Eddie Jones emerges as Cronulla Sharks coaching contender
He has long harboured aspirations to coach an NRL team, now a former Wallabies coach has emerged as a shock successor to Cronulla coach John Morris.
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Former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has been mentioned as a shock successor to Cronulla coach John Morris, whose job at the Sharks has surprisingly come under pressure in recent weeks.
The fact Jones is being mentioned will shock Morris as much as the news itself that influences around the club are having a quiet look at alternatives.
Jones has long believed he could coach in the NRL and keeps a keen eye on developments.
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As the world shut down during the COVID-19 crisis Jones watched the changes the NRL introduced to make the game more appealing and quickly appealed to the rugby hierarchy to have a similar look at reinvigorating their game.
Jones is contracted to coach England through to the Rugby World Cup in France in 2023.
But as we’ve seen so often, contracts don’t mean much in the modern sporting world.
The idea of a rugby coach being a success in the NRL is not as far-fetched as it once seemed.
Jones has a close relationship with recent Wallaby coach Michael Cheika who is now working at the Sydney Roosters and receiving rave reviews.
Jones believes he could oversee a program, knowing what he does about coaching, with the modern practice of hiring several assistants key to helping him get through the technical aspects of the game.
It’s another hurdle for Morris, who has done an admirable job after inheriting a roster that was about to go on a difficult salary cap run with several players on costly, long-term contracts putting pressure on the club’s recruitment and retention, but continues to face pressure.
Other names to be mentioned are North Queensland Cowboys Paul Green, a premiership winning coach and former Sharks grand finalist, and Warrington coach Steve Price, who briefly worked in an assistants’ role at the club.
SHARKS FUME OVER GAL COMPO
Cronulla officials are privately seething about details of Paul Gallen’s confidential compensation payout being leaked — but have swiftly shut the door on the potential for other players to demand a payout.
While Gallen was compensated a high six-figure sum in the wake of the Cronulla peptides scandal, insiders deny it was as high as $700,000, but you could probably see it from there, telling the club he was prepared to pursue legal action if compensation was not awarded.
To avoid a lawsuit — which could have been catastrophic under the privilege of court — the Sharks negotiated a deal with Gallen.
Some former teammates of Gallen, who retired last year, were shocked to learn he was compensated and wondered whether they, too, were entitled to a payout.
Payouts to all 15 players suspended in the wake of the scandal would potentially leave the Sharks on the financial brink.
However insiders say the “sunset date” has expired, meaning any players considering legal action as a possibility in the wake of Gallen’s payout have left it too late.
Not one player has approached chief executive Dino Mezzatesta or any of the board members since the story was leaked.
GOODES MURAL
A three-storey high mural of Sydney Swans great Adam Goodes went up in Surry Hills. The giant painting is on the side of a building at the corner of Foveaux and Crown streets and was commissioned by the building’s owner.
RETURNING HOME
Teams could return to their true home grounds as early as next month as the NRL fast-tracks its move for the game to get back to as normal as possible.
Clubs are quietly confident they could host proper home games in round eight from July 2.
It is the same date the NRL has earmarked for genuine crowds to return.
As it stands the NRL has locked in its venues up until round nine – including three stadium hubs in Sydney.
Clubs expect by round 10 they will certainly be able to play at their home grounds although there is now a push for that to happen two weeks earlier.
Chairman Peter V’landys said there was a chance the Raiders could host the Dragons in Canberra on July 3. It would also allow the Sea Eagles to return to Lottoland instead of playing out of Gosford that round.
“In phase three teams are allowed to (play at home),” V’landys said, “Once the government gives us the go-ahead for crowds on July 1 we will look at our scheduling.
“We are very confident about July 1.”
V’landys has continued his discussions with the NSW government regarding the upgrades of suburban grounds.
FOLAU LOCKS IN FUTURE
Israel Folau is set to secure his playing future with the dual-international sticking with French Super League club Catalans Dragons for at least another 12 months.
Despite interest from some NRL clubs about a potential return to rugby, Folau is expected to play in France again next year.
The move could almost certainly rule him out of ever returning to the NRL with Folau turning 32 next year. He would have spent 12 years out of the game by the time 2022 starts.
The NRL also haven’t budged from their stance of not allowing Folau to return.
What it does set up though is a mouth-watering contest between Folau and ex-Storm teammate Greg Inglis. The pair are expected to both play in the centres when Inglis joins Warrington next year, meaning they could mark up against each other on the same side of the field.
Super League officials are hopeful of resuming their competition in August.
RESERVE GRADE NINES
Clubs are considering playing their second-tier players in a series of nine’s matches in a bid to try to get them some much-needed game time.
Fringe players who haven’t played first grade are yet to feature in any games this year with the respective state-based reserve grade competitions now cancelled. Clubs have discussed a range of options including merging teams to make up the numbers for a hit-out. One option being considered is a series of nine per side matches because there are concerns teams won’t be able to fulfil a complete side or they may have an imbalance of players in one position. Queensland teams are also heavily restricted from travel. Matches could take place in clean zone training venues but are still about a month away from eventuating.
SHARKS CALL ON GAL’S COUSIN
The Sharks are sending out an SOS to Matt Eisenhuth – the cousin of premiership winning captain Paul Gallen – in a bid to boost their depleted stocks.
Cronulla want to sign Eisenhuth immediately to help cover their forward depth. Eisenhuth, 27, is off-contract at season’s end. He hasn’t managed to get a crack at the Tigers in first grade this year and was not part of this weeks 21-man squad despite the mass changes coach Michael Maguire has made.
The Warriors had made a play to loan Eisenhuth earlier this year.
ON THIS DAY
The NSW camp was plunged into turmoil when star winger Timana Tahu left the team’s Origin camp abruptly 10 years ago. Canberra’s Joel Monaghan was brought in as a late replacement. “I just got off the plane,” Monaghan said. “I don’t know too much about what has happened yet.” It was later revealed a racist comment from Andrew Johns prompted Tahu’s reaction.
ALL EYES ON
The master against the apprentice. Adam O’Brien spent years as Craig Bellamy’s right-hand man at the Storm. So important was O’Brien to the club, that they made him a life member despite leaving them for arch-rivals the Roosters last year. O’Brien’s Knights squares off against Bellamy’s Melbourne for the first time in a battle between two top five teams on Saturday.
MATT GEYER
Games: 268 (six Western Reds, 262 Melbourne)
Career: 1997-2008
NSW: Three games for the Blues
When Matt Geyer left Perth for Melbourne he made sure he had copies of his six top grade games so unsure was he that he would play first grade again. He also dreaded arriving to join the newly-formed Storm ahead of its inaugural season.
“Melbourne picked the teeth out of the Reds because we’d just folded,” Geyer said. “Because I was in an AFL town in Perth I was dreading going to another one. I was saying ‘anywhere but Melbourne’. In the end I had no choice. Basically you went into a lottery. They’d done about two months of pre-season by the time I got there so I was well off the pace. I didn’t create a good first impression.”
Geyer was overlooked by his junior club Penrith so he followed older brother Mark to Perth for a few which netted him a handful of games. He started in the Storm’s second game but was let down by his “rock star” attitude.
He was so on the outs he requested and was granted a release midway through his first season before going on to be one of the Storm’s most decorated players.
“I had an offer from the Cowboys and the Tigers and I was like ‘yeah lets go’,” Geyer said. “I was just trying to chalk up as many games as I could. Eventually (coach) Chris Anderson gave me one more chance. I got my humility and work ethic back because I knew I was running out of chances. They then said they didn’t want to grant me a release.”
There was another defining conversation between Anderson and Geyer which shaped his career heading into 1999.
“Chris asked me if I was goal-kicker,” Geyer said. “I hadn’t really done any since I was junior but when he said it meant I would start I said yes. I spent all summer practising to be a goal-kicker. As a kid was I second or third string kicker.”
Geyer, now a schoolteacher on the Gold Coast, ended up kicking the winning goal in Melbourne’s shock grand final win that year.