Phil ‘Buzz’ Rothfield’s highlights and lowlights: Dragons’ fresh jersey gaffe

One of the first items on new St George Illawarra CEO Tim Watsford’s to-do list is hiring a new sub-editor after another jersey gaffe. Plus, the play-the-ball crackdown gets slap down.

Phil ‘Buzz’ Rothfield reveals his highlights and lowlights from the week in sport, handing out some free advice for the new Dragons CEO.

HIGHLIGHT

Canberra Raiders fullback Kaeo Weekes. This guy is an absolute superstar excitement machine. His sensational 90m try against the Dragons, when he beat five defenders with blinding speed, was as spectacular as rugby league gets.

LOWLIGHT

The St George Illawarra Dragons have had another spelling fail on a commemorative jersey. You’ll remember Jack Bird’s 150th Sharks v ‘Dargons’ jersey last year. This time they stuffed up Indie Bostock’s debut NRLW jersey by spelling Saturday ‘Staurday’. We all make mistakes but new CEO Tim Watsford needs to hire a sub-editor.

Indie Bostock's NRLW debut jersey had a notable spelling mistake.

Jack Bird sports the infamous 'Dargons' jersey.

SHOOSH

Which struggling NRL club has been making discreet inquiries around the future of Maroons forward Tino Fa’asuamaleaui at the Gold Coast Titans. Tino has a get-out clause that comes into effect in November.

SHOOSH

The NRL has rightly ruled that Mal Meninga can’t coach the Kangaroos in October. Mal has a massive job ahead as coach of the Perth Bears. He needs to be here on the ground for when the new franchise can start negotiating with players and managers in October. On the other hand, Wayne Bennett has the time off at Souths and is the best man for the job as a one-off for this three-Test tour of the UK.

Inaugural Perth Bears coach Mal Meninga in WA recently. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

SPOTTED

Thank god the NRL has done away with the narky play-the-ball crackdown. We’ve seen some shockers in recent weeks which have been ignored. And that’s actually a good thing. All we want to see is a quick play-the-ball.

SPOTTED

Queensland Origin legend Johnathan Thurston smashing the Gold Coast half marathon on Saturday morning with a blistering time of 1 hour 34 minutes before heading back into Camp Maroon. He pipped AFL great Buddy Franklin, who ran 1 hour 39 minutes. Our Queensland correspondents Peter Badel and Travis Meyn did the full marathon on Sunday. Bomber finished in 2:45 to finish in the top 10 in his age group. Trav, in just his second marathon, did 3:46. They sure put us Sydney-based scribes to shame on the score of personal fitness.

SPOTTED

A host of old footy stars, including Craig Coleman, Paul Sironen, Benny Elias, John Elias, Steve Roach, Garry Jack and Les Davidson, at The Juniors in Kingsford on Saturday to celebrate the 60th birthday of former Balmain Tigers and Great Britain international Garry Schofield.

SPOTTED

The Sydney Roosters wore black armbands on Sunday out of respect to longtime fan Johnny Zilic, who recently passed away after a brave battle with cancer. The players became aware of Johnny’s illness and his love for the club during his final rounds of chemotherapy. Johnny had put out a message on social media about how the Roosters’ courage and spirit this year had helped in his own fight. The Roosters have six old boys in their top 30 from Scots College … the same school that Johnny attended.

360 VIEW

Catch you on NRL 360 at 6.30pm on Monday on Fox League with Braith Anasta, Gorden Tallis and Brent Read to discuss all things rugby league. Wests Tigers boss Shane Richardson will be in the studio for the heavy hitter’s segment.

TOP 4 BATTLE: WAHS VS BRONCOS

The Brisbane Broncos have shown enormous improvement in recent weeks to storm back into premiership contention.

But I still don’t think they will get past the Warriors to make the top four.

Yes, the Warriors are without halfback Luke Metcalf and Blues Origin forward Mitch Barnett for the remainder of the season. They are massive losses.

However, Andrew Webster’s team has the most ­favourable draw of any team in the competition in the final nine rounds of the ­competition.

I think the Warriors will win six of their last nine to finish on 38 points.

That means the Broncos can only lose one game to finish level on 38 points.

Mind you, their comeback win over the Bulldogs on Friday night was exceptional.

They became the fourth team to win this season from an 18-point deficit.

In the run home they face the Storm twice and the in-form Dolphins.

A PROUD FATHER

Over the weekend I interviewed Cameron Munster’s wife Bianca.

She spoke beautifully of her pride in Cameron, not just as a footballer and Queensland State of Origin captain, but as a man and father.

Tragically, Cameron’s dad Steven died over the weekend.

I betcha he was equally as proud of his boy.

Our condolences to Cameron and his family.

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Originally published as Phil ‘Buzz’ Rothfield’s highlights and lowlights: Dragons’ fresh jersey gaffe