What’s the Buzz: Warren Ryan involved in altercation at a Sydney hotel
WHAT’S THE BUZZ: Warren Ryan has been involved in an ugly altercation at a Sydney hotel that left an 83-year-old man needing hospital treatment.
TWO-time rugby league premiership-winning coach Warren Ryan has been involved in an ugly altercation at a Sydney hotel that left an 83-year-old man needing hospital treatment.
The 76-year-old Ryan, who was once a Commonwealth Games shot-putter, is alleged to have punched and floored the old man at the Pagewood Hotel in Maroubra.
Sources at the pub say he has since been barred for three months.
The incident was captured on CCTV footage but not passed on to the police. We checked with Eastern Beaches and Botany Bay stations, from where officers said they had no report of an incident.
The 83-year-old rejected the offer to call an ambulance but was driven to hospital by a barman.
Ryan’s wife hung up on me when we phoned to get the former coach’s version of events.
“He’s not here …” Clunk.
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We tried again the next day and Ryan answered but refused to elaborate or provide any details.
“I’ve got no comment to make,” he said, before terminating the call.
A spokesperson from the hotel also declined to comment but confirmed: “He (Ryan) hasn’t been back since.”
The Pagewood Hotel had been Ryan’s local watering hole for more than a decade. Patrons told me he dropped in regularly for a beer.
One eyewitness said: “It was such a bizarre sight — two blokes in their late 70s and 80s having a blue.
“And even more bizarre considering they were mates and always enjoyed a beer together.”
NRL SALARY CAP BOSS QUITS
THE NRL is hunting for a new salary cap chief to try to prevent more Parramatta Eels/Melbourne Storm scandals.
Not just a financial whiz but someone who knows the sort of tricks coaches, CEOs, board members and sponsors can get up to in player negotiations.
Current cap auditor Jamie L’Oste-Brown will move into a senior role in the football department, working on the game’s new pathways project. L’Oste-Brown has been in the job since 2013 and has dealt with a series of massive salary cap issues, including the Eels scandal this year.
He is low-key but popular and regarded as willing to work with clubs to assist them to stay within the cap. He will remain in the role until a replacement is found.
PLAYERS’ MOVES TO REDUCE DRUGS BANS
MOVES are underway from the Rugby League Players’ Association to reduce illicit drug bans. If the Sharks’ Ben Barba was an AFL player he would have been suspended for only four weeks, not 12.
The AFL drug policy was negotiated when ex-Carlton player Ian Prendergast was the players’ union boss. Prendergast now heads up the RLPA and is in negotiations for the NRL’s collective bargaining agreement.
Rest assured, he will be pushing for more education and rehabilitation measures rather than automatic 12-week bans for a second strike.
NRL INTERSTATE BLITZ
RUGBY league will be played in every mainland state next year. Sydney Roosters are taking a home game, possibly against Melbourne, to Adelaide Oval — a match that would attract probably only 10,000 at their home ground but closer to 30,000 in the city of churches.
Souths will again play in Perth and Parramatta in Darwin. Adelaide is unlikely to have its own NRL team again but officials have earmarked the state for a future Origin game while ANZ Stadium is under refurbishment.
LEWIS A WANTED MAN
LUKE Lewis wasn’t short of options if his protracted contract negotiations had fallen over at Cronulla.
Both Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy and Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson spoke to Lewis about a move to their clubs in 2017. The Knights were keen, too.
It was always Lewis’ intention to remain at the Sharks and, after a series of drawn-out discussions, the Clive Churchill medallist agreed to a new deal on Wednesday.
SUNDAY SHIELD
THE Rabbitohs and Dragons will play their annual Charity Shield fixture on a Sunday afternoon instead of Saturday night in a move to revitalise the trial game that traditionally kicks off the rugby league season.
The Shield is pencilled in for February 19 at ANZ Stadium and both clubs will use the game as their key trial in the lead-up to the season kick-off on March 2-5. The Sunday timeslot should prove popular with fans who complain they are starved of afternoon footy in the winter.
ONE SUPREMO MISSING
IT’S interesting that NRL clubs have been complaining for weeks about the disappearance of John Grant and Todd Greenberg at a crucial stage of future funding negotiations, yet one of their own has skipped the country himself.
The two NRL bosses arrive home from the Four Nations in England on Wednesday morning and will meet the chairmen that day to resume talks. Roosters supremo Nick Politis won’t be there. He’s overseas on business.
BRAVE PUNTER BACKS KNIGHTS
SOME punters have little or no respect for money. Like the one who has backed dual wooden spooners Newcastle to win the 2017 NRL premiership. True story. The punter has invested $400 to win $100,000 if Nathan Brown’s boys win the title. He got odds of $251. Another punter has backed St George Illawarra to lift the trophy for $100,000 at odds of $101.
GREEN FIRMS EARLY
SPEAKING of the punt, the early money is on Danny Green to beat Anthony Mundine on February 3 at Adelaide Oval. Green has firmed from $1.50 in to $1.45 after a series of big bets last week. Mundine has drifted to $2.70. Still, there’s a multitude of good judges who suggest Mundine will be too fast for his bigger opponent and will tighten in the betting.
IT’S GUNNER CAM
SEVERAL Kangaroos won’t be returning home after the Four Nations final. A group including Arsenal tragics Cameron Smith and Jake Friend have been invited to watch the Gunners’ EPL game against Bournemouth at Emirates Stadium on November 27 from a corporate box. Arsenal are in Sydney next year to play back-to-back blockbusters against Sydney FC and the Wanderers at ANZ Stadium.
IT’S A DEAD SET SHAME
TRIPLE M has dumped its popular Saturday morning sports show Dead Set Legends after 19 years.
Hosts Dan Ginnane, Richard Freedman and Ray “Rabs” Warren on Saturday announced they would soon be signing off.
The station has hired Roy and HG to fill the timeslot so the show can go national.
Dead Set Legends was the No. 1 show on the station last survey and made a pile of money. Although listening to Freedman’s gibberish comments on Saturday when he virtually blamed a lollipop for the demise of the Australian cricket team, it’s probably not a bad thing.
ROUGH DIMOND
AS a footy player Peter Dimond was an indestructible winger for the Wests Magpies, NSW and Australia — one of the toughest and most feared players to lace a boot. Dimond’s health hasn’t been good in recent months, forcing the 78-year-old to spend stints in hospital. But he’s back home now and our best wishes go to him, wife Val and their family.
EMAIL: philip.rothfield@news.com.au
Originally published as What’s the Buzz: Warren Ryan involved in altercation at a Sydney hotel