Blindside: Jason Taumalolo’s rep future revealed, health scare adds to Matt Lodge turmoil
THE nation Jason Taumalolo will play for, Matt Lodge’s health scare and an off-contract Cowboys star’s uncertain future. Get all the inside info with our Blindside column.
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KONRAD Hurrell has spilt the beans on Jason Taumalolo’s representative future.
Taumalolo’s eligibility is one of the international game’s biggest talking points after he defected from New Zealand to Tonga for last year’s World Cup.
The Cowboys superstar is allowed to go back to the Kiwis this year and is yet to formally announce his plans.
However, fellow Tongan star Hurrell says the 2016 Dally M Medal champion has already made up his mind.
“Jase has already put his hand up to stay with Tonga,” Hurrell told Blindside.
“It’s big. Pretty much every kid in Tonga wants to be Jason Taumalolo. They all want to be Jason and Andrew Fifita. They are probably sick of me now.
“With him putting his hand up, hopefully the other boys will stay as well. We need them in the team in order for us to be better for the future.
“Straight after the World Cup all the boys were talking about it. If we want to get paid like Australia, New Zealand and England we need a strong team and to win some games in order for us to get sponsors and the NRL to help us out.
“If we build a team like we did in the World Cup, we should be sweet.”
Taumalolo maintained he was yet to make a decision.
“I’ve still got a while to go,” he said.
“The Test match (Samoa-Tonga) is in May, I will make my decision then. For now it’s back to club footy and the Cowboys first.”
HEALTH SCARE ADDS TO LODGE TURMOIL
IT HAS been a dramatic week for Matt Lodge in more ways than one.
Blindside can reveal the besieged Broncos prop spent time in hospital just days before his return to the NRL on Thursday night against the Dragons at Kogarah.
Lodge suffered a mystery illness and sought medical help before Brisbane’s season launch last Friday night — the same night shocking footage of his New York rampage was revealed by Channel 9.
The next day Lodge appeared at Broncos training briefly before leaving the field. Onlookers believed Lodge was being shielded from the media because of the hysteria over the New York footage. But that was not the case. Broncos coach Wayne Bennett instructed Lodge not to train to help him recover from his brief stint in hospital.
The visit was not stress related. It is understood he had a minor health issue that needed to be treated but it was never going to rule Lodge out of the clash with the Dragons.
The Broncos and the NRL have copped enormous criticism for signing and registering Lodge but Brisbane front row great Greg Dowling has backed the 22-year-old to behave under Bennett.
“If anyone can keep Matt Lodge on the straight and narrow, it’s Wayne Bennett,” said Dowling, Brisbane’s foundation prop who played 11 State of Origin games for Queensland. “The Broncos have signed some bad boys but that’s one thing Bennett is good at, turning careers around.
“It’s simple for Matt Lodge — if he signs with them and plays up, he won’t stay at the Broncos.
“Wayne is a good mentor. His record speaks for itself and as a coach, you won’t find a better bloke than Wayne Bennett.’’
CHANNEL NINE DECLARES WAR ON BRONCOS
CHANNEL 9 and the Broncos are at war over the Matt Lodge affair.
Blindside understands Nine executives are furious over the Broncos’ decision to allow rival network Fox Sports to do an exclusive interview with Lodge.
Nine, a Broncos sponsor, were chasing a tell-all with Lodge for months. Watch this space.
COWBOYS STAR LACHLAN COOTE IN LIMBO
LACHLAN Coote is facing an uncertain future at the Cowboys.
The off-contract fullback is being linked to the Wests Tigers, who are considering signing Coote after he was mentioned as a possible target.
Coote’s preference is to stay at the Cowboys but the 2015 premiers are sure to baulk at his asking price of more than $700,000 a season. Coote has had a frustrating run with injuries and needs a bumper season to extend his career at the Cowboys. But he is not the only player at a Queensland club pondering their future.
At the Titans, English backrower Joe Greenwood has fallen well down the pecking order, failing to be named in the Gold Coast’s top 17 for Round 1. Greenwood, 24, played 22 matches in his debut NRL season under former coach Neil Henry last year. However, he is not in Garth Brennan’s best team and has work to do to prove he deserves a spot.
HOW BRONCOS ARE CASHING IN ON CUP
WOULD you like a replica of the famous Winfield Cup trophy?
No worries. It will cost you $20,000 — and the proceeds will go to ... the Brisbane Broncos!
Blindside can reveal the Broncos — not the NRL — own the rights to the bronzed mould of the famous Winfield Cup trophy, which features the iconic image of Norm Provan and Arthur Summons’ warm embrace.
The Broncos first won the Winfield Cup in 1992.
Any club that wishes to get a replica of the trophy must pay a $20,000 fee to the Broncos.
TAYLOR TEARING UP TITANS TRAINING
TITANS halfback Ash Taylor has gone from being the Gold Coast’s worst trainer to one of the club’s best.
Taylor is facing the biggest season of his blossoming career after being challenged by new coach Garth Brennan to take ownership of the Titans.
Brennan said Taylor had overhauled his attitude towards training and the 22-year-old enters the season in the best shape he ever has been.
“In the last few months he’s been in the top three in every training session,’’ Brennan said.
“That’s a massive change for a guy who was only doing what he had to do.”
One of the game’s star halves, Taylor will next year be on a $1 million-a-season salary.
HOW KING ALMOST BECAME A DOLPHIN
WALLY Lewis has made a startling admission about his career — he nearly ended up at Redcliffe during his prime.
Lewis was a star of the Brisbane Rugby League during its glory days and remains one of rugby league’s greatest players. The Queensland Origin legend was the pin-up boy of Fortitude Valley Diehards in the late 1970s and early 1980s before featuring in what he believes was the BRL’s best ever team at Wynnum-Manly in the mid-1980s.
Lewis, 58, was a foundation signing for Brisbane Broncos in 1988 and finished his career at the Gold Coast Seagulls in the early 1990s. But he could have easily ended up at the Dolphins instead of Wynnum-Manly in 1984 if Brisbane’s Gateway Bridge was around back then.
“Valleys went broke in 1983,” Lewis said.
“That was a club I loved. My heart and soul was in that place.
“The word got around (that I was looking for a club) and I agreed to play for Redcliffe. It was my working relationship with (Dick) ‘Tosser’ Turner that kicked it off.
“I used to own a delicatessen in a shopping centre at Cannon Hill. I finished work and drove to Redcliffe to experience what it was like going to training.
“There was a lot of roadworks and I got there 15 minutes late. I thought ‘I can’t do this’. I was closing my own business half an hour early and leaving my mum there. I had to tell Redcliffe I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t drive all that way. I hadn’t signed but I told them the deal looked good.
“Tosser said ‘if it’s hard doing it a couple of times, imagine what it will be like doing it all season long’. Word got around and I went to Wynnum.”
The Dolphins’ history could have been even richer if Lewis had pulled on the red-and-white jersey.
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