Roosters billionaire Nick Politis offloads Brisbane Broncos shares
The Brisbane Broncos are reeling after the NRL’s richest man offloaded almost 100,000 shares in the club, adding to an already staggering figure wiped from their sharemarket value.
Broncos
Don't miss out on the headlines from Broncos. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The NRL’s richest man is winding back his investment in the Brisbane Broncos.
Roosters godfather Nick Politis has offloaded a chunk of his Broncos shares in the wake of the club’s form crisis.
The Broncos have seen more than $15 million wiped off their sharemarket value over the past two years.
Politis had more than 200,000 shares and helped his mate Paul “Porky” Morgan raise capital for the birth of the Broncos in 1988.
The billionaire will retain some shares but has sold around 100,000 in recent months amid concerns over decreasing share price.
As a shareholder, Politis logged on to watch the Broncos’ AGM on Tuesday.
The online meeting was branded a “facade” by some shareholders after claims chairman Karl Morris and CEO Paul White cherrypicked emailed questions to respond to.
BOYD BANNED FROM FULLBACK
BRONCOS veteran Darius Boyd was barred from finishing his NRL career at fullback.
Sport Confidential can reveal Boyd held private conversations recently with coach Anthony Seibold where he expressed a desire to return to Brisbane’s No.1 jersey.
Boyd played the majority of his 327 NRL games at fullback and was the game’s best custodian at times throughout his career.
He has looked lost at times playing centre this season and wanted to shift to his preferred position, where he provides invaluable communication for Brisbane’s defensive line.
But Seibold is intent on looking to the future and has opted to move Anthony Milford to the No.1 jersey for their Friday night match to accommodate Tom Dearden’s return to halfback.
Boyd has 10 games left before he retires and faces spending them at centre unless something dramatically changes.
SEIBOLD’S TOUCHING GESTURE
BRONCOS coach Anthony Seibold has been under intense pressure as he fights to save his job, but that didn’t stop him from taking time to help out an old friend at Red Hill this week.
Seibold handed over his Broncos jacket to Dave from Rockhampton after training on Wednesday.
Dave is a huge Broncos fan and Seibold likes to provide him with a piece of club attire whenever he is in town to watch the team train.
“I give him something every time he comes down here to watch us,” Seibold told Sport Confidential.
“His dad is seriously ill.”
Seibold said he maintained an appropriate social distance from Dave to adhere to the NRL’s biosecurity protocols.
BRONCOS AT RECORD ODDS
THE Broncos have been given next to no hope of beating Melbourne tonight after being installed at their longest odds ever of winning.
Ladbrokes is offering $9.50 for the Broncos to upset the Storm at Suncorp Stadium.
The Broncos have never been at such long odds.
“It truly is an unprecedented time for the Broncos, certainly if the market is to be believed,” said Jared Timms from Ladbrokes.
“We went up with $8.25 for them in match betting on Tuesday but Ladbrokes punters have truck loaded the Storm, ultimately seeing the Broncos’ quote drift out to $9.50. That is officially the longest match price offered for the Broncos, in their history.
“Interestingly, the Brisbane faithful are refusing to completely abandon their boys - they have attracted substantially more bets at the line than Melbourne, now set at 19.5 points.”
COWBOYS SAY ‘NO’ TO HOOK
THE Cowboys are a long way off settling on a coach to replace to Paul Green but one thing is certain – it won’t be Anthony Griffin.
Cowboys hierarchy are looking to go in a different direction and will not be reaching out to “Hook” to take charge in Townsville.
Green’s former assistant Todd Payten remains a leading contender for the gig and is highly-rated by those at the club.
The Broncos naming John Hopoate is a masterstroke
— Aaron Wallace (@wallyscr) July 21, 2020
He'll show them all how to pull their fingers out! pic.twitter.com/z0j4GWbvCq
HOPPA POKES HIS WAY BACK INTO NRL
THE NRL’s official website made an unfortunate gaffe when this week’s teams were announced.
The Broncos’ team had John Hopoate listed in jersey No.16 for the clash against the Storm.
Hopoate was the NRL’s ultimate bad boy and holds the record for spending the most number of weeks suspended.
The name was supposed to be Jamil Hopoate, John’s son who has been in-and-out of the Broncos’ NRL team this season.
It was corrected quickly after eagle-eyed fans spotted the mistake.
PRINCE REPLACES THE KING
SCOTT Prince will make his rugby league comeback for the club made famous by “The King” Wally Lewis tomorrow.
Prince will be playing his first game for Valleys against Pine Rivers in the Brisbane Rugby League when community football restarts this weekend.
At the age of 40, Prince is still supremely fit and is a gun touch football player.
He has opted to make a return to the 13-man code and will run out for Lewis’ former club.
There will be 11 leagues throughout Queensland kicking off this weekend after three competitions rebooted last weekend.
HOLMES KEEPS A LOW PROFILE
COWBOYS star Valentine Holmes is a humble man.
Holmes was playing cards at Townsville Casino during the week when a patron sat next to him and noticed his busted ankle in a brace.
The punter asked Holmes if he played rugby league in Townsville.
“Yeah, I just play local footy,” Holmes replied, not wanting to boast about being an NRL star.
THE PEARL’S CENTRE SOLUTION
ONE of Queensland’s greatest ever centres has a radical solution for the Maroons’ three-quarter shortage.
Steve Renouf has urged Queensland coach Kevin Walters to contemplate playing Broncos forward David Fifita at centre.
The Maroons have a shortage of centre options for this year’s series on the back of the NRL retirements of Greg Inglis and Will Chambers.
MORE NRL
NRL 2020: Boxing champion Jeff Horn helps Brisbane Broncos
NRL Round 11 Late Mail: Updated and breaking team news
Mid-season NRL report card: Brisbane Broncos a rugby league disaster
“The Pearl” said Fifita is talented enough to shift from the back row to centre and terrorise the Blues.
“He is a freakish player. What he can do is amazing,” Renouf said.
“I told Kevvie to play him in the centres for Queensland.
“He is such a mobile unit and is quick enough on his feet to not get caught out defensively. He is young and agile.”
MELBOURNE’S MILLION-DOLLAR MASTERSTROKE
THE Broncos have tonight’s opponents to thank for their $1 million Anthony Milford deal.
Back in 2017 the Broncos offered Milford $900,000-a-season to re-sign and were adamant that was as much money as they had for him.
But the game changed quickly when Milford boarded a flight to Melbourne and held discussions with Storm coach Craig Bellamy.
The Storm made a huge play for Milford, believing he could be the player to replace Cooper Cronk at their scrumbase.
In a desperate bid to keep Milford, Brisbane upped their offer to $1 million-a-season and as they say, the rest is history. Milford hasn’t delivered on the investment yet.