What's the Buzz: Sandor Earl's tell-all talk to Karl Stefanovic plus Australia's best sports gossip

CHANNEL Nine has called in Today show host Karl Stefanovic to handle sport’s biggest interview of the year with banned NRL star Sandor Earl.

CHANNEL Nine has called in Today show host Karl Stefanovic to handle sport’s biggest interview of the year with banned NRL star Sandor Earl.

The interview was recorded at Nine’s studios on Friday to be screened on Thursday night’s Footy Show. Nine is staying tight-lipped about the content, but it is understood Earl will speak in detail about his relationship with controversial sports scientist Stephen Dank. “Sandor’s account of events is incredibly engaging,” says executive producer Glenn Pallister, who knocked off Channel Seven in a bidding war for the interview. I’m told Nine has paid almost $100,000 for the first chat with the former Roosters, Panthers and Raiders winger. Seven recently paid Essendon’s former high performance guru Dean Robinson a similar amount for his exclusive story. He is the brother of Roosters coach Trent Robinson and was spotted in the Roosters’ dressing sheds last weekend. Nine is expecting the interview will attract the highest ratings in the Footy Show’s 20-year history. “Hearing him tell of the processes involved with the acquiring and administration of substances, and his relationship with Stephen Dank is compelling,” Pallister said. “This will certainly change some people’s minds on their perception of who was in the wrong.” Earl’s mother Jan accompanied her son to the interview. On camera she is apparently very raw and emotional, speaking about her helplessness in watching her son become the face of one of the biggest scandals in Australian sporting history. Earl was issued with an infraction notice by the NRL last month for drug use and trafficking. The Panthers have been dragged into the scandal by paying invoices for Earl’s treatment while he was at the club, unaware he was being administered the banned peptide CJC-1295. Earl’s legal minders and his agent George Mimis pushed for Stefanovic to do the interview. He will reveal the inner workings of his relationship with Dank from the time they met. Dank has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. Any wonder the NRL's so out of tunes with fans THE NRL has had massive issues attracting crowds to the finals. Again on Friday night, only 23,000 turned up for the battle of the beaches. Getting some decent entertainment would be a good start. For the first week of the finals we had a group of former players doing their best as musicians. And while this was all happening, the wonderful Jessica Mauboy was sitting in the NRL’s corporate box. Surely someone in NRL marketing could have done a deal for her to perform in the break between games at the double-header. ***** SAINT: BATTING legend Mike Hussey for his brutal honesty in a tell-all book about dramas inside the Australian cricket dressing room in recent years. SINNER: SEPP Blatter. Qatar’s heist of the 2022 FIFA World Cup is officially the biggest farce in world sport and Blatter has nowhere to hide. Blatter’s minions last week disgracefully fobbed off Frank Lowy’s legitimate claims for compo over Australia’s $43 million bid, but there’s plenty left in this drama. We can only hope the final scene has Blatter removed from office. SINNER II: The NRL finals refereeing. Jorge Taufua’s “try” for Manly on Friday night was a bigger farce than the seven-tackle try the week before. ***** WE’RE hearing NRL heavies including John Grant and Dave Smith have pencilled in a summit with their AFL counterparts to discuss ways of getting stay-at-home Sydney sports fans to big events. The bosses of Sydney’s major stadiums ANZ and Alliance will be there too. KNIGHT’S TALE YOUR columnist had the pleasure of interviewing soccer legend Sir Alex Ferguson during the week for a story to coincide with his book launch next month. He had some wonderful things to say about Socceroo stars Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell. ***** SPOTTED I: SHINJI Ono and Youssouf Hersi from the Western Sydney Wanderers at The Star casino on Thursday night getting asked to show ID on entry. SPOTTED II: BEN Barba with three mates at Tuscany restaurant at Leichhardt, the infamous eatery where disgraced former minister Ian Macdonald met Tiffany the prostitute. BLAKE’S HANG-UP: BLAKE Ferguson can’t take a trick. He returned home from a holiday in Bali last week minus his mobile phone that went missing on a night out. The phone has been replaced but he’s lost all his contacts. DOG OF A JOB: FACILITIES are so bad at one NRL club that their training ground is open to the general public all week and dog poo has to be scooped up before the boys do ballwork. The coach often gives the scooping job to players who have stepped out of line or played poorly the week before. HORSE PLAY: THE Sharks planned a day at Randwick races yesterday long before last night’s game against the Sea Eagles. Star five-eighth Todd Carney phoned the Australian Turf Club to ask for 15 members tickets. He got them on the proviso it was not a ‘Mad Monday’ type of gathering. ***** MOORE'S STILL A BULLDOGS ACE THE Bulldogs could have done with the magic touch of their former coach Kevvy Moore during the finals.He had a hole-in-one at Bankstown at the 15th on Wednesday and scored an amazing 45 stableford points. Sadly, Kev is still dirty on the Dogs and is rarely seen around the club. ***** CLASSY COWBOYS' FIVE STAR SALUTE THE Cowboys have proudly passed on a lovely email from feedback about the team’s Mad Monday behaviour. If any group of players was entitled to have a thousand drinks after bombing out of the finals for the second year in a row because of a refereeing error, it’s the Cowboys. Not so. A restaurant owner from Airlie Beach emailed the club on Wednesday about their behaviour. “We have never met such an exceptional group of young men who are such excellent ambassadors for your club,” wrote Michelle Vicary, who owns Japanese restaurant Sushi Hi. “They were at their lowest points, but showed such courtesy, passion for their team, and their game, that we cannot tell enough people what exceptional ambassadors they were. “We find that the higher athletes achieve, the less likeable they are, but your gentlemen changed our views. “We will now make the journey to attend your home games based on their deep impression they left upon our kids, staff and community. “The old saying applies that everyone always criticises players when they do wrong always applies, but rarely does anyone tell you when your players do the opposite. "Thank you for the privilege of meeting your boys and showing me what exceptional young men they are.” RAIDERS BOSS NOT AXED OVER A FOOD FIGHT DEPARTING Raiders chairman John McIntyre has denied he was forced to stand down over a recent incident in a Canberra restaurant. McIntyre has confirmed he “stacked on a blue” at a flash restaurant about the size of a bill but insisted it didn’t cost him his job. He denied the restaurant owner lodged a complaint to the Canberra Raiders board. “That’s bulls . . . ,” he said. “I was the chairman so I’d know if there was a complaint made. “I did apologise to another board member who was with me and other people who dined with us. “It’s a restaurant under new management and I complained because they charge like a wounded bull. “It had nothing to do with me leaving the Raiders.” REBELLION PUTS END TO FOSTER THE transfer of outspoken soccer pundit and former Socceroo Craig Foster from SBS to Fox Sports has sensationally collapsed at the 11th hour after a rebellion at Fox Sports. Foster’s 10-year feud with former Socceroo teammate and Fox Sports talent Robbie Slater was always going to make this switch hard, but I’m told Slater wasn’t the one leading the charge against Foster at the Artarmon studios. Another star with a big pay packet made so much fuss that Fox Sports had to walk away from the deal. Same as it ever was in the land of TV. FATHERHOOD SITS WELL WITH MAL BIG Mal Meninga is to be a dad again — at 53 years of age. His wife Amanda is three months pregnant with the couple’s second child. In February, Amanda gave birth to her first child, a boy — Elijah Henry Brooklyn Meninga. The couple sold the story and photos to New Idea. “This is about as good as it gets, I’ve never felt such joy and happiness,” Mal said, which is a big statement considering his eight straight Origin wins. “To be honest, it’s hard to even find the words it has been such an overwhelming and amazing time in our lives." ***** HOLD YOUR HORSES,  BOYS FOR years, Racing NSW has tried to branch out into rugby league, offering the services of its stewards to keep an eye on betting activity in the NRL. Now we know why former boss David Gallop and the independent commission have always rejected overtures from racing boss Peter V’landys. NSW Racing’s handling of the More Joyous scandal — which cost punters more than $10 million — was a farce. The last thing rugby league needs is more bungling officials ***** IT'S PRIME TIME FOR CORRUPTION IF you’re wondering how Asian organised crime can scam $2 million profits from betting on half a dozen obscure semi-pro games in Australia, think time zones and massive Asian betting pools. When the English Premier League is in recess from May to August, the bookies need something to keep their betting pools going. The Saturday and Sunday afternoon kick-offs for Australian second-tier games unfortunately drop into weekend prime time for the live betting markets from Mumbai to Beijing. GALLOP KICKS A GOLDEN GOAL AFTER the best A-League season ever and World Cup qualification for Brazil, FFA boss David Gallop has moved to bolster his media relations team to make the most of the good news. Savvy media manager and Olympic Games PR consultant Dave Mason has been recruited from Sydney FC. Soccer has a great story to tell and Gallop has a first-class media and PR crew around him, unlike the NRL and AFL where the dead-hand of bureaucracy makes media relations like pulling teeth.