Bulldogs pay out coach Dean Pay’s contract in full; six-again sinners and winners
Dean Pay appeared on a hiding to nothing in his tenure at Canterbury, which made the Bulldogs’ final gesture to their departed coach all the more surprising.
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Canterbury will pay out former coach Dean Pay for the rest of his contract, despite Pay walking out with three months left on his contract, in a display of class from the club.
The club had been crippled with the fallout from the COVID-19 crisis and Pay’s decision to go early could easily have turned ugly if the club wanted to save its pennies.
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The payout will not cost the Bulldogs a bomb like the payout to former coach Des Hasler, who was let go with a year to run on his contract as one of the game’s highest paid coaches.
Pay was moderately paid and it now appears almost certain assistant coach Steve Georgallis will remain in the job for the rest of the season before Trent Barrett arrives at Belmore next year.
The club is in the midst of an intense power battle that eased somewhat last month when Bulldogs football club chair Lynne Anderson held a peace summit with leagues club president George Coorey.
Both have agreed to put down their weapons for the good of the club, but those close say it is an uneasy truce.
There is talk that numbers are being rallied to call an extraordinary general meeting with more than a year to run before the next board elections, although some close to the club don’t believe they will get the numbers to be successful.
Several jobs within the clubs are also vacant after highly regarded employees walked out.
PROUD POM TO COWBOY?
England coach Shaun Wane has already been linked to a number of head coaching positions and now he could be on the move to the Cowboys as North Queensland hunt for a senior assistant to join the club.
Wane has been part of the short-list for the head coaching position at Canterbury and the Warriors having had great success with Wigan in the Super League. He is now being considered to join Paul Green’s coaching staff at the Cowboys as the club aims to put some more support behind their coach.
RUDOLF TUG-OF-WAR
The Warriors and the Sharks will tussle on the field on Sunday but there is also a battle going on between the two clubs off it regarding forward Toby Rudolf.
Rudolf will line up for the Sharks on Sunday but agreed earlier this year to join the Warriors for next season and beyond.
He now wants to stay in the Sutherland Shire after making his top grade debut earlier this year. The Warriors won’t let Rudolf renege on the deal unless they can get a player in compensation.
The Warriors identified Braden Hamlin-Uele as a potential replacement for Rudolf however the Sharks have all but knocked that on the head.
The replacement player the Warriors crave does not have to be a Shark.
Whoever coaches the Warriors will be in charge of rejuvenating the roster.
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Already Gerard Beale and Blake Green have been told they won’t be re-signed beyond this year and it is likely Peta Hiku and Lachlan Burr will follow the pair out of the club.
While Adam Blair has an option his way to play on next year he could also leave at season’s end. They were hopeful of securing Josh Kerr but he looks likely to extend his stay at the Dragons.
The Warriors continue to search for a coach with chief executive Cameron George declaring “anyone in their right mind would look at the calibre of Wayne Bennett”.
TUBE FROM HEAVEN
The wild waves in Sydney this week prompted Avalon Beach filmmaker Spencer Frost to declare the conditions as “hands down the best wave I’ve ever seen ridden in Sydney”.
Frost captured this spectacular picture of an unknown surfer riding the monster wave at Deadman’s Reef off the Shelly Headland south of Manly on Wednesday.
Waves reached about 10 metres for the thrill-seekers to try out.
BANKWEST BRACES FOR ONSLAUGHT
Bankwest Stadium officials are confident the “winter turf” laid at the venue in recent weeks will ensure it holds up as it prepares to host a large amount of sports in the next few weeks.
The venue will have five matches alone in the next week with two NRL games and three A-League matches – including a double header.
There will be 13 matches in 28 days at the venue. Soccer won’t impact the surface as match as the rugby codes.
The amount of action at the venue will ease after the Rabbitohs decided to revert back to ANZ Stadium from round 13 for their home games with the Bulldogs expected to follow.
THE ATHLETE STORY
Sydney Olympic gold medallist Kerri Pottharst has launched an Olympic-themed webinar to fill the void left by the postponement of this years games. The champion beach volleyballer will be joined by the likes of Dawn Fraser, Louise Savage, Steve Hooker, Jeff Horn, Matthew Mitcham, Ian Thorpe, Ellia Green, Kurt Fearnley, Dean Lukin, Andrew Gaze, Stephanie Rice and Anna Meares.
“I’ve been lucky enough to spend time with the most incredible athletes over the past 20 years and have listened to their amazing stories and I really just want them to be heard,” Pottharst said. “This period, when the 2020 Olympics ‘would have’ been on, is the perfect time for us all to get together and inspire the nation through the sharing of these stories.”
It has been dubbed The Athlete Story and will help raise money for the Australian Sports Foundation. The series will launch on Friday July 24 and run until August 9. To register: theathletestory.com.au
LOAN STARS
Mid-season player movement will be stopped on August 3 but the NRL has left the door ajar for its short-term loans to continue. Clubs – particularly the Warriors – will be able to ask the NRL should they need to field an emergency loan player after the transfer window closes. Anyone who is already on a four -week loan – such as Penrith’s Jack Hetherington at the Warriors – will be allowed to continue. Penrith would still be able to recall him after August 3 if injuries struck.
SIX-AGAIN SINNERS AND WINNERS
One of the biggest and one of the smallest players in the NRL sit on top of the winner lists when it comes to generating a six-again call for their team.
Canberra fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad has earnt the most of any player in the lead-up to round 10 with eight while Dragons big man Paul Vaughan is next best with seven.
On the flip side, it is the players in the middle of the field who are giving away the most.
Danny Levi and Moeaki Fotuaika have nine against their name with Penrith five-eighth Jarome Luai the only back to give away six or more infringements.
SINNERS
Danny Levi, Moeaki Fotuaika 9
Wade Graham 8
Pat Carrigan, Jarome Luai 7
Jack Murchie, Joe Tapine 6
WINNERS
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 8
Paul Vaughan 7
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Jason Taumalolo Jesse Ramien, Jaydn Su’a 6
*Source Fox Sports Lab
BLAST FROM THE PAST: VIC MAURO
47 NRL games for Manly (2007-2012)
Some players wait for years to play in a finals match. Others don’t win grand finals despite a decade in the game. Vic Mauro’s achievements include a 2011 premiership, a finals appearance in just his third top grade game and six finals matches from just 47 first grade games.
“For a short career it was pretty special,” Mauro said.
“I put it down to the players I played with ... it was a great team.”
Mauro rose through Manly’s junior ranks before being called out of the blue by coach Des Hasler to make his NRL debut in 2007.
“I was still training part-time,” Mauro said.
“I went from Jersey Flegg to Premier League to the NRL in one season. Des called me into the gym and asked if I had a passport because I’d be coming with the side to Auckland.”
Mauro had to get time off from his tiling apprenticeship to make his debut. Two games later he was part of the Manly side which beat the Rabbitohs in a qualifying final. Injury restricted Mauro to just three games in the next two years after a career-threatening back operation.
By the end of 2011 he was a premiership winner.
“I grew up loving Manly so it was pretty awesome,” Mauro said. “When I first started training around the guys — especially as a part-time player — it was intimidating. Not that they did anything to make it intimidating, it was just how it was. And 2011 was a special year.”
Midway through 2013, Mauro — now an electrician on the northern beaches — walked away from the game after a short stint in England, at just 27.
“I had some interest when I came back in Australia but I was content in what I done and happy to let it go,” Mauro said
Originally published as Bulldogs pay out coach Dean Pay’s contract in full; six-again sinners and winners