Monday Buzz: Weekend highlights, lowlights
STUNNING 22-point NRL rampage, John Hopoate latest, what’s wrong with the numbers at Lottoland and more — check out the talking points from another memorable weekend in sport.
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CHECK out the highlights, lowlights and talking points from another memorable weekend in sport.
HIGHLIGHT
Penrith’s stunning 22-point rampage in seven minutes at Brookvale Oval against the Manly Sea Eagles to win from an almost impossible position. Edge back-rower Billy Kikau was again a star.
MORE MONDAY BUZZ: NRL’s Immortal sin
HIGHLIGHT II
Your columnist doesn’t usually watch rugby union but the Waratahs’ performance against the Lions in a spectacular Super Rugby semi-final in South Africa on Saturday night was far more exciting than many of the NRL games we have seen this season.
LOWLIGHT
Nick Kyrgios being booed off the court in the quarter-finals of the Atlanta Open after quitting with a hip injury when trailing Britain’s Cameron Norrie 7-5 3-0.
SHOOSH
Which high-profile NRL star was asked to leave a nightclub over the weekend on an out-of-town away trip. This guy has a long history of alcohol-related drama and needs to pull his head in.
SPOTTED
NRL referee Gavin Badger having lunch at the Newport Arms Hotel at the weekend. The Badge had a noticeable limp as he went up to collect his food.
HOPPING MAD
We can only presume John Hopoate will tell a judiciary he was racially abused before being sent off in a league game last week. He told me so in a text message yesterday that is not fit to publish in this newspaper.
PANTHER PAYOUT
As Manly led Penrith 24-6 late in the second half at Brookvale, a punter walked into a TAB and put $50 on the Panthers in live betting at $15. What appeared to be a ridiculously stupid bet became a $750 payout.
CROWD CRINGE
What an embarrassing Saturday for the NRL. The AFL had a crowd of 88,182 at the MCG for the Richmond v Collingwood blockbuster, while the NRL got 6000 for the Sea Eagles v Panthers at Brookie. The mighty Newtown Jets even got 7000 to Henson Park for a NSW Intrust Super Premiership game.
NRL 360
Catch you on NRL 360 on Fox Sports tonight with Ben Ikin and Paul Kent to discuss all the important issues from round 20. Tigers coach Ivan Cleary will be the special guest in the studio.
NUMBERS ALL WRONG AT LOTTOLAND
YOU have to worry about the long-term future of the Manly Sea Eagles when they are attracting only 6000 fans to Brookvale Oval (Lottoland) on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.
Their crowds are down 19.2 per cent compared to last year, with an average of just 9009 this season.
It’s even worse when you look back to five years ago when the average attendance was 13,842 — now down 35 per cent.
How can they even expect to compete with a Sydney club like the Parramatta Eels next year?
A brand new stadium and a leagues club churning out $20 million profits.
Let alone the out-of-town clubs like Melbourne Storm and the Brisbane Broncos, who will both turn over around $50 million this year. Manly will be lucky to do half that.
They have no poker machine or licensed club support and a terrible old home ground that is an embarrassment to the game.
BETTING STING BACK UNDER INVESTIGATION
ALL eyes will be on the NRL’s integrity unit this week when it reopens a 10-year-old investigation into suspicious betting activities from 2008.
A punter won $105,000 on Penrith forward Nathan Smith topping the tackle count in a Monday night game against the Wests Tigers at Campbelltown. There are no suggestions any players were involved.
The NRL claims police have already investigated the matter and the fact statisticians altered the number of tackles Smith made on the morning after the game.
The victim of the sting, bookmaker Con Kafataris, said police didn’t interview him. They also didn’t interview the then boss of NRL stats, Andrew Moufarrige.
Kafataris and Moufarrige claim statistics were being manipulated over an eight-week period in which bookies around the country lost up to $300,000 before betting on exotics was banned.
The average size of a bet on the top tacklers in games was around $50 in those days.
For a punter to put $30,000 on one player was unheard of until this happened.
The verdict on this new investigation will be another test of the NRL’s transparency. There is very strong mail one of its employees was involved in the sting, but there is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Moufarrige.
Todd Greenberg needs to ignore his old spin doctor and give the public all the facts.