Saint, Sinner, Shoosh: How Covid will save NRL coaching careers
One NRL star’s third-party property deal raises eyebrows while there’s an unlikely saviour for several struggling coaches — that and more in Saint, Sinner, Shoosh.
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Covid-19 is likely to be the saviour for several struggling NRL coaches in the run home to the finals over the next few weeks.
Even if the Parramatta Eels wanted to punt Brad Arthur — which at the moment they don’t — they can’t afford to anyway.
Not when they are down a couple of million dollars in gatetakings from losing four home games at Bankwest Stadium over for the last eight weeks of the competition.
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Not when the doors of their leagues club have been shut indefinitely and the poker machine revenue has suddenly disappeared.
So how could you justify spending $600,000 to pay Arthur out and then find another $600,000 to hire a replacement. It would be financially irresponsible in these times.
The same with the Broncos, Warriors, Wests Tigers, Bulldogs and Cowboys with Kevin Walters, Nathan Brown, Michael Maguire, Trent Barrett and Todd Payten, respectively.
This is not the climate to be axing coaches like in previous years when there has been an average of about three coaches sacked during or at the end of each season.
And independent commission boss Peter V’landys agrees.
“The NRL has reduced expenditure by $50 million to give the clubs additional money,” he said. “We want the clubs to spend the money carefully and properly.
“With the financial effects of Covid, you’ve got to be the most prudent with all spending.”
All the latest NRL chatter and more in Australia’s hottest sport gossip column.
SAINT
The campaign led by NSW deputy premier John Barilaro to keep the NRL grand final where it belongs in Sydney at Stadium Australia if we can somehow escape this horrible lockdown in a month’s time. Surely we deserve it after Queensland got all three Origins.
SINNER
Standards for NRL players are much higher than in rugby union. Roosters star Victor Radley was named and shamed recently for being removed from a plane at Coolangatta airport. His crime was being in the company of a group making too much noise. Australia’s rugby 7s players behaved appallingly on a flight from Tokyo to Sydney yet the ARU protects their identity.
SHOOSH
Which highly paid NRL star from an out-of-town club has paid subcontractors for work on a recently purchased property via a third party that may have links to his club through other construction projects? This could be of interest to salary cap auditors if builders are prepared to talk.
SHOOSH
There was a rumour doing the rounds about Melbourne Storm stars Justin Olam and Jahrome Hughes having a disagreement and full-on stink at training last week. Well, it’s half true. Turns out they were exchanging fake punches to practise a try-scoring celebration before the game against the Panthers. Sadly, neither of them scored.
SHOOSH
There is a feeling in league circles that it is very presumptuous and even arrogant of Melbourne chairman Matt Tripp to be making such a noise about hosting the NRL grand final at the MCG, still five weeks out from the finals. Yes, they are long odds-on favourites to be there on grand final day but funnier things have happened. The other problem is that interstate visitors are likely to be locked out of Victoria which could also leave the venue half full.
SHOOSH
Some drama inside Channel 7’s Olympic broadcast bunker in Melbourne where two high-profile presenters are barely on speaking terms which can make things difficult when producers put them on air together.
SPOTTED
Retired Roosters legend Jake Friend thrived on hard work on the field and his work ethic is much the same in his new business, Friendly Plumbing. We spotted the old Maroons and Kangaroos hooker on the tools last week, clearing a drain in the eastern suburbs.
SPOTTED
Even in lockdown, the Cronulla Sharks are still looking after their sponsors on game day the best they can. Chief executive Dino Mezzatesta has been hosting virtual chairman’s club functions via zoom. He interviewed club legend Matty Rogers before the match against Manly on Monday night.
This is the first look at Stadium Australia’s new multimillion-dollar Great Southern Screen which will be ready for the 2022 NRL season kick-off.
It’s 120m long and 10m high, or as big as six tennis courts, and boasts the latest high-definition technology. It’s all about improving the game-day experience and matching the TV coverage you get at home.
At venues you miss the quality of replays of controversial decisions you get from the loungeroom. The super screen is part of $10m in fan-focused upgrades being overseen by new NSW sports Minister, Natalie Ward.
“This project will create much-needed construction jobs in Western Sydney and, when it goes live, an unmatched experience for NSW sporting fans,” the Minister said.
The screen will be three times larger than anything else in Australia and add a new level of atmosphere and excitement at the venue.
It is also proof that the government still regards Stadium Australia as the No. 1 major event venue in NSW to host grand finals, State of Origin and international events.
There will also be a new screen at the northern end of the stadium and new LED ribbon boards around the field as a part of the project.
Covid-19 permitting, the NSW Blues will finally return home to Stadium Australia in next year’s series after having to play three State of Origin games in Queensland this year.
DALLY M MEDAL NIGHT AT SUNCORP
The NRL is considering a number of options around staging the Dally M Awards next month, including a Covid-friendly outdoor show at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.
Fox Sports has approached the NRL with the idea to bring forward the event to the first week of the NRL finals, ensuring players from all 16 clubs can still attend while staying in south-east Queensland.
Most players will have gone home if the ceremony is held – as is tradition – in grand final week.
Depending on Covid, the public could even be invited to watch from the grandstand as part of a fan celebration to kick off the first finals series in Brisbane – if that is to happen.
The medal count is expected to be among the most exciting in years.
Penrith halfback Nathan Cleary was leading the count with 21 points when votes were locked away after round 12.
However, he was only six points clear of Manly superstar Tom Trbojevic, who now appears the one to beat. It would be a phenomenal effort considering he missed the first four rounds with his hamstring injury.
Melbourne’s Craig Bellamy will be hard to beat for back-to-back coach of the year awards – although if the Roosters finish in the top four, Trent Robinson will have a chance, considering the club’s shocking injury toll.
JARVIS OUT TO CONQUER US
Boxing legend Jeff Fenech has secured a three-fight contract in the US for his outstanding Australian junior lightweight fighter Brock Jarvis.
Contracts were exchanged with the world’s No. 1 promoter Eddie Hearns last week in a $300,000 deal for Jarvis to fight on the undercard of superstar Canelo Alverez’s next fight in Las Vegas.
This is a huge deal and worldwide exposure for Jarvis, the 23-year-old who is unbeaten in 19 professional fights, with 17 knockouts.
Fenech and Jarvis will get their Covid injections next week and will leave for the US at the end of the month.
“Eddie Hearns rang on Tuesday to confirm the deal,” Fenech said, “He reckons Brock’s the best Aussie fighter he’s seen since I fought. This is the start of something really big.”
SPUDD: FURNER TRIED TO FIGHT ME
Mark “Spudd” Carroll has revealed the day he and ex-NSW teammate David Furner almost came to blows — over an incident 20 years earlier.
In his soon to be released book SPUDD: The Mark Carroll Story, with journalist Adam Hawse, Spudd said he and Furner were at The Star casino a few years ago, when talk turned to a game between Manly and Canberra in 1995.
Spudd was rubbed out of an Origin game for a high tackle on Furner.
“I looked at Furner and said, ‘you got me suspended once, you know’,’ Spudd writes.
“It was meant almost in jest, but Furner fired up, telling me how he’d suffered concussion and had to go to hospital because of my tackle. Suddenly he was in my face!
“He kept saying how crook he was because of me and was getting really confrontational. Furner has a background in boxing and was now asking if I did sparring sessions at my gym.
“He wanted to fight me!”
EX-STAR’S JUSTICE
An ex-Origin and Test front-rower came off second-best when he confronted a couple of alleged drug dealers in his hometown last week.
He copped a bad beating, but had the last laugh when a witness reported the incident to police and his assailants were arrested and charged.
The player wants to remain anonymous, but has a court date coming up.
ROGER SHOWS HIS KIND SIDE
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck may have quit the New Zealand Warriors but the club is still getting positive feedback on the champion fullback.
The Warriors were contacted by a man who witnessed Tuivasa-Sheck help an old man suffering from dementia, who had collapsed on a footpath in Auckland. RTS helped him to his feet, located his family and made sure he got home.
MATILDAS TOP RATERS
Our Matildas might have missed out on a medal in Tokyo, but they have overtaken the Australian women’s cricket team as the nation’s most popular female sporting outfit.
A record-breaking 1.47m viewers tuned in to watch them take on Sweden last week — the biggest audience for women’s team sport in Australian television history. It comfortably beat the women’s World Cup final in Melbourne in March last year, that had an average TV audience of 1.231m.
‘POOR OLD CLARKY’ WOULD GET SO LOST
The Tokyo Games revived memories of an old league Olympian — sprinter Darren Clark — who had a brief stint with Balmain in 1991.
Especially after Rohan Browning’s remarkable effort to clock a stunning 10.01 seconds to reach the 100m semis. I’d like a dollar for everyone who has commented: “Imagine him on the end of an NRL backline.”
Tigers legend Garry Jack recalled the failed Clark experiment, a huge story at the time, on his podcast The Fend last week.
“He had the biggest hamstrings I’ve ever seen,’’ Jack said.
“He came across as one of the great recruits of Alan Jones. He played first grade in a trial match, but nothing after that, poor old Clarky.
“Honestly, he would just get lost so easily on the field. He could run in a straight line, but it had to be a straight line. If you put someone in front of him, he didn’t know what to do.
“He was an athlete, he wasn’t a footy player. But he tried hard.
“Kick and chase was his best play.”
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