Monday Buzz: Weekend highlights, lowlights
THE NRL’s best supporter base, most exciting young gun in decades and more — check out the highlights, lowlights and 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
The incredible bravery of Melbourne Victory goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas, who so courageously put his body on the line in the A-League grand final and deservedly won the Joe Marston medal.
HIGHLIGHT II
More than 10,000 country fans crammed into Bathurst’s Carrington Park in the central west of New South Wales for a cracking Cowboys-Panthers game. An absolutely brilliant atmosphere to go along with the brilliant footy.
MORE MONDAY BUZZ: Referee stats that will shock supporters
LOWLIGHT
One of the most farcical refereeing decisions I’ve ever seen when Storm winger Josh Addo-Carr was denied a magnificent try in the corner against St George Illawarra for a penalty to his own team at the play-the-ball. An absolutely rubbish decision.
FAN-TASTIC
Here is the proof the Knights have the best supporter base in the NRL. In a Newcastle population of 440,000, their average crowd this year is 22,734. That means one in every 19 people go to the football. In Brisbane with a population of 2.4 million, the Broncos’ average crowd this year is 36,510. That’s one in every 65 people who go to the footy.
SHARK REALITY
The NRL ruled the Cronulla Sharks didn’t deserve a team in their senior women’s competition. On Saturday their girls won the Tarsha Gale Cup grand final over the Newcastle Knights. Onya ladies.
SPOTTED
Trent Barrett watching Manly’s Harold Matthews side beat Parramatta in the grand final on Saturday in the club’s first bit of #talkupthegame news for weeks.
THURSTY WORK
For all those thinking future immortal Johnathan Thurston has played one year too many ... the champion halfback actually leads the NRL for try assists and linebreak assists.
FLIGHTLESS BIRD
Jack Bird’s poor performance for the Broncos against the Bulldogs not only increased speculation he’s unhappy at the club but that Wayne Bennett feels the same way about him.
360 VIEW
Catch you on NRL 360 on Fox Sports on Monday night with Ben Ikin and Paul Kent to discuss all the major issues from round nine. North Queensland coach Paul Green will be a special guest in the studio to talk about reviving the Cowboys’ title campaign.
RAELENE’S SAND CASTLE
RAELENE Castle is fortunate she got her new gig at Rugby Australia before details of the salary cap mess she left behind at the Canterbury Bulldogs became public knowledge.
It is easy to blame coach Des Hasler for the debacle that coach Dean Pay, the new board and the new chief executive Andrew Hill are now trying to clean up.
As the previous chief executive, surely it was the responsibility of Castle to at least monitor the cap.
That she allowed Greg Eastwood to be paid $800,000 this year is unbelievable and back-end so many contracts, which forced James Graham to be released to St George Illawarra, is shocking management.
KNIGHTS’ WONDER BOY
PLAYERS from losing footy sides very rarely get voted man of the match.
However, if I’d been voting on the Dally M award in Newcastle on Friday night, the incredibly gifted young Kalyn Ponga would have got the three points. He is a deadset superstar.
It’s a big statement for a 20-year-old player who hasn’t played 20 first-grade games.
Yet he is probably the most exciting new talent I’ve seen since Laurie Daley at Canberra in 1987 or Freddy Fittler in 1989 at the Panthers. You knew from day one, game one they were something special. The same with Ponga. He has a sharp footy brain, every skill and explosive speed.
FANS ROCK THE SUBURBS
THE best news in rugby league is that Racing NSW boss and NRL independent commissioner Peter V’landys wants to ensure the survival of suburban-ground football.
On Sunday 19,173 fans turned Kogarah Jubilee Oval into a glorious sporting theatre. An absolutely stunning backdrop of the red and white army for television viewers as the Dragons beat the Melbourne Storm 34-14.
Later in the afternoon, about 15 kilometres away, the Sydney Roosters hosted the Manly Sea Eagles at Allianz Stadium in Moore Park. And the crowd was 10, 129. This time a backdrop of almost 35,000 empty blue seats.
This is the government wants to spend — and waste — $730 million on a new 45,000 seater while our suburban grounds rot.