NRL 2020: Kyle Flanagan’s secret agony revealed | Saint, Sinner, Shoosh

Another year, another Phil Gould blow-up on Twitter – and he was close to making it through an entire season without his account being shut down. Check out all the latest NRL chatter and more in Australia’s hottest sport gossip column.

Say what you like about Kyle Flanagan but never doubt the youngster’s toughness.

The 22-year-old Roosters halfback carried a shoulder injury into last weekend’s semi-final against the Raiders. He needed a painkilling injection before the game and again at halftime.

It was not quite in the Cooper Cronk class of bravery from the 2018 grand final but still a big effort from a young player who does so much defence on the Roosters’ right side against big second-rowers.

Flanagan’s future could be decided in the next few days. The opportunity to play under Trent Barrett at Canterbury is appealing.

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Kyle Flanagan needed painkilling injections to play through the Roosters semi-final loss to Canberra. Picture: Getty Images.

Barrett has helped Nathan Cleary take his game to another level at the Penrith Panthers.

There are some in rugby league who think his father, former Sharks coach Shane Flanagan, has become too vocal.

He rang Roosters coach Trent Robinson earlier in the season to ask why his son had been dropped, an unusual move from an assistant coach at a rival club.

He was then on the back page of The Daily Telegraph on Friday blowing up about Kyle’s treatment from the Roosters.

As much as we admire a passionate dad going in to bat for his son, Kyle is old enough now to fight his own battles.

All the latest NRL chatter and more in Australia’s hottest sport gossip column.

SAINT

Happiness for Kyly Clarke, who has traded-in former Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke for Supercars driver James Courtney. She looked so happy in Bathurst for the Great Race over the weekend. Kyly posted an Instagram snap from Courtney’s Tickford Racing pit garage on Friday, captioned: “And just like that, the weekend begins!”

SINNER

The Queensland Government did the Canberra Raiders no favours. Storm was the better side and deserved to win but they had a huge advantage in their game preparation. The Raiders got ambushed early, obviously struggling from a day of travel.

Melbourne were the better team, but the Raiders may have had a better chance if they weren’t forced to fly in on game day. Picture: Getty Images

SHOOSH

Which highly respected NRL club media man was sent packing this week — because the head coach told officials he can no longer work with him?

SHOOSH II

Which ex-Sharks superstar is about join the Cronulla board? His knowledge of footy will be a huge asset.

SPOTTED

Clint Newton winning his third-grade rugby union grand final with the Avoca Sharks against the Terrigal Trojans in a local derby decider at Gosford Stadium, winning 22-21 in a thriller. Newton, 39, fractured two ribs during the game.

SPOTTED II

Latrell Mitchell is back in town after a break in Taree with his family. The Rabbitohs superstar was at The Fish Market at Maroubra Junction on Monday.

SPOTTED III

South Sydney Rabbitohs great George Piggins celebrating his 76th birthday with close mates at a Japanese restaurant in Kingsford on Thursday.

SPOTTED IV

Unlike a former NSW premier, your columnist likes to declare all gifts of alcohol. This beautiful bottle of Peter Sterling testimonial port from 1992 was gifted to your columnist by friends in Newcastle to mark a 37-year feud with the former Parramatta Eels great.

Bottle of Peter Sterling port from 1992.

SPOTTED V

Wests Tigers coach Michael Maguire at dinner with NZ Warriors recruitment guru Peter O’Sullivan at Peppers resort in Kingscliff. The pair used to work together on Craig Bellamy’s staff at the Melbourne Storm.

SPOTTED VI

TV network bosses — Foxtel’s Patrick Delany and Channel 9’s Hugh Marks — at The Everest at Randwick on Saturday as guests of Peter V’landys.

SPOTTED VII

Recently departed NRL integrity unit boss Nick Weeks in the beautiful Shire on Tuesday at Rushi cafe in Cronulla.

SPOTTED VIII

Former Dragons, Blues and Kangaroos star Mark Gasnier walking with his son and dog in Caringbah on Wednesday afternoon.

It appears NRL figure Phil Gould has shut down his Twitter account … again.

SHUT AND OPEN CASE FOR GUS

We say it every year … it wouldn’t be a rugby league season unless footy guru Phil “Gus” Gould had a blow-up on Twitter and shut down his account.

The great man almost proved us wrong.

Something happened on Friday night that led to him closing the account, so agonisingly close to grand final day and his first complete season on social media.

We tried to find out why but he declined to return our text messages.

Then half an hour later his account was mysteriously reactivated and he was back up and running.

We’ll put it down to a technical issue and not a dummy spit.

ABC Radio has snubbed the Wallabies in favour of bush footy. Picture: Getty Images.

ABC DUMPS WALLABIES FOR BUSH FOOTY

ABC Radio is under fire for it’s disgraceful snub of the Wallabies at the Bledisloe Cup.

The taxpayer-funded broadcaster is inexplicably covering bush rugby league games on 702 in Sydney on Sunday afternoons, rather than getting behind our national team against the All Blacks.

Last week “Aunty” covered a country league game in the Northern Rivers, robbing listeners of hearing one of the greatest Wallaby performances in the Wellington 16-all thriller.

On Sunday they will call a game in Maitland rather than Bledisloe II from Eden Park at 2pm.

We’re all for getting behind bush footy but to do it at the expense of a Bledisloe Cup game is a disgrace and Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan admits he is disappointed.

“The Wallabies are iconic and it doesn’t matter what code you barrack for, the Wallabies represent us all,” he said.

“They absolutely should be covering our games.

“We appreciate all the support we can get. There is no doubt rugby has had its testing times but for our team to pull through like they did last weekend is a good sign for the future.”

The rugby union coverage on the ABC is going into other states, but not into Sydney.

The ABC is standing by its decision, with Grandstand executive producer Tim Verrall telling The Sunday Telegraph: “At this time of year we have competing broadcast priorities. As our Wallabies coverage is available on ABC Grandstand digital and on the ABC listen app we chose to continue our coverage and support of regional rugby league.”

NRL’S HUGE OPPORTUNITY

Luke Graham is the son of Kiwi legend and NRL Hall-of-Famer Mark Graham. He is also one of Australia’s finest movie and documentary makers who is working on an exciting new project and needs the NRL to help out with copyright to footage and marketing.

The game should be embracing him. Instead, he keeps getting turned away by the usual suspects. Hopefully Peter V’landys or Andrew Abdo will recognise the great international exposure Luke can deliver in this new documentary.

Peter V’landys has praised Ben Ikin for his work in a difficult 2020 season.

NRL BOSS APPLAUDS IKIN’S SACRIFICE

Ben Ikin has not seen his family other than on Facetime for more than three months.

Since the Queensland borders were shut, he’s been living out of a little hotel room on the North Shore, hosting NRL 360, playing golf and being occasionally led astray by his co-host Paul Kent.

The Fox Sports voice of reason is a non-drinker but Kent even persuaded him to have a beer while watching a recent game.

A bit of a straighty-one-eighty, Ikin normally has a cup of tea while consuming his footy.

Ikin’s commitment has not gone unnoticed by network heavyweights and the NRL.

He has a wife and four children back in Brisbane and even missed his son Will’s 18th birthday.

Plus he had to deal with the disappointment of missing out on the Broncos CEO’s job.

Ikin flies home next Thursday after the final NRL 360 to spend two weeks in hotel quarantine.

League boss Peter V’landys is a huge Ikin fan.

“Ben Ikin is one of the most respected people in rugby league,” V’landys said.

“It was important for the sport to have normality when we came back after COVID and that meant having Ben in the seat hosting NRL 360. We really appreciate the sacrifices he has made.”

SPONSORS BACKING THE GIRLS

Who says sport sponsorship is hard to get during these tough COVID-19 times?

Australia’s Women’s World Cup success has had a flow on effect to the WBBL and the Sixers, with the glamour Sydney club to announce a massive new agreement with buy-now, pay-later platform humm — replacing Priceline.

The superstar appeal of players like Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy and Meg Lanning is huge to big sponsors.

The entire 59-game WBBL season will be played in Sydney with players and staff spending the duration of the tournament in the Sydney Olympic Park Village.

It all starts with the Sixers’ local derby against Thunder on NRL grand final day at North Sydney Oval next weekend.

Moloney twins Jason and Andrew are ready for their fights, with Jason on track to become the world bantamweight champion.

MOLONEY MEGA FIGHTS

The Moloney twins Jason and Andrew have settled into their Las Vegas training camp to both prepare for huge, upcoming fights.

Jason has the daunting task of taking on unbeaten three-division and reigning unified bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue on October 31.

This is a huge fight for Jason as he takes aim at trying to become Australia’s first world bantamweight champion since legends Jeff Fenech and Lionel Rose held their titles.

Andrew has a rematch against Joshua Franco — his only career loss — on the undercard of a Terence Crawford fight on November 15, with both fights to be beamed into Australian on Main Event.