NRL 2021: Broncos keen to bring Josh McGuire home, Tigers TV swearing record
Kevin Walters is considering making a play for a Dragons enforcer to bolster their inexperienced forward pack. That and more in Sports Confidential.
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Michael Maguire has topped Tony Soprano and Jimmy McNulty as the biggest foul-mouth on television.
The Wests Tigers coach dropped a staggering 113 F-bombs in 57 minutes in the second edition of Wild Wests: Tales from Tiger Town, the documentary on Fox Sports looking into the club’s 2021 season.
American crime drama The Wire, featuring Dominic West as grizzled Baltimore detective McNulty, averaged 102 swear words per episode, the most of any television show in history according to website casino.com.
That is followed by mafia show The Sopranos, led by the late James Gandolfini as New Jersey crime boss Tony Soprano, with an average of 83 profanities per episode.
Maguire was rattling along at well over one expletive a minute, including this vintage rev-up in the change rooms ahead of their round eight clash with the Dragons.
Watch new FOX SPORTS Original Production ‘Wild Wests: Tales from Tiger Town’ four-part docu-series on Kayo >
“Get a hold of f------ each other,” Maguire told his player. “All the things that you f----- do, get into this f------ team, that’s what we f------ do at the Wests Tigers. And you f------ love doing it. Yes? Well f------ get into these -----. Cos they’re in the way of f------- going where we want to get to.
“This f------ jersey makes you rise… be the f------ team that puts on f------ tries, scores f------ tries, f--- there’s nothing better than scoring another one. All those little things you get to do together, it’s f------ good fun. Well go out and f------ do it boys, hey. Go out and rip into this
f------ team.”
Tigers prop Alex Twal said the documentary had made for interesting viewing and the passion exhibited by Maguire was no surprise to the playing group.
“We’ve been watching it,” Twal said. “It’s been pretty good. Showcasing to our fans what sort of goes on behind the scenes. It’s been entertaining.
“It’s like reality TV. You see what you see. “It is pretty close to the mark how passionate we are about winning, especially Madge. It’s very good for our fans.”
With two episodes remaining, Maguire could push cartoon South Park for most expletives used over the course of a television show: 9228.
PROFANITIES PER EPISODE
Tales from Tiger Town Ep. 2: 113
The Wire: 102
The Sopranos: 83
Orange Is The New Black: 70
Shameless: 55
Peaky Blinders: 49
Westworld: 48
Silicon Valley: 47
Veep: 46
Dexter: 41
GALLEN LOCKED IN
Paul Gallen says he is ready to hurt several footy players, particularly Chris Walker, after signing a three-fight deal with No Limit Boxing.
The first of those fights could be against former Manly prop Darcy Lussick on the Magic Boxing weekend in November, but it can be revealed several other NRL identities including Walker - who won his only professional boxing match in 2019 - Matt Cooper and Josh Aloiai have approached No Limit to fight Gallen.
“Walker is laughable, seriously if I fight him I’ll give him a 10-punch head start,” Gallen said.
“He can throw 10 punches before I throw one.
“Josh Aloiai, I do a lot of training and sparring with his team [Manly], I’ve helped his teammates prepare for multiple fights as they’ve helped me, it’s probably a fair bit of advantage to him they know me inside out.
“I’ve shown in my last three fights I’m not scared to fight anyone. If the deal is right I’ll be there.
“The November fight will be Darcy Lussick as far as I know, we’ve just got to get through this Covid period and start sparring again.
“It seems to be all these rugby league players putting their hands up to have a crack at me, good on them, but I’ll be in there to hurt them.”
Gallen was being hotly pursued by the two leading promoters in Australia, and his signing now gives No Limit the two biggest-selling pay-per-view fighters in the country, with Tim Tszyu already in their books.
“It was Dean Lonergan or Matt Rose, I like them both, great guys, Dean Lonergan helped me earn the most I’ve ever made in one fight, Matt’s paid me more over fights than anyone,” Gallen said.
“I’ve said from the start I’m a prize fighter and both guys have looked after me, I’ve got no issue with either promoter.
“The final straw was that Matt was able to give opponents that I’ll be facing in the next three fights, guys like Darcy Lussick and the AFL guy, Shane Mumford, have told Matt they want to fight me.
“Dean was a little bit up in the air, he definitely had [former All Blacks] Liam Messam and Keven Mealamu ready to fight, I was supposed to fight them both on the same night but Mealamu wanted me on his own, he reckons he can get me. That may be an option in future.”
EMUS FUMING
Penrith officials are seething about the prospect of being kicked out of the Shute Shield yet again, as the competition looks set to shrink to 12 teams in 2022.
Emus coach John Muggleton said they have not given up hope of participating next year and is concerned about Sydney Rugby Union’s process.
“They’ve told us we didn’t fill out a registration form that nobody told us about,” Muggleton said.
“The club is fighting to stay afloat. If it’s true and that’s the way they’ve gone about it and they’ve given Parramatta and Hunter dispensation it stinks to high heaven and we will be looking for an opportunity to state our case.”
Penrith were kicked out of the Sydney club competition in 2018, but returned in 2020, before notching their first win in seven years this season against Western Sydney Two Blues.
The Covid outbreak is likely to cancel the remainder of the 2021 tournament.
RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP PLANS IN TURMOIL
The fate of The Rugby Championship is far from determined.
While there has been much speculation all games will be played in Perth, the All Blacks are adamant that they should host world champions South Africa in New Zealand.
The top two ranked teams in the world, with their historic rivalry, is now the biggest draw in rugby and the Kiwis are keen to maximise profits by staging the Tests there.
But with Covid wreaking havoc on travel and the trans-Tasman bubble, it is unclear whether the New Zealand government would allow the All Blacks and Springboks to play in Perth and then enter the country without a mandatory 14-day quarantine, which would make it impossible for them to play there.
BRONCOS HOMECOMING?
The Broncos are considering making a play to bring Josh McGuire home as the club look to add an experienced front-rower to the mix.
Brisbane have already been linked to veterans Ryan James and Dylan Napa, but it is understood they are also thinking about a homecoming for McGuire who has one year left on his contract with St George Illawarra. McGuire left the Broncos in 2019 to join North Queensland before linking up with the Dragons earlier this year.
McGuire’s St George Illawarra side continues to be aggressive in the player market.
Moses Mbye will take up a two year deal after St George Illawarra and the Tigers agreed to a deal on Thursday. The Dragons have also stepped up their pursuit of Manly centre Moses Suli.
It is understood the Dragons are planning to offer a three year deal to snatch Suli from the Sea Eagles just 12 months after missing out on the 23-year-old. The Dragons are also considering making a play for out of contract Bulldogs prop Ofahiki Ogden for next season.
There are also suggestions the Dragons will make a play for Penrith back-rower Viliame Kikau when he is free to talk on November 1. The two teams play each other on Friday night.
ALL EYES ON
Plenty of NRL clubs will be watching with interest the debut of 18-year-old Cowboys back-rower Jeremiah Nanai. The Cowboys have already signalled their intentions of keeping Nanai long-term after tabling an offer for him to recommit to the club even though he is not off-contract until the end of next season/
Despite still being school-aged that has not stopped a host of clubs from circling Nanai with an interest into locking him down long-term should he hit the market. He was expected to star at last year’s national schoolboy carnival before it was cancelled because of Covid-19. If the Cowboys don’t re-sign him up before November 1 he will become the hottest young commodity in the game.
SHOOSH
Which out of work coach was none too happy about being left out of the list of potential coaching candidates published in The Sunday Telegraph?
RAIDER READY TO RE-SIGN
Jordan Rapana is slimming down to play in the fullback role but it has all happened naturally. The veteran winger has dropped about four kilograms since making the switch three matches ago. He shouldn’t have to field the role too much longer though with hopes Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad is back next week. Rapana, off-contract at the end of the season, is confident he will ink a new deal with the Raiders.
WOMEN’S GAME BOOMING
The impact of the NRLW competition is shown by a significant growth of junior women playing rugby league. Ahead of this weekend’s women in league round, a host of regions across NSW had significant jumps in women playing the game.
The significant rises this year in respective junior leagues included;
- Cronulla-Sutherland with 60 per cent growth and 600 new players.
- Central Coast almost doubling their female numbers
- North Sydney with a 237 per cent adding almost 400 player.
- Regionally – Wagga/Tumut/Gundagai/Temora/Batlow up 14 per cent.
- Illawarra with a 20 per cent growth.
The Kingsgrove Colts (pictured) in the St George district went from six players to 100 players this year fielding teams in under-11s, under 13s, under-13s, under-17s league tag plus under-14s and under-16s tackle.
OUT OF THE LOOP
The players may be in a bubble but that does not mean they are thinking about footy 24/7. Tigers back-rower Luciano Leilua is a case in point when he was asked about playing a Jason Taumalolo-less Cowboys outfit on Wednesday.
“I didn’t know he wasn’t playing,” a puzzled Leilua said. “That’s unfortunate news for him. That’s a big loss for the team.”
HARD EARNED THIRST
4 Pines Brewing Co has been named the official beer of the Australian men’s cricket team.
4 Pines has grown from a brew pub in Manly into one of the biggest craft brewers in Australia.
FLASHBACK
Parramatta rallied behind injured teammate Adam Ritson to beat Newcastle 18-16 on this day 25 years ago. Ritson was hospitalised as he recovered from multiple brain operations. Teammate Justin Morgan, who won man of the match, said “this one’s for Ritto”.
ALL EYES ON
Will the trouble continue in Parra-dise or will the Eels rebound to beat Manly. A top four spot goes on the line in the anticipated clash.
BLAST FROM THE PAST
Benn Robinson - (72 Test matches for the Wallabies, 155 caps for NSW Waratahs)
Benn Robinson’s rugby career was tragically cut short by a bizarre injury, but the 37-year-old is grateful for experiences he was given.
“Playing for Eastwood really set me up to play in professional rugby teams, I always saw that as the pathway, I still do now,” Robinson said.
“My first coach who really pushed me was Chris Hickey, a great guy, great winning record for the Waratahs and won many premierships with Eastwood as well.
“My first ever tour with the Waratahs was to Argentina [in 2005], I got contracted and selected and didn’t look back.”
The following year was huge for Robinson, making his Super Rugby debut and then his international debut for Australia against South Africa in Johannesburg.
Robinson quickly established himself as the top loosehead prop in the country and was destined to lead the charge for the 2011 World Cup before a season-ending knee injury cruelled the dream.
“Playing for the Wallabies was the pinnacle of my career, of course playing in a World Cup would’ve been nice, didn’t happen, but I still see playing for the Wallabies as a pretty special thing, an amazing thing,” Robinson said.
“The cards just didn’t fall my way to play in a World Cup.”
Robinson bounced back to captain the Waratahs in 2013, and then help them win their maiden Super Rugby title in 2014.
“I don’t like to put a ranking on what was the best moment of my career, I mean when I made my Eastwood debut it was my first game of grade, I went straight from Colts, and I had heaps of people come out,” he said.
“I was at Eastwood from under-10s all the way through to 17s, I still see that up there as a big achievement in my life, the club is very special to me, playing for the Wallabies was special to me.”
During a match between NSW and the Brumbies in April 2016, Robinson suffered an accidental poke to his right eye.
“It was fairly innocuous, one of my really good mates Dean Mumm got me in the eye with his finger, it felt like I was slugged with a punch,” Robinson said.
“I couldn’t see, I got up and made one more tackle, I was in so much pain my eye closed over.
“I went to hospital that night, it was a pretty scary time, I should’ve lost my eye. The professors I saw said I was the luckiest they’d seen to still have my sight.
“I wasn’t allowed to cough or laugh, I had to sit on the couch for three months, it was a very depressing time for me not doing anything.
“After I had the surgery, the doctor came to me and said ‘You’re not playing rugby again’.
“I knew I had to retire, the hardest part was having to tell my teammates which was a killer.
“Daryl Gibson was coach at the time, I asked to come in and speak to the boys, it makes me emotional now thinking about it.
“Going out with an injury was definitely not my first choice of how I’d like to retire, but it’s the nature of the sport we play.”
Robinson, who now has blurred vision in his right eye, transitioned to a successful career in insurance and is now an underwriter for SLE Worldwide.
He has three sons with wife Patricia.
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