NRL Rumours 2020: Wayne Bennett frozen out of South Sydney contract negotiations
Wayne Bennett is on the outer at South Sydney, with the supercoach taking a back seat in crucial negotiations taking place at the club. Plus Australian boxing’s greatest grudge match and Mal’s Kangaroos pay question. IT’S ALL IN SAINT, SINNER, SHOOSH.
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SAINTS
The NRL’s Peter V’landys, Andrew Abdo and Graham Annesley. Finally we have unbendable administrators prepared to ignore the whingeing of self-interested coaches who spend hours each week practising manoeuvres that have turned the ruck into a mini UFC contest. Instead, NRL bosses are now listening to their most important customers — the fans.
SINNER
Manly forward Joel Thompson has slammed NRL 360 host Ben Ikin about a column he wrote on players battling mental health, topical in that it coincided with James Roberts entering rehab again. Thompson then admitted on social media he’d only read the headline, not the story.
I’m guilty of not reading the article.
— Joel Thompson (@joel_thompson12) May 14, 2020
I promised myself I would never read an article after the last 12 months and the attacks on Latrell. Like many i just seen the headline (click bait). I also shared my opinion about it. Who’s at fault?
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SHOOSH
The trust between old supercoach Wayne Bennett and Roosters rival Trent Robinson has quickly evaporated. Robinson, who was on Project Apollo with Bennett and even drove him to meetings, had no idea the crafty Rabbitohs coach was secretly working behind the scenes to support the one-referee and six-again ruck rule change while he opposed it.
SHOOSH II
This is a tricky one to write because we don’t in anyway want to identify the senior sporting official who has had a fling with a younger female employee because he is a nice bloke and normally a very good family man. Their relationship has been the subject of office chatter for several weeks.
SHOOSH III
Who says Channel 9 boss Hugh Marks is not a rugby league man? It was him who raised the one-referee option in a broadcast negotiation with Peter V’landys in general chat about opening up the game for more exciting attacking football.
SPOTTED
Kaylie Stuart buying hubby Ricky a slab of beer and a case of wine from Cork & Glass in Yarralumla. The Raiders coach’s bottle-o is out of bounds due to NRL restrictions.
SPOTTED II
The most beautiful Mother’s Day gift — Fox Sports broadcaster Lara Pitt and husband Anthony are celebrating the arrival of their third son last weekend. Little Hamish William Emery Pitt will no doubt be forced/ordered to follow the St George Illawarra Dragons like mum and dad. Hamish has two older brothers … Lachlan and Cooper.
SPOTTED III
He may have blocked your columnist on Twitter but we’re still getting sightings of Gus Gould in the Shire, from his hairdresser to the golf course while COVID-19 has freed up some of his commitments at Channel 9. Last week the great man was spotted having a round at Bardon Ridge.
SPOTTED IV
We loved this tweet from ABC broadcaster Tracey Holmes, she makes a very good point …
Be a good moment to pause & think about the way Latrell Mitchell has been treated v Nathan Cleary. One fessed up, explained circumstances, copped punishment, has been ridiculed in the media since; the other lied, twice, including to integrity unit and is lauded as a leader. #NRL https://t.co/BAcl1Dl840
— Tracey Holmes (@TraceyLeeHolmes) May 13, 2020
MAN V MAULER
IT would be Australian boxing’s greatest grudge match — Jeff Fenech v Anthony Mundine.
Not inside the ring but as the two trainers in a proposed new Contender-style TV series that promoter Matt Rose is soon to pitch to television executives.
The idea is to sign up a dozen of the best light-middleweights to fight for the right to step into the ring against Rose’s main man, Tim Tszyu.
A similar TV series was staged in 2010 when eventual winner Garth Wood earnt a fight with Mundine … and knocked him out.
Rose has Fenech on board and is now negotiating with Mundine.
The problem is Choc still wants to fight and would fancy himself to win each stage to get to Tszyu. There’s a chance he could do both.
It would be a wonderful opportunity for the much-maligned champion to show his mentoring passion and skills on national television.
Considering the calibre of fighters in the weight division, this would be no easy task.
We’re talking Michael Zerafa, who beat Jeff Horn; the highly- regarded Daniel Lewis; the very colourful Jack Brubaker, and a host of other outstanding fighters.
There’s talk of a UFC fighter and a highly-rated American joining the show.
Rose has already taken the plan to Mark Fennessy, one of Australia’s most respected TV executives. He will talk to Foxtel, Netflix, Amazon Prime and the free-to-air networks.
Fenech says it’s a great opportunity to show boxing in a positive light.
“I’m keen,” Fenech said. “And I don’t care who Choc is training, I’d have him covered.
“I think they’d rather listen to my advice than him talking shit and telling them how great he is.”
CONCERN PLAYERS WILL FOLLOW WAYNE
THE South Sydney Rabbitohs will slowly ease old super coach Wayne Bennett out of recruitment negotiations.
The seven-time premiership-winning coach has enticed Queensland Origin forward Jai Arrow to the club next season but it will probably be the last deal he does.
Bennett is moving on when his contract expires after next season and there is a long history of players often following him when he switches clubs. Last year centre James Roberts and edge forward Jaydn Su’A came from the Broncos to join him at the Rabbitohs. He also tried to bring budding Brisbane superstar David Fifita to Redfern.
When Bennett left St George Illawarra in 2010 to join the Newcastle Knights, he took Darius Boyd, Alex McKinnon and Adam Cuthbertson. Jeremy Smith came a year later.
From Newcastle back to the Broncos, he took Boyd and Travis Waddell.
The Rabbitohs are in negotiations with Blues Origin star Cameron Murray — their future captain. They want him off the market before he can talk to rivals in November.
His negotiations are being handled by football general manager Mark Ellison, chief executive Blake Solly and Jason Demetriou after the departure of Shane Richardson.
At some stage, assistant coach Demetriou will have to get even more involved because he takes over from Bennett in 2022.
Souths are also keen to lock down teenage sensation Joseph Suaalii, rated by many as the best 16-year-old footballer in the country and a future Greg Inglis.
LISTEN! The Daily Telegraph NRL podcast runs an eye over the NRL’s new rule changes, Monday night football and Buzz Rothfield’s relationship with Gus Gould.
LAURIE’S PRIDE AND JOY FOR DAUGHTER
FOOTY legend Laurie Daley says he has had fewer prouder moments in his life.
Last week his daughter Jaimee graduated from the Goulburn Police Academy as a full-time officer.
Daley’s family couldn’t attend the graduation due of COVID-19 restrictions, but there was no prouder parent in the country.
“Anytime your kids achieve something like this, it’s very special,” Daley said.
“She’s excited but I’m a bit nervous. She’s worked very hard to get there — like all police graduates — and I’m really proud.”
BLIND CALLERS
Four Corners continue to chase powerful NRL types for their upcoming investigation into rugby league finances and the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars since the Super League.
We can reveal the great Gus Gould received a phone call from producers last week but has declined, probably because he is contracted to Channel 9. Roosters boss Nick Politis and former NRL chief executive David Gallop have also knocked back the show.
MAL’S TESTY SALARY SACRIFICE
There is a very interesting discussion to be had at NRL headquarters over the salary of Australia’s Test coach Mal Meninga, who is one of the most respected figures in the game.
Big Mal is on more than $300,000 for a handful of Test matches each year. However he does a heap of extras to promote the game and no one has done more to lift the status of the international game since he was appointed Kangaroos coach in 2015.
At the same time, there is massive cost-cutting going on at Moore Park headquarters and having a full-time coach could be seen as being extravagant in these tough times.
PLAYERS PAY SPAT
Player managers refuse to concede their clients will be forced to take pay cuts in a lower salary cap next year as part of cost restructuring across the game. One agent told me: “The players haven’t overspent … it’s been the clubs and the NRL who have wasted money.”
Standby for some fierce combat when the RLPA begins negotiations. The players will accept the cap remaining at $9.6 million, but want all contracts honoured from next year onwards.
HOME GROUND ADVANTAGE TO THE EELS
For all those complaining about the possibility of the Wests Tigers getting an unfair advantage from keeping Leichhardt Oval as their home ground when the competition resumes … well, it’s not actually the case.
We’ve checked out the Tigers’ record at home over the past five years and they have won just eight of their past 19 games at the venue — a poor win average of 42 per cent. There’s talk the NRL won’t use the venue anyway.
The Parramatta Eels will be getting the big advantage playing out of Bankwest. They won nine from 11 at the stadium last year at a win ratio of 82 per cent.
BREENY BAILS
Sports journo Neil Breen has quit Channel 9 and the weekend Big Sports Breakfast show to return home to Brisbane after landing a breakfast radio gig on 4BC. He will host on the network in the timeslot that had been taking the Alan Jones show. Breen is a Queenslander and Walkley Award-winning journalist from his days as sports editor of The Courier-Mail.