What’s the Buzz: Saint, sinner, shoosh
Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan is so disillusioned following the integrity unit’s latest investigation into the Sharks he has considered walking away from rugby league.
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Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan is so disappointed about the integrity unit investigation into the Sharks, he has considered walking away from the game.
He maintains he did nothing wrong and had zero influence on the coaching of the side while under suspension back in 2014.
Obviously, he had to plan for the following year. If his opinion was sought by then-chief executive Steve Noyce about players coming off contract, he would reply to emails.
What has upset Flanagan more than anything else is integrity unit investigators questioning members of his coaching staff recently about his work practices at the Sharks.
He has told friends he’s had enough of it.
SAINT
THE 99.9 per cent of NRL players who haven’t appeared in court this off-season. The ones who have been out and about doing some great work in the community and training their butts off to entertain us all in the greatest game of all in 2019.
SINNERS
ANOTHER week and another NRL player on the front page. This never-ending off-season of drama needs to be addressed by Todd Greenberg ASAP. Don’t just sit back and wait for the courts. How about a powerful statement on behalf of the game and the thousands of women who play, coach and volunteer.
SHOOSH
Which NRL coach is copping heaps about the weight he has piled on in the last 12 months? We’ve spotted this guy before in the drive-through at KFC.
SHOOSH II
WHICH former Test fast bowler, media personality and Shire resident is a raging hot favourite to become the new chief executive of NSW Cricket.
SHOOSH III
WHY on earth would the great Gerry Harvey buy a super expensive unraced thoroughbred and name it “Hadley” after the 2GB broadcaster, who was a notoriously slow and sluggish front-rower in his junior days at Dundas Valley Rugby Club.
SPOTTED
SKIPPER Michael Hooper enjoying a night out with mates at Manly Bowling Club, no doubt drowning his sorrows after another dismal year for the Wallabies.
SPOTTED II
BEN Fordham, of 2GB and Nine, cooking a sausage sizzle at Surry Hills police station in a great community initiative where locals can walk in off the street and have a snag and a chat to the cops. The idea came from Surry Hills superintendent and ex-Blues Origin manager Gav Woods.
SPOTTED III
HOW well is Penrith Panthers general manager Phil Gould travelling? The great man was recently spotted buying a Quintrex boat at Hunts Marine in Carlton. Then on Wednesday he had a horse running at Wyong and caught a helicopter to and from the track.
SPOTTED IV
SAM Burgess and Wayne Bennett walking down Coogee Bay Road on Wednesday. It was a big week for Sam whose wife Phoebe gave birth to their second child, Billy.
GAL’S A COWARD SAYS HOPPA
BAD boy John Hopoate has slammed Sharks warhorse, labelling him a “coward”. Hopoate claims the ex-Origin skipper agreed to a fight in February but is now refusing to sign a contract with promoter Matt Rose.
“Gal’s a coward,” Hopoate said. “He talks up a big show, he accepted the fight and now they’re telling me he won’t sign the contract. Either sign the contract or retire from boxing.
“He knows what’s happening if he jumps in the ring with me, that he’s getting knocked out, and that’s why he’s running scared and won’t sign.”
Gallen laughed off the criticism: “I’ve hardly done a boxing session in 12 months because I’m still playing rugby league,” he said, “I’m preparing for 2019 which is my priority, and there are things I’ve still got to weigh up.”
TOP TRIBUTE FOR DAVO
THE Carbine Club’s annual ‘Davo Award’, acknowledging a special individual contribution to sport, was presented to the man after whom the accolade is named — former great Test cricket all rounder Alan Davidson — at a SCG lunch on Friday.
Davidson, 89, was not expected to attend because of a recent illness, but, true to form, he was there to listen to former Federal Sports Minister John Brown’s warm tribute.
Among those joining the applause was Daphne Benaud, widow of Davo’s great mate and skipper Richie Benaud, NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller, Australian Turf Club boss Jamie Barkley and yachting and wine legend Sir James Hardy.
SMITH WILL PLAY ON
WE have been saying on these pages for weeks that former Australia skipper Cameron Smith will definitely be playing for Melbourne Storm next year. Despite reports elsewhere, rest assured the deal is done.
Storm are just waiting for Smith to return home from a family holiday in the United States to sign the two-year deal. Storm will call a press conference in their first week back at training in January to make the official announcement.
MORE DAYS OF DRAMA
NOTHING is going right for the poor old Cronulla Sharks. The club’s 2019 official NRL calendar released recently features three players who are no longer at the club.
You open up on the January page to a picture of NFL-bound Val Holmes who quit the club a month ago. Flick the page to February and there’s a giant photo of boom centre Jesse Ramien, who joined Newcastle Knights months ago. And then in July, there’s a huge action shot of James Segeyaro.
We understand that there is deadline pressure to get the calendars into the market but including Ramien, who was such a well-publicised departure way back in March, is a joke.
ICONS ON THE MOVE
THE demolition of Allianz Stadium has officially begun.
And The Sunday Telegraph was there to witness the removal of some of the venue’s most treasured history on Thursday afternoon.
We spotted the statues of league greats Dally Messenger and Reg Gasnier being removed alongside rugby union legend Trevor Allan on the back of a truck in Driver Avenue.
No one is waiting around for wannabe premier Michael Daley, who has threatened to abandon the $730 million project if elected at the March state election.
Already, Sydney Roosters and NSW Waratahs have moved out.
The bulldozers will arrive after the Sydney cricket Test in the first week of January to begin the three-year construction work.
We’re told that the statue of Messenger will be reinstalled inside the SCG, probably near the grandstand that bears his name.
The statues of Gasnier and Allan will also reappear in the New Year around the SCG precinct, rather than remain in storage.
They will spend a couple of weeks at the foundry where they were cast for minor repairs and polishing before being installed in their new homes.
The 40,000 seats at Allianz won’t go to waste.
Already, venues in Gloucester, Cootamundra and Braidwood have put their hands up for free seats to fit out their local grounds.
The first of the country clubs, Gloucester Football Club, turned up at the stadium on Friday morning, loaded up on a free breakfast from Azure Cafe and then piled 1050 seats into a couple of semi-trailers to take home.
The SCG Trust is still taking requests and, if you are keen to get your hands on one, send an email to: sfsdevelopment@scgt.nsw.gov.au as soon as you can.
TALK ABOUT A HOLE IN ONE
WHEN former Canterbury chairman George Peponis quit the Bulldogs board this year, he promised he would be working hard on his golf game instead of putting up with the political nastiness at Belmore.
It’s obviously paying dividends. Peponis recently played at Concord with his son, Alex, and shot his first hole-in-one with a four-iron on the fourth hole.
“I’ve actually taken three shots off my handicap since I left,” he said. “To get my first hole-in-one with my son watching after 35 years of golf was pretty special.”
TOKOROA CHEERS TROPHY TOUR
RUGBY league’s Provan-Summons Trophy recently left Australia for the first time.
Joseph Manu and Zane Tetevano made a pact at the start of the season to return to their home town of Tokoroa in New Zealand with the trophy if the Roosters won the grand final. They made good on their promise, showcasing the trophy at Tokoroa’s Christmas Parade last weekend. In a population of 14,000, more than 10,000 locals saluted their footy heroes.
Manu arranged to take the trophy to Hastings so his grandmother, who, sadly, is terminally ill, could see it, too. The Test centre also visited his old high school, Tokoroa High, with the trophy and encouraged the students.
“I told them to just keep working hard, to stay driven, and to not let anybody tell you that you can’t make it.”
INDIA LAUNCH TICKET FRENZY
IT mightn’t be an Ashes summer but the Australia-India series is only a whisker behind. We’re told ticket sales for the New Year Test at the SCG are way ahead of last time the Indians were here in 2014, particularly for Jane McGrath Day on January 5. This is amazing considering local heroes Steve Smith and Dave Warner won’t be there.
FEMALE FIRST
ANOTHER great woman-in-sport moment … Karley Banks is the first female in the 42-year history of the NSW State Cup touch football titles to coach a men’s Premier League team (the mighty Doyalson Dragons) to grand final glory, smoking Parramatta Eels 10-2 in Port Macquarie last weekend. Karley is a former Australia women’s rugby league rep.
KISS OF LIFE FOR WALLABIES
AYBE it’s going take an old league player to fix the debacle that is the Wallabies.
Regardless of when Michael Cheika departs as coach, the highly-regarded Les Kiss (left) looms as a bolter for the top job.
The ex-North Sydney and Kangaroos winger offers an impressive resume, having been part of the Springboks, NSW Waratahs and Ireland coaching groups.
Now head coach of London Irish, Kiss had an influential role in two of Ireland’s Six Nations triumphs in the past decade. He’s also the man whose ‘choke tackle’ helped Ireland bring the Wallabies undone in the 2011 World Cup.
Considered the best defensive coach in world rugby, Kiss has blossomed as a head coach, his status often discussed in the corridors at Rugby Australia.
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Originally published as What’s the Buzz: Saint, sinner, shoosh
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