Sport Confidential: Coach caught in hotel tantrum, Broncos may lose young gun Selwyn Cobbo
One NRL coach threw a total tantrum, the club captain who went on a bender and the Broncos are on the block – it’s a big week of Sport Confidential.
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The Broncos’ desire to sign Melbourne utility back Nicho Hynes could cost the club a boom teenager rated Brisbane’s version of Latrell Mitchell.
Sport Confidential can reveal five NRL clubs are ramping up their interest in fullback sensation Selwyn Cobbo, with the Dragons ready to blow the Broncos out of the water with a lucrative offer for the 18-year-old Indigenous flyer.
Hynes is seeking a three-year deal from the Broncos worth about $1 million and if Brisbane come to the party with a deal, Cobbo will consider other options to further his rugby league career.
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The Broncos have lost a raft of young guns in the past two years, including Sam Walker, David Fifita, Tom Dearden and Reece Walsh, and can ill-afford to lose another promising rookie to an NRL rival.
St George Illawarra’s Queensland-based scout Brian Edwards has compiled a report on Cobbo describing him as one of the best backline talents he has seen in the past 10 years.
The Cherbourg speedster is 190cm and 101kg and has been a revelation for Wynnum Manly in his rookie year in the Intrust Super Cup this season.
Cobbo, who turns 19 next month, has amassed a staggering 414 metres and 20 tackle busts in his past two games and is likened to Mitchell with his running style and natural attacking instincts.
Cobbo is contracted until the end of next season and will be promoted to Brisbane’s NRL squad in 2022. The Broncos are keen to extend Cobbo’s deal beyond next year, but the rookie’s management is taking a wait-and-see approach pending Brisbane’s pursuit of Hynes.
Should Hynes start as Brisbane’s fullback next season, it could be viewed as a roadblock for Cobbo, who has hopes of becoming the Broncos’ long-term option in the No. 1 jumper.
FEATHER DUST-UP!
Another battle between rugby league and netball has emerged.
On the back of Canberra coach Ricky Stuart’s stoush, the Brisbane Firehawks NRL expansion bid has drawn the ire of the Queensland Firebirds netball team.
The Firehawks, run by Easts Tigers in Coorparoo, officially launched their bid to become the NRL’s 17th club this week.
And we can reveal a legal stoush was brewing over their controversial name – which sounds a lot like Queensland’s top netball team that is also based in Brisbane.
The Firebirds started proceedings to block the Firehawks from progressing with their bid name, before the parties reached an agreement.
“Netball Queensland is the owner of trademark registration for the Queensland Firebirds and initially filed a trademark notice opposing the registration,” the Firebirds said in a statement.
“Netball Queensland has since reached an agreement with the Brisbane Firehawks for the use of the name to support their trademark application process that includes category restrictions for use only in rugby league and precludes the use of the Firebirds purple colours.”
The Firehawks tried to play down the saga when asked if the name conflict was an issue for their bid.
“I don’t think so, we’ve spoken to them and the name is cleared,” Firehawks CEO Brian Torpy said. “The logo is registered as a trademark and we will own that name.”
Of the three bid teams, the Firehawks have the least popular name when compared to the Jets and Dolphins. But the people behind the bid believe it is a name of great significance.
“Like the Firehawk, we are a unique Australian brand,” Torpy said.
“A raptor that changes the environment for the better, to sustain it. In what it does, it is representative of an outlaw.”
Meanwhile, Firehawks bid chief Shane Richardson insists he won’t be angling for a head of football role at the club if it is successful.
“No, I have moved on from that,” said the former South Sydney chief.
“I would like to be a consultant but that’s their choice. My consultancy ends once we get the bid. They can decide from there.”
BRONCOS SHAREHOLDER WANTS OUT
Brisbane’s largest private shareholder Phil Murphy wants to sell his $12 million stake in the Broncos.
Murphy owns 22 per cent of the Broncos, making him the club’s largest shareholder after 69 per cent majority owner News Corp, publishers of this column, and he tried to buy Brisbane a decade ago.
But Murphy has had a change of heart. The property tycoon is one of Queensland’s richest men and said he is ready to offload his 21.6 million shares after becoming disillusioned with the Broncos’ freefall in recent years.
Ironically, Murphy’s stance comes at a time when the Broncos’ share price has surged to a record 58c, up from 43c just 13 months ago.
“I’m selling all my shares,” Murphy said.
“If somebody comes along and offers me a good price I will sell them. It’s sad to say but it’s horrible to see the state of the Broncos. I never thought it would come to this.
“I feel sorry for Kevin Walters (Broncos coach). ‘Kevvie’ has been handed the equivalent of a mansion that has been bulldozed to the ground. The mansion is in ruins and someone is asking Kevin to rebuild it piece by piece.
“That’s the task ahead of him.
“If you were in my shoes, what would you do?”
NRL COACH’S MAGIC MELTDOWN
The NRL should be deeply concerned about the image of the code after a head coach disgraced himself during last week’s Magic Round at Suncorp Stadium.
Sport Confidential can reveal the coach in question embarrassed the NRL with a stunning outburst at the team hotel in the lead-up to his side’s Magic Round clash.
The coach was so furious with the hotel service he threw a plate and abused staff for the quality of food being served to his players.
The hotel in question is one of the finest in Brisbane, so the coach’s childish, explosive rant caught a number of people by surprise, not least his players.
SHOOSH
Which NRL captain had a drunken bender during the Magic Round? It is hardly the example he should be setting for other players at his club.
STORM STAR TO LEAVE
Storm co-captain Dale Finucane will depart Melbourne at season’s end.
Finucane is off-contract and the Storm do not have the salary cap space to offer him the money he can command from rival clubs.
A State of Origin forward and superb leader, Finucane is worth up to $700,000-a-season and the Storm cannot get near that sort of money.
At 30, Finucane’s next contract will be the most crucial of his career and he cannot afford to take massive undoers to stay at the Storm.
They have Ryan Papenhuyzen, Christian Welch and Brandon Smith coming off-contract next year and have to keep cap space free to retain them. Cameron Munster becomes a free agent the following year.
Finucane is highly-rated in the Storm’s inner sanctum and the club will be sad to see him depart, but that is the reality of the NRL’s salary cap system.
He would be a sensational signing for a club like the Gold Coast Titans or Wests Tigers that need some genuine experience and leadership.
BRONCOS RULE OUT FERGO
Brisbane coach Kevin Walters has ruled out signing NSW Origin star Blake Ferguson as a potential replacement for Storm-bound winger Xavier Coates.
The 241-game wing sensation is off-contract at season’s end and despite being a genuine matchwinner, Ferguson is being squeezed out of Parramatta due to salary-cap pressures.
Ferguson’s management has offered the 31-year-old to the Broncos, who are on the lookout for wing options following Coates’ decision to defect to Melbourne next season.
The Broncos briefly discussed signing Ferguson, but have decided against making a formal offer due to salary-cap restrictions.
PVL SMOKES PEACE PIPE WITH TITANS
The NRL’s expansion push has received a huge boost after ARL Commission boss Peter V’landys found common ground with Gold Coast Titans hierarchy.
V’landys is keen to introduce a second Brisbane team in 2023, but ran into some opposition from the Titans, who were concerned a fourth team in Queensland could seriously erode their growth on the Gold Coast.
The Titans were so concerned they were one of 12 clubs to fund an independent report, compiled by the Gemba Group, into the pros and cons of expanding the NRL to 17 teams.
But after a visit to the Gold Coast last week on the eve of Magic Round, V’landys walked away confident the Titans shared his vision for expansion.
“The meeting with the Titans was very positive,” he said.
“I was very impressed with the Titans people. And to be fair to them, they are asking the right questions and I’m not afraid to answer them.
“We will always be transparent. They were fantastic, they were very good. Darryl Kelly (Titans co-owner) was very good. The meeting was more than just expansion, it’s the whole strategy of our game and they found it very enlightening.
“I appreciated their position on expansion but I was happy to show them the data that shows a second Brisbane team can be viable.
“One thing I want to reinforce is my support for the Titans. They are hugely important to our game and as a Commission, we will not push forward with any strategy that harms the Titans in any way.”
NRL’S TOP COP RUNS INTO TITANS
The Gold Coast Titans had a surprise onlooker at a recovery session this week.
The Titans gathered at the beautiful Tallebudgera Creek on Monday morning to wash away the pain of their 48-12 Magic Round hammering by Penrith on Sunday night.
It was the first time coach Justin Holbrook had organised a post-game recovery session at the creek, where the AFL’s Gold Coast Suns also gather most Mondays.
By chance, the NRL Integrity Unit’s chief investigator Karyn Murphy happened to swing by the creek to grab a coffee. There may have been a couple of nervous players when Murphy, a former police Detective, was spotted.
QRL DENIES PARTY POOPING
The Queensland Rugby League has denied it threatened to cancel a 50-year country carnival because of its competition policies.
A change.org petition has been launched to keep the Zone 5 under-35/43kg carnival in its current format. As part of player development policies, the QRL is not supportive of the carnival awarding awards and trophies based on performance.
The petition states: “The QRL don’t want winners or awards for these things because it is outside their definition of the player development profile. THEY WILL CANCEL THE CARNIVAL IF WE DO NOT COMPLY.”
But the QRL said they would not shut down the bush footy carnival.
“This is simply not correct and we would be naive to take this action given the tremendous financial boost that carnivals of this ilk provide to country towns,” QRL Central Region manager Rob Crow wrote in a memo.
“If a particular zone was not to comply then the QRL will not sanction the carnival meaning the insurance for players and officials will not apply to the carnival. The carnival organisers can and may opt to continue with the carnival on that basis.”
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