What’s the Buzz: Saint, Sinner, Shoosh
A generous A-League star, an NRL oversight that needs fixing and a couple of new faces on Fox’s Cricket coverage. It’s all in Saint, Sinner, Shoosh.
Phil Rothfield
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THE generous A-League star, an NRL oversight that needs fixing and a couple of new faces on Fox’s Cricket coverage. It’s all in Saint, Sinner, Shoosh.
SAINT
Newcastle Jets A-League star Dimi Petratos was stopped by a begger in Beaumont Street, Hamilton, on Friday and asked for some loose change. He said no but walked into the local IGA, bought a bag of groceries, and gave them to the homeless man. What a beautiful act of care and kindness.
SINNER
We will not let up until the NRL’s Frank Puletua gets off his backside and does something about honouring our late and great colleague Peter ‘Chippy’ Frilingos in the media section of the NRL museum at Moore Park headquarters.
We have been pointing out this oversight to Puletua for a number of years yet he continues to ignore and snub our great old mate. This is a bloody disgrace that needs Todd Greenberg to step in and fix immediately.
SPOTTED
Gus Gould at Tropicana Café in Coogee on Monday morning having breakfast with Bryce Cartwright, his partner Shanelle and manager Alan Gainey. No, he’s not going back to Penrith. Gus was there in a mentoring role to help the young forward get his career back on track.
SPOTTED
Soccer boss David Gallop reluctantly shaking hands with former independent commission chairman John Grant when they bumped into each other at the NRL grand final. It was Grant who sacked Gallop back in 2012 and made the disastrous decision to appoint Dave Smith as his replacement.
SPOTTED
The final rugby league radio ratings sheet for 2018 that showed Ray Hadley’s 2GB’s Continuous Call team flogged rival Triple M in all timeslots on Friday nights, Saturdays and Sundays.
SPOTTED
Brisbane Broncos coach Wayne Bennett at the Kurrawa surf club on the Gold Coast generously giving up his time for a fundraiser for the family of the late ironman Dean Mercer.
SHOOSH
Which former Australian cricket captain always donates his fee for signing memorabilia to old Test players who have fallen on hard times? And he insists on no publicity for his generous acts.
SHOOSH
Which criminal lawyer spent a day on Sydney Harbour with rugby league types then woke up the next morning on the front lawn of his palatial north shore home.
SHOOSH
Which player-of-the-season at one NRL club failed to acknowledge his head coach in his speech at the team’s presentation night, fuelling speculation of a rift.
SHOOSH
Which veteran player agent has already started sending out Xmas greetings cards to players and his favourite officials.
New faces for Fox Cricket
Just as we thought Professor James Rochford was disappearing from our TV screens for the summer months, Fox Sports has given the mad presenter a new late-night cricket show.
The Nightwatchman will be shown on Friday nights after Big Bash games.
The Professor will be joined by a range of cricket’s funniest characters and biggest stars for some harmless fun directed at the players, fans, and every other aspect of the game that that they can get their hands on. You can bet we’ll see some sandpaper. The show debuts on December 21.
“This is an up-late, light hearted, tongue in cheek look at Australia’s favourite past time,” Rochford said.
Fox Sports has also hired Triple M personality Gus Worland to host another new show, Cricket Tragic, which will have a similar theme to Andrew Voss’ The Fan during the NRL season.
He’ll cover everything from old one-Test wonders to the legends of grade cricket and the wackiest fans.
“The aim is to help the Australian public fall back in love with cricket again, with a real sense of fun and Aussie humour,” Worland said.
Walters gets brush off from Cricket NSW
The word has reached us that one of NSW cricket’s favourite sons Doug Walters has had the door abruptly slammed on his annual Doug Walters Club lunch at January’s Sydney Test against India.
Since its formation in 1993, the club’s popular members’ lunch has been held annually during the SCG Test, with the former star batsman front and centre of helping to raise money for the development and promotion of junior cricket from school level up.
We hear “Dungog Doug” is far from happy with the recent shock advice from Cricket NSW that it couldn’t find space for his 2019 lunch. And no doubt his band of loyal cashed-up supporters will be bitterly disappointed as well.
While on Cricket NSW, they’re notably absent from the sporting bodies saluting the 20th anniversary of Mark Taylor’s historic 334 not out at a slap-up lunch at the SCG on October 17 to raise money for Tubby’s Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation.
Which is extremely surprising, considering Taylor is a former distinguished NSW captain and a one-time Cricket NSW board member.
What obviously attracted the patronage of the NRL, Swans, Dragons, Bulldogs, Cricket Australia, Australian Turf Club and 400 other punters, didn’t get a tick from Cricket NSW’s CEO Andrew Jones.
A spokesman for Cricket NSW said Doug Walters Club members, who still wish to attend Day Four of the January Test, will be offered complimentary tickets as a thank you for their support.
As for the Taylor dinner, the spokesman said: “It is CNSW’s long-standing policy on charitable requests is to make in-kind donations, eg tickets, corporate boxes, memorabilia etc.
We receive a very high volume of similar and equally worthy requests and do not want to choose arbitrarily between them. As a not for profit organisation we direct our money towards our own projects such as growing cricket.”
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