Sport Confidential: Star signing Adam Reynolds helps Brisbane Broncos’ share price soar
The signing of Souths star Adam Reynolds is already paying big dividends for the Broncos off the field. Also, NSW’s last-ditch bid to save the NRL grand final. SPORT CONFIDENTIAL
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Brisbane Broncos shares have hit a record high, with investors regaining confidence as they look to snap up a share of the flagship NRL club following the signing of South Sydney star Adam Reynolds.
The Broncos’ share price hit a record 72 cents on the Australian Stock Exchange this week, more than double what it was when Covid struck last year and the club hurtled towards a maiden wooden spoon.
Brisbane shares plummeted to 35 cents in April last year as the Broncos were forced to slash millions from their budget amid the Covid crisis.
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There was little faith from investors in the famous Broncos brand as it hurtled towards the 2020 wooden spoon.
But confidence started to rise over the off-season and there was noticeable spike in trading when the club announced the signing of Reynolds on a three-year deal in May.
Shares jumped from 50 to 58 cents on the back of Reynolds’ signing and have steadily increased to a peak of 72 cents this week.
The Broncos last month announced a pre-tax profit of $3.2 million for the first half of 2021, up from the Covid-affected $22,000 the previous year.
There has been a noticeable shift in Brisbane’s on-field performances in the back end of the NRL season, with coach Kevin Walters declaring stability was being found at Red Hill following a turbulent few years.
The appointment of Ben Ikin as football chief has alleviated the pressure on Walters and chief executive Dave Donaghy has now been at the helm for four months and starting to put his mark on the club.
Chairman Karl Morris is a multi-millionaire stockbroker and is intent on strengthening the Broncos as a financial powerhouse of the NRL.
NSW’S DESPERATE PLAN TO SAVE NRL GRAND FINAL
The NSW government has launched a desperate eleventh-hour Covid plan in a bid to stave off their Queensland counterparts to host this year’s NRL grand final.
Sport Confidential can reveal NSW political heavy-hitters have explored the prospect of allowing Sydneysiders who have had the Covid vaccine to be cleared to attend Homebush for the NRL decider.
According to official figures, almost 2.5 million residents in NSW are fully vaccinated, theoretically meaning the state could easily find 80,000 Covid-free footy fans to fill Stadium Australia for rugby league’s biggest day of the season.
With Sydney currently in full lockdown, the NRL faced playing games in empty stadiums in a multimillion-dollar economic blow, prompting the code to relocate the Telstra Premiership to Queensland in July. But with the NSW government holding a 25-year contract to host the NRL grand final, they are going down swinging.
ARL Commission boss Peter V’landys is in delicate talks with the NSW and Queensland governments and it is understood Suncorp Stadium is days away from being announced as the venue for the NRL grand final on Sunday, October 3.
The NSW government is committed to a $2.1 billion redevelopment plan of sporting stadia and V’landys is seeking to get the contractual green light to shift the NRL decider to Queensland.
The Covid vaccination plan was touted as one way to keep the NRL grand final in Sydney, but Suncorp is on the verge of hosting a historic Queensland decider.
PVL GOES FOR OLYMPIC GOLD
ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys has not ruled out putting his hat in the ring to be Brisbane’s Olympics president in 2032.
Brisbane’s historic Olympics victory in July has sparked interest in who will preside over Australia’s first hosting of the greatest show on earth since the Sydney Games in 2000.
A host of names have been thrown up, including V‘landys, AFL chief Gillon McLachlan, ex-Brisbane Broncos boss Paul White and former NRL chief executives David Gallop and Todd Greenberg.
V’landys has an impressive administrative portfolio, having brought millions to NSW Racing and orchestrating the NRL’s return to play last year when the initial Covid crisis threatened to bankrupt the sport.
Few would doubt V’landys would have the energy and work ethic to be part of Brisbane’s Olympic Organising Committee.
V’landys said he would have to resign from one position – most likely his Racing NSW post – if he was to take charge of the Brisbane Olympics.
“I would have to give up one of my jobs to do it, the Olympics would be a pretty full-on job,” he said. “The NSW Racing job might be the one I have to give up.
“You can do two chairmanships no problem, but it’s the CEO’s role that is the demanding one. We’ll see what happens.”
PALMERS LOSES ANOTHER DINOSAUR
This is the bizarre story about Tony ‘T-Rex’ Williams, Clive Palmer and a missing Toyota Tarago.
Sport Confidential can reveal the odd relationship between Williams and the dinosaur-loving Palmer is all but over after the former NSW Origin star walked out on him.
Williams has played a handful of games for the Palmer-backed Southport Tigers in the Gold Coast A-grade competition alongside Israel Folau.
Billionaire mining magnate Palmer offered Williams and Folau rich contracts to play for the amateur team in a bid to support his freedom of speech movement.
Williams was sacked by the ironically-named New York Freedom after posting controversial comments relating to Jarryd Hayne’s sexual assault case. But the deal with Palmer has gone pear-shaped after Williams didn’t turn up for Southport’s game against Burleigh last weekend.
The Tigers couldn’t contact Williams and Palmer was later alerted to a van he loaned Williams being abandoned in Surfers Paradise.
The Tarago had to be towed and Williams hasn’t been sighted since.
JACKS’ COVID CRISIS
Training alone in a Brisbane park. Banned from visiting physios for injury treatment. Doing weights at his grandmother’s house. Welcome to the world of an NRL player trapped on the outside of his club’s strict 30-man Covid bubble.
In this case, the player in question is Melbourne playmaker Ryley Jacks, who sums up the hardluck stories of the fringe NRL stars who have struggled to get a game during rugby league’s Covid saga.
The NRL’s decision to relocate the premiership to Queensland in July forced teams into strict hubs. The NRL put a firm quota on every squad in hotel lockdown, leaving those outside the NRL bubble, such as Jacks, well and truly in limbo.
Jacks has been named in Melbourne’s 17-man squad to play Cronulla this week. He was only permitted to return to the Storm’s bubble on Monday after several months away from the team nursing an ankle injury.
“It’s been really hard,” said Jacks, who has played just one game this year.
“Being off-contract and not being able to do a job interview basically, I haven’t been able to play to get a new deal. You have to wait and sit outside not knowing when you would get into the bubble.
“A few weeks ago the Dragons asked the Storm to loan me out, but the NRL didn’t allow it because I wasn’t in the bubble. That broke me a bit.
“Because I was injured, I was banned from going to a general physio under the NRL guidelines. I couldn’t see the Storm physio, so I had to rehab the injury myself.
“I have been training alone in a park in Brisbane. I couldn’t go to a gym, either, so I’ve been training under my nan’s house doing weights at her place.
“Covid has thrown up some weird situations.
“The Storm have told me I am free to look around, so hopefully I can get one more game against the Sharks this week and pick up something in the NRL next year.”
TITANIC MOVE FOR TYRONE
Tyrone Peachey has been offered to the Broncos as the off-contract Titans star desperately tries to save his future in the NRL.
Peachey has been linked with a move to the Eels, but the 30-year-old is no certainty to continue his career at Parramatta next season.
Peachey recently severed ties with his long-term agent Sam Ayoub and has engaged another manager to conduct his affairs, with the Broncos having been offered his services.
The Broncos have kept their eye on the open market for an experienced forward and Peachey would offer seniority as a 177-game NRL veteran who played State of Origin for NSW in 2018. But it is believed the Broncos have ruled out making a play for Peachey, who is open to signing a one-year deal to remain at the Titans next season.
FAREWELL ALEX THE GREAT
The Broncos are offering rugby league fans a special, one-off ‘Chur Lex’ membership to say farewell to retiring Brisbane skipper Alex Glenn.
By signing up for the ‘Chur’ membership, a Kiwi slang term for the word ’thanks’, fans will enjoy reserved seating for Glenn’s 285th and final game for the Broncos against Newcastle this Saturday at Suncorp Stadium.
A family ticket (two adults and two juniors) will cost just $60, while one-off Chur Lex members will receive a $20 voucher to use at the Broncos
Team Store. Visit broncos.com.au/membership to celebrate the career of ‘Lexi’, one of the NRL’s good guys and the fourth most-capped player in Broncos history.
BURGESS A HIT ON SCREEN
There is a hot tip doing the rounds that former South Sydney hardman Sam Burgess absolutely brains them on an upcoming reality television show.
Burgess is one of the stars of Channel 7 hit SAS Australia, with season two to begin screening on September 13.
Filming has already wrapped up and like all reality shows, what happened on set is supposed to be top secret. But it will come as no surprise that there are whispers around the NRL that Burgess dominates on the show.
Burgess played rugby league as hard as anyone and that has transferred into the army training world.
BRISBANE TIGERS FACED EXTINCTION
The proposed merger between expansion rivals the Jets and Firehawks could have led to one of rugby league’s great tragedies — the death of the Brisbane Tigers in the Intrust Super Cup.
The Firehawks reached out to the Jets last week and as part of the joint-venture discussions, it was proposed that the Tigers be killed off from Queensland’s premier competition to accommodate Ipswich as a feeder club.
The Easts Tigers, rebranded Brisbane Tigers this year, are one of the oldest clubs in world rugby league. Founded in 1917 as Coorparoo, the Tigers have lasted 105 seasons, playing in 25 top-tier grand finals and winning eight premierships, including their most recent title in 1991.
Removing the Tigers from the Intrust Super Cup would have been a controversial move, but one the Easts Leagues-backed Firehawks would have considered to move into the truly elite world of the NRL.
In the end, the Jets rejected the merger and feeder-club proposal, sparing the Firehawks board of the agonising decision to deliver the bullet to the mighty Tigers.
EELS STAR SECURES HIS FUTURE
It’s official. Blake Ferguson will not be forced into retirement at season’s end and has secured a deal to continue his decorated career.
Despite having scored 124 tries from 246 NRL games, the off-contract Ferguson is unwanted by the Eels for next season and heads into the NRL finals with no official word of which club he will be playing for in 2022. But Ferguson has a deal lined up when his commitments with the Eels cease in the coming weeks.
His destination remains a closely-guarded secret, but sources close to Ferguson insist the former NSW Origin flyer has secured his future and won’t be hanging up the boots at age 31.
In the lead-up to Parramatta’s clash against Penrith on Friday night, Ferguson was tight-lipped about his future.
“This has never happened to me. This is now, so I’m just living in the present, just cruising,” he said. “You’re one loss away from getting pushed out of the game and we don’t want that to happen and I don’t want a distraction on the playing group.
“At the end of the day I am just enjoying playing football and whatever is left of it I am going to rinse it out of me.”
BRONCOS TAKE ON STORM
The Brisbane Broncos have hit back in the fight for talent on the Sunshine Coast by placing a development officer in the region.
Former Broncos centre Jack Reed is working on the Sunshine Coast in a bid to develop the game and deliver talent to Red Hill.
The Melbourne Storm have made the Sunshine Coast their own in recent years after striking up a deal with the Falcons Intrust Super Cup club. The Redcliffe Dolphins also realise the potential of the Sunshine Coast and have told the NRL they will make it their second home.
The Storm’s recruitment department is based on the Sunshine Coast and Falcons chairman Ashley Robinson said the Broncos had finally realised it is an untapped area.
“We’ve been on the Broncos’ doorstep since they started and they’ve never really lifted a finger to do anything for the Sunshine Coast,” he said.
“Now the Storm are here, Jack Reed is doing a great job as a development guy for the Broncos. Now the Broncos have got Jack Reed based at Mooloolaba because Melbourne are here. That’s a benefit to the Sunshine Coast.
“Call me cynical but if Melbourne weren’t here, neither would he.”
Either way, it should provide more pathways for league players in the region.
TURPIN BACKS CONCUSSION CRACKDOWN
Broncos hooker Jake Turpin has called for an end-of-season NRL summit to address the code’s high-tackle issue in the wake of the Latrell Mitchell drama.
Mitchell caused an NRL firestorm last Friday with his brutal attack on Joseph Manu which left his Roosters rival nursing a fractured cheekbone, leading to the Souths star’s season-ending six-game suspension.
The NRL launched a crackdown on high shots during Magic Round in May and there is a view the code has gone soft in recent weeks, with the match officials failing to send-off Mitchell.
Turpin says attacks to the head must stop and has implored the ARL Commission to maintain a hardline stance on head-trauma injuries.
“I definitely see where the NRL is going with it,” he said.
“I don’t want to get to 40 and have dramas with my life after that, so we have to respect where the NRL is going with it and what they want to do with it.
“I just think we need to have a look at it after the season and maybe put some guidelines in around high tackles. It got thrown in midway through the season, but we need to look at it and get some consistency around it.
“I am pretty happy for the NRL to do that because we know why they are doing it, they are trying to protect us players later in life.”
FAMOUS CLYDESDALES RETURN
The Clydesdales are back and targeting a return to Queensland’s top competition.
The Western Mustangs are changing their name to the Western Clydesdales and are calling for community support to help realise their Intrust Super Cup dream.
The club will play out the 2021 Hastings Deering Colts season as the Mustangs before adopting the Western Clydesdales name for the 2022 season onwards.
Retaining Western in the name demonstrates the club’s commitment to representing all of southwest Queensland, while returning to the Clydesdales name will evoke strong feelings of pride and passion for rugby league lovers in the region.
Club chairman Michael Burns hoped adopting the Clydesdales name again would ignite support for the club in the community, and build further momentum for the Intrust Super Cup quest.
“The Clydesdales are an icon of rugby league in Queensland. It’s a name that sparks memories of passion and success, and a name that proudly represents rugby league in our region,” Burns said.
“It’s important all of our region feels represented by the club and that’s why we’ve retained Western in our name. The Board also feels our club needs to play under the name of the Clydesdales given its significance to the game in our region.
“We think the Western Clydesdales is the perfect mix of honouring history while building for a strong future.”
SHOOSH I
Which NRL star from a Queensland club has been using some lame pick-up lines on Instagram? We’ve seen the “private messages” and he won’t be winning any Casanova contests.
SHOOSH II
Which Sunshine Coast-based NRL team is keeping their local KFC restaurant in business? Their love of the Colonel’s 11 secret herbs and spices doesn’t seem to be affecting them on the field.
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