What’s the Buzz: NRL’s golden oldies, Slater to call time and why B-Moz didn’t rejoin the Dragons
BRYCE Cartwright’s time on the Gold Coast continues to roll along a rocky path and Billy Slater set to reveal his retirement decision. It’s all in Buzz Rothfield’s Saint, Sinner, Shoosh.
NRL
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
MEET the NRL’s finest — as they’ll look in 50 years! PLUS, Billy Slater to reveal his retirement decision, the Broncos eye a Cleary double and why B-Moz didn’t rejoin the Dragons. It’s all in WHAT’S THE BUZZ.
SAINT
PATRICIA Hughes, the mother of Bulldogs legends Graeme, Garry and Mark, has passed away, aged 90. Apart from being the mum of three great players, Patricia was renowned in Sydney grade cricket for the beautiful afternoon tea she provided for nearly 50 years at Petersham Oval. Geoff Boycott once said the tea and scones at Petersham were the best he’d had anywhere. Our thoughts are with the Hughes family.
SINNERS
THERE is one thing we now know about basketballers — they are hopeless fighters. The basket-brawl outrage in the Philippines proved that. A terrible look with the chair-throwing and the elbow that started the fracas, but hardly a decent punch thrown. Much of it was handbags at 10 paces.
BUZZ: Robbo can be Roosters’ Alex Ferguson
TO HULL AND BACK: Carney tipped for England move
TRIPLE TREAT: 14 Blues on track for special treble
SPOTTED
STRUGGLING Titans recruit Bryce Cartwright buying a new $100,000 Range Rover on the Gold Coast from a rival dealer to the club’s owner, Rebecca Frizelle, which was not appreciated. The rival dealer rubbed it in by posting photos on social media of Cartwright collecting his new wheels.
SPOTTED II
NRL bosses Todd Greenberg and Peter Beattie in the directors’ room at Randwick on Saturday as guests of Racing NSW supremo and independent commissioner Peter V’landys.
SPOTTED III
SOUTH Sydney’s Burgess boys, Sam and George, watching a NSW Blues State of Origin training session at Coogee Oval.
SPOTTED IV
FOX Sports’ new cricket commentator Isa Guha meeting tennis legend Boris Becker at Wimbledon. Guha was at the tennis to meet Fox Sports’ senior producer Matty Weiss, who will be in charge of the network’s cricket coverage over the summer.
SPOTTED V
STEVE “Blocker” Roach in a car accident on Sydney’s north shore. The other driver was at fault but caused only minor damage. Blocker let him go because he was a struggling uni student.
SHOOSH
WHO is the disgruntled Cowboys star suspected of leaking rumours of unrest to Willie Mason and anyone else who cares to listen?
SHOOSH II
WHICH out-of-town NRL club is making a big play for Corey Norman, much to the delight of Eels officials who are desperate to punt him?
SHOOSH III
NO wonder alarm bells are ringing at the NRL about the management practices at the Manly Sea Eagles in light of their salary cap drama, Jackson Hastings’ exile, the Gladstone strip club affair and now an alleged sex tape scandal.
THE NRL’S GOLDEN OLDIES
SAM Thaiday drew plenty of laughs when he rocked up to his retirement announcement on Friday dressed as an old man.
“So, this is my way of being remembered,’’ he quipped.
Well, it also got us thinking about how some of the other stars of today would look down the track. So, with the help of the brilliant FaceApp, we gave it a shot.
And for good measure, here’s my first staff head shot back in the ‘70s. We tried a more recent pic but we couldn’t tell the difference between the images.
BILLY TO PULL CURTAINS ON CAREER
THE greatest fullback we’ve seen — Queensland Maroons superstar Billy Slater — is on the verge of announcing his retirement from the NRL.
The 35-year-old champion is expected to inform Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy of his decision in the next few weeks.
After 310 games for Storm plus 30 for both Queensland and Australia, Slater has already announced his retirement from representative football after Wednesday’s game at Suncorp.
Storm have been comfortable in allowing Slater as long as he wants to make the call, knowing they have the outstanding fall back option in Jahrome Hughes in the No. 1 jersey.
Slater will have no shortage of career opportunities when he hangs up the boots.
NRL research has shown he is among the most popular players in all demographics.
DOGS MUZZLE MORRIS
ST George Illawarra almost signed their former winger Brett Morris from the Canterbury Bulldogs before the June 30 deadline to play out the remainder of the season.
The deal was all but finalised for the rest of this season and next before the Bulldogs had a change of heart and refused to release him.
The backlash over the mid-season departures of Aaron Woods to Cronulla and Moses Mbye to Wests Tigers convinced Canterbury to keep him at Belmore.
Morris, 31, left the Dragons in 2014 after 170 games for the club. He is now on the lookout for a new club for 2019.
MILF VICTIM OF RUMOUR
RUMOURS of the Broncos being interested in a Nathan and Ivan Cleary package deal in 2020 is bad news for five-eighth Anthony Milford. The $1 million a year he earns would go to the boom NSW Blues halfback. The Clearys are both off contract at the end of next season at the same time as Milford and Broncos coach Wayne Bennett.
Ivan Cleary is building a new family home on Sydney’s northern beaches and would find it difficult to drag his family away from Sydney.
Still, the huge money on offer at the Broncos and the opportunity to coach such a glamour club would make an offer very tempting.
BELLYACHE DIDN’T KNOW
MELBOURNE Storm coach Craig Bellamy is as disappointed as all of us over reports of a falling-out between Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk. He insists he had no idea before we touched on the story in this column last week.
“I don’t know exactly what’s happened between them,” he said.
“If there’s an issue, you’d like to see them work it out although it’s a personal thing and it’s their own business. I’ve got a really good relationship with both of them and I’m going to keep it that way.”
SEMI BREAK
RADIO broadcaster Ray Hadley is on holidays in Fiji during the ratings break. He was spotted scuba diving off Tokoriki Island and has been visiting schools to talk rugby league. “All they want to ask me about is Semi Radradra,” the 2GB veteran said when we phoned him on the island.
REBEL BACKING
REBEL Sports has jumped on board with the NRL as a major sponsor of grassroots footy, coinciding with the huge growth in female participation.
It’s a coup for rugby league because Rebel boss Erica Berchtold is on the board of Sydney FC in soccer’s A-League. It turns out Erica is also a huge fan of the NRL and particularly Parramatta Eels.
MR HOOPER OMEN
TALK about a great omen tip that almost sent a Pub TAB broke. Journalism legend Ken Hooper passed away recently, aged 74. He was the father of Fox Sports league guru James Hooper. Over a beer and a celebration of Ken’s life last Sunday, colleague Paul Kent noticed a nag called Mr Hooper was racing in Singapore. They all got on. Mr Hooper saluted at $10.
WORLD-CLASS SIMPSON A WINNER
FOX Sports star Yvonne Sampson has beaten a hot field, including Channel 9’s James Bracey, to win the prestigious Mumbrella sports presenter of the year award.
Sampson received the award for her work on Fox League over the past 12 months, which included the exclusive interview with bad boy Matt Lodge and the tear-jerking League Life interview with Brett Kimmorley following the loss of his wife, and also her regular roles. Fox Sports head of television Steve Crawley said Sampson was a world-class broadcaster.
“She has a beautiful way about her hosting and can make people beside her and watching on the other side feel comfortable and informed and entertained all at the same time,” Crawley said.
Sampson gave credit to her colleagues at the pay-TV network.
KFC TARGET DENIAL
NRL commercial boss Andrew Abdo has denied the refereeing bunker is being overused to meet KFC sponsorship targets.
The fast food outlet renewed a three-year sponsorship with the NRL at the beginning of the season and has enjoyed unprecedented exposure.
The bunker is considered one of the hottest sponsorship placements in Australian sport. Abdo insists KFC pays a flat figure with no bonuses. “I can guarantee there is no extra value the more times we use the bunker,” he said.
LIVE stream every game of every round of the 2018 NRL Telstra Premiership on FOX SPORTS. Get your free two-week Foxtel Now trial and start watching in minutes. SIGN UP NOW >
Originally published as What’s the Buzz: NRL’s golden oldies, Slater to call time and why B-Moz didn’t rejoin the Dragons
30 NRL coaches sacked in ruthless decade: Will Benji be 31?
There have been 30 NRL coaches sacked in less than a decade. Phil ‘Buzz’ Rothfield asks Wests Tigers boss Shane Richardson - who has axed three coaches in his career - whether Benji Marshall will be 31.
Buzz’s highlights, lowlights: Moses’ hypocrisy exposed in Brown saga
Mitchell Moses has no right to publicly chime into the debate about his halves partner Dylan Brown staying loyal to Parramatta. Plus Buzz reveals his highlights and lowlights.