley, Andrew Johns and now Cleary, who could be there for another decade and end up breaking Langer’s record of 34 Origin games.
The Panthers halfback dominated to such an extent in game two in Perth that many were comparing his performance to some of the best football Joey Johns ever produced.
*****
The Bulldogs and the Rabbitohs are about to introduce a Mortimer-McCarthy Cup to honour two all-time legends of the game.
It starts next Sunday when Canterbury hosts Souths at Accor Stadium.
Bob McCarthy, his son Darren and the Mortimer brothers Steve, Chris and Peter will all be there with their families.
The Men of League Foundation has driven the project to honour the families, not just for their football contributions, but their work for the charity organisation over many years.
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