Saint, Sinner, Shoosh: SEN’s ratings woes, NSW women short-changed in Origin
Channel Nine’s rugby league TV ratings have fallen again this year. And it’s not surprising considering their viewers are being treated as mugs by Phil Gould.
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SEN radio hired former Panthers, NSW Blues and Kangaroos star Greg Alexander at the beginning of the year to try to lift the Andrew Voss breakfast show.
Instead it has had the opposite effect.
Ratings figures in the latest survey are the most disastrous in the station’s 18 months in the Sydney market.
Voss and Alexander rated 0.2 in an absolute shocker – down from 0.6 in the previous survey.
This is seven times less than their opponents Laurie Daley and Michael Clarke on Sky Sports Radio’s Big Sports Breakfast, for which your columnist is a contributor.
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Across the SEN network in Sydney, the figures weren’t a lot brighter in the morning, afternoon, or evening shifts. Their combined Monday to Friday audience figure was just 0.4.
They run last of 15 stations in every timeslot.
It’s a shame because the network has some nice talent.
Matty and Andrew Johns with Andrew Webster do a terrific show on Friday mornings.
(Their figures are not available because it’s only on one day a week.)
The drive team led by Bryan Fletcher and Joel Caine is always entertaining.
As is Katie Brown, who does afternoons on Fridays.
But the overall figures must be a huge concern for the network’s management.
The breakfast show not only has Voss’ and Alexander’s salaries but also former Australian captain Cameron Smith, who doesn’t come cheaply.
Smith was an unusual choice in that he has never been popular in Sydney.
The weekends don’t get any better for SEN with their live NRL coverage.
They finish last behind 2GB, the ABC and Triple M on Friday nights (0.1), Saturdays (0.4) and Sundays (0.5).
* * * * *
SAINT
Ray Warren. Great man, velvet voice, accurate, no ego, true gentleman. Will be sadly missed, especially on State of Origin nights.
SINNER
Payne Haas’ manager Tyran Smith. Agents are supposed to protect their players, not throw them under the bus. His handling of the contract dispute with the Broncos has been appalling. The player gets booed by Broncos fans while the agent goes into hiding.
SHOOSH
Which Aussie boxing legend says Nikita Tszyu is a better fighter than his older brother Tim, despite just two professional fights. Nikita, 24, fights at the same weight as Tim as a super welterweight. He has won both his fights by knockout and is clearly the more powerful puncher.
SHOOSH
Laurie Daley and Darren Lockyer found out through the media that they had been stood down as Australian selectors last week for Brad Fittler and Billy Slater. The NRL didn’t even bother to contact them. The person responsible for telling them has a long history of stuffing things up.
SPOTTED
George Kambosos winning one of his first trophies as a 12-year-old amateur. His dad Jim drove him all the way to Griffith and back in one day (1150km) for three, two-minute rounds. They got back home to Sydney at 3am with George fast asleep in the back of the car.
SPOTTED
The voice of world boxing Michael Buffer having dinner on Friday night in Melbourne at Japanese restaurant Koko in Crown casino with Shire identity Peter the Greek, former boxer Peter Mitrevski and promoters Matt and George Rose.
SPOTTED
The great Jeff Fenech celebrating his 58th birthday with wife Susie and friends at Rosso Italia in Gladesville last week. Fenech will be in Melbourne on Sunday as part of the Main Event coverage.
SHOOSH
The George Kambosos fight in Melbourne will have double the viewers of State of Origin. American promoter Lou DiBella expects an audience of six million in prime time in the United States on Saturday night on ESPN. That’s obviously not including the Main Event figures in Australia. Origin on Channel 9 will get around the three million mark.
SHOOSH
It wouldn’t be a State of Origin series without a brewery war. The Blues and the Maroons are sponsored by Tooheys and XXXX, both owned by Lion, the company that has pouring rights at Accor Stadium. The NRL’s major brewery sponsor is VB who don’t get a start on Wednesday night unless you purchase a beer outside the ground.
* * * * *
Ray Warren has knocked back a dozen invitations for Wednesday night’s Origin.
He could have walked into any corporate function at Accor Stadium and made thousands of dollars as a guest speaker.
He could have watched from the NRL suite or the chairman’s lounge.
Instead, the great man will enjoy the game from the comfort of his lounge room.
“I’ll have a glass of chardonnay, sit back and enjoy,” he said. “I’m not sure how I’ll feel. I might be a bit sad that it’s all over. I might be happy that I’m not there.
“I just know I’ve made the right decision.”
BUZZ’S TOP-10 COMMENTATORS
1 Alan McGilvray
2 Richie Benaud
3 Ray Warren
4 Frank Hyde
5 Norman May
6 Dennis Cometti
7 Bruce McAvaney
8 Ray Hadley
9 Bill Lawry
10 Bill Collins
* * * * *
A pay dispute has erupted in the build-up to the women’s State of Origin in Canberra on June 24.
NSW players will earn only $8800 while the Maroons get $15,000, which has infuriated women’s legend Tarsha Gale.
“It’s quite frustrating,” Gale said. “QLD have always been so supportive of their group.
“There’d be such a stink if this happened with the men. It’s really wrong.”
RLPA boss Clint Newton is working on a solution with the NRL.
“No doubt the women need certainty and consistency,” he said. “Securing a CBA for women them will ensure players across both teams are remunerated fairly and equally.”
* * * * *
Phil Gould has a lifetime contract at Channel 9 on the network’s rugby league team.
“He’s like Rabs,” a network executive told me. “He’s here for as long as he wants to be.”
This is interesting as viewers have been subjected to so much false information and fake news around Gus’ comments on the coaching position at Belmore.
It started when Gould said on Channel 9 a month ago: “Trent Barrett will be the coach of the Bulldogs long after I’m gone. He’ll be the long-term coach of the club.”
Barrett was gone a fortnight later.
Whilst discussing potential replacements, Gould told a press conference: “My phone has been running hot, there are plenty of applicants.”
On Monday night he had changed tack again: “I’ve had no applications for the Bulldogs job, no inquiries, nor have I spoken to anyone about it.”
Nine’s rugby league TV ratings have fallen again this year. And not surprisingly considering their viewers are being treated as mugs.
As for the Canterbury Bulldogs, being a membership driven club, there are some particularly anxious directors.
Not necessarily about the prospect of collecting another wooden spoon but more their concern about the misinformation that is going out so regularly to their members and stakeholders.
* * * * *
Legendary boxing announcer Michael Buffer wants to join the NRL’s push into America with the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Manly Sea Eagles set to open the 2023 season in Los Angeles.
Buffer told me in Melbourne, where he is here for the George Kambosos fight, that he’d love to be part of the ‘rugby’ event as the official announcer to introduce the teams to American fans.
“I’ve seen a bit of rugby (league) and I like the game,” he said.
“I’ve done World Series Baseball and I’ve done more than a dozen NFL teams, the formula one cars, nearly every sport you can think of.
“Rugby would be fun. I’d really like to do it.”
Having Buffer involved would bring enormous attention to the game in America where he has such a huge following.
Independent commission chairman Peter V’landys is confident the game will go ahead.
“To have Michael Buffer would add an unbelievable atmosphere to the event,” V’landys said.
“We’ve got to promote it as an event, not just a game of rugby league.
“His iconic voice is known worldwide and he’d bring so much charisma.
“It would be a coup for rugby league.”
Buffer loves what he has seen of rugby league.
“These guys are incredible athletes,” Buffer said.
“A lot of Americans don’t understand that rugby players don’t wear all the protective equipment.
“Their physical ability is just amazing.”
The NRL is well down the track with plans for the game which would be broadcast on Fox Sports and Channel 9 the weekend before the first round of next year’s competition.
Hollywood actor Hugh Jackman, a Manly tragic, and Souths owner Russell Crowe would be heavily involved alongside Buffer in the promotion.
* * * * *
This is the extraordinary weight transformation of South Sydney Rabbitohs superstar Latrell Mitchell.
Latrell began pre-season training at the Rabbitohs weighing around 115kg.
He has since returned home from a two-week high-tech training program in the United States more than 10kg lighter and looking in the best shape of his career.
“The feedback from Latrell’s trip has been all positive,” CEO Blake Solly said.
“He has been extremely professional in his approach. Latrell had the same approach to the season-ending injury he suffered in 2020, and started the 2021 season in scintillating form. We can’t wait to see him on the field and at his best very soon.”
* * * * *
Heavyweight Lucas Browne, who will fight on the undercard, is still filthy about his loss to Paul Gallen in April last year. You bail him up in Melbourne and it’s all the big fella wants to talk about.
“That loss to Gallen will always linger. I got beaten by a f***ing footballer,” he said.
“The truth is he whacked me with five illegal shots to the back of my head, popped my eardrum, and I lost all balance. I was basically fighting cross-eyed.
“I have nothing against Gal. The refs should have done something about it and he got away with it. I think he knows he got lucky with me, so good luck to him.
“I would love to fight ‘Gal’ one more time and I would retire, but Gallen doesn’t want a bar of me.”
* * * * *
The NSWRL marketing department obviously appreciates Josh Addo-Carr more than the selectors. When the Blues needed a player last month to model the new Blues jersey for the 2022 series for online sales, Addo-Carr was their man. Despite his sacking, the Bulldogs winger is still being used on the NRL’s online shop to flog the jumpers.
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