Monday Buzz: Sharks blow as rivals poach young gun

Cronulla lose a rising star, another Gold Coast drama and suburban footy at its best — check out the and talking points from another big weekend in sport.

Check out the highlights, lowlights and talking points from another big weekend in sport.

HIGHLIGHT

Brookie Oval. Sunday afternoon. Manly and Parra. Beautiful suburban footy atmosphere.

LOWLIGHT

The Titans needs to get their act together on and off the field. I had an email from a mum who tried to purchase general admission tickets online for her family to the Storm game. It came up ‘Allocation exhausted.’ They stayed at home and watched on Fox Sports. You turn on the TV and there was a backdrop of almost 20,000 empty seats.

The atmosphere at Lottoland was superb for the Sea Eagles-Eels clash. Picture: Getty Images

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LOWLIGHT II

The Israel Folau outrage has camouflaged the biggest issue with the Wallabies … Michael Cheika’s coaching. How predictable that we woke on Sunday morning to the news South Africa had flogged the Wallabies.

FLANA-GONE

Sharks star Kyle Flanagan has signed a two-year contract with the Sydney Roosters. He will play out the remainder of the season at Cronulla before joining the Roosters in October. It is a huge blow for Cronulla to lose a proud local junior and by far the best goal-kicker in the club.

Kyle Flanagan’s time with Cronulla is coming to an end. Picture: Phil Hillyard

SPOTTED

The great King Wally Lewis with his family at the Wallaroos v Japan game at North Sydney Oval on Saturday night.

PERRY BEST

There is nothing better than getting revenge over the Poms for our cricket World Cup semi-final defeat via Ellyse Perry and the Aussie women in the Ashes Test in the UK. Your columnist has even worked out you can watch on 9 GEM’s HD channel.

Ellyse Perry has been on fire in England. Picture: Getty Images

GRAB A BEANIE

Next weekend is my favourite NRL charity round. The Beanie for Brain Cancer fundraiser is the creation and now legacy of the late Matt Callander, who worked so tirelessly in his final year to set it up with the NRL and the Mark Hughes Foundation. Beanies can be purchased at all venues plus IGA and Lowes stores.

IT’S CONTROVERSIAL

Catch you tonight for a rugby league double-header on NRL 360 with Ben Ikin and Paul Kent and later with the Controversy Corner team to discuss all the big NRL issues.

LESS FUSS WITHOUT GUS AT PENRITH

The Panthers are a much happier and more relaxed football team since the departure of Phil Gould.

I received a text message over the weekend from a person closely connected to the club about the stress-free environment the players and coaches are now enjoying.

They are saying this is the happiest the team has been for years. No one feels like they are walking on eggshells and they love turning up to work again.

There is no interference with the coaching staff. There is one boss, Ivan Cleary.

There are plenty of happy faces at the Panthers. Picture: AAP

The Panthers’ form reversal has been quite remarkable. The 40-18 victory over the Dragons was their classiest attacking performance of the season.

The question of whether they are a genuine premiership threat will be answered next Sunday when they play the Canberra Raiders at home at 4.05pm.