Saint, Sinner, Shoosh: Cooper Cronk’s super new TV deal
2GB’s Continuous Call team has almost been caught in the ratings — unheard of when Ray Hadley was calling NRL.
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Sonny Bill Williams has had neck surgery to ease the excruciating pain from a disc injury he suffered in his NRL comeback at the Roosters.
It can now be revealed the superstar forward played for a month with the injury, requiring cortisone injections and painkillers to take the field each week.
His surgeon, Dr Marc Coughlan, says SBW is recovering well and will still be able to fight Barry Hall or Paul Gallen down the track.
“Sonny had a slipped disc at C6 and C7 level, which is at the bottom of the neck,” Dr Coughlan said.
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“It was pushing on a nerve and causing marked pain and weakness in his muscle strength. It was quite bad.
“We tried a couple of cortisone injections at first to see if it would settle down.
“But the pain was getting worse so we did a foraminotomy (surgical procedure) and found a large piece of disc pushing into a nerve. He was in agony prior to the surgery.
“He should make a full recovery with minimal impact on his sport.”
Check out all the latest NRL chatter and more in Australia’s hottest sport gossip column.
SAINT
NSW coach Freddie Fittler’s strong encouragement for his captain Boyd Cordner to stand down for the remainder of the State of Origin series. It’s a blow for the Blues but you’ve got to admire Freddie putting player welfare before winning big footy games. Not all coaches are like that.
SINNER
State Government plans to build a $200 million stadium at Kogarah Oval. The Dragons refuse to leave Wollongong and will play only six games there. The Cronulla Sharks don’t want a bar of it and will stay at their home in Woolooware. This is another massive waste of taxpayers’ money from a government that stuffs up stadium investment.
SINNER II
The death of UK horse Anthony Van Dyck on Melbourne Cup day. Seven horses have now died in the last eight cups. Throw in the fact senior jockey Kerrin McEvoy was fined $50,000 for breaching the whip rules and it’s a terrible look for racing in Victoria.
SHOOSH
Which Sydney rugby league journalist managed to secure a 50 per cent hotel room reduction in Adelaide for State of Origin after a brawl in an adjacent room kept him awake until 1.45am.
SHOOSH
Triple M has almost caught 2GB’s Continuous Call team in the latest Sunday ratings — unheard of when Ray Hadley was calling NRL for 2GB. Not surprisingly, the ABC’s Andrew Moore finished last of the three NRL stations.
SHOOSH
Which NRL club is deep in talks with 32-year-old ex-Melbourne premiership-winning centre Will Chambers, who is now playing rugby union in Japan?
SHOOSH
There is mail within NRL headquarters that Jared “The Horse” Maxwell is a serious contender to replace Bernard Sutton as boss of the “snake pit” — otherwise known as the referees department. David Fairleigh has also been mentioned.
SPOTTED
NRL stars Sandor Earl, Justin Horo, Cooper Johns, Matt Moylan, Connor Watson, Jack Johns, Corey Norman and Brandon Smith had a day out at the Hotel Brunswick near Byron Bay. Everyone at the pub was impressed with their good manners and friendliness.
SPOTTED II
The NRL’s big cost savings continues. Chief executive Andrew Abdo and ARL commissioner Wayne Pearce flew to Adelaide for Origin in economy — a far cry from the old John Grant days of limos and business class.
SPOTTED III
Old tennis champ Lleyton Hewitt and Roosters prop Sio Taukeiaho at Manly pool.
SPOTTED IV
Can someone remind ex-QLD premier Peter Beattie and QRL boss Bruce Hatcher there are two Origins to go. They looked like they were already celebrating a series win with the trophy in Adelaide on Wednesday night.
COOPER’S SUPER NEW TV DEAL
Fox Sports has secured popular rugby league commentator Cooper Cronk on a new three-year contract, ending any chance of a poaching raid from Channel 9.
The four-time premiership-winning halfback for Melbourne Storm and Sydney Roosters signed for only 12 months when he joined the pay TV network at the beginning of the year.
Cronk is seen as the hottest up-and-coming commentary talent in television – smarter and more contemporary than his rivals at Channel 9.
“He’s done so well,” Fox Sports head of television Steve Crawley said. “Cooper’s knowledge of the game is just incredible, and it has been an absolute delight to have him.
“He’s got the potential to be really, really good.”
ALL BLACKS’ ORIGIN ADVENTURE
It’s not often the NRL will go out of their way to help rugby union. Unless it’s the All Blacks and they want tickets to a State of Origin game.
The challenge is that the All Blacks are in a bubble and the NRL is working with the stadium on the logistics of getting them in and out of the venue in a COVID-safe way.
Most of their players are huge rugby league fans and regularly watch NRL games.
HARRY HANGING TO EXIT BUBBLE
No one is counting down the days until the NRL bubble bursts more than keen surfer Harry Grant. The young hooker will hit the beach the moment he leaves the Queensland State of Origin camp. Grant shows as much style on the waves as he does on a football field.
Former world champion Joel Parkinson is a fan and was told of his love for riding waves.
Parkinson made a quick call to his board shaper — JS Industries — and a new board was soon gifted to the outstanding young hooker.
“A friend told me how much Harry loved his surfing and I had also heard how tough things had been for all players in the bubble,” Parkinson said.
“We decided we wanted to help him out and hopefully we’ll get a chance to catch a few waves together sometime soon.”
Although he is not getting a game for the Maroons, Grant says the experience under Wayne Bennett and Mal Meninga inside the Maroons camp has been invaluable.
“I’ve really enjoyed it and I’m learning heaps every day,” he said. “We’ll get a good break at the end of the series and I’ll be heading straight to the beach.”
RUGBY’S RATINGS DIVE
No wonder there are few tears at Fox Sports about the prospect of losing rugby union to Channel 9. This year’s Super Rugby final had an average audience of just 110,000, compared with a monster 500,000 in 2011. Overall, the average audience for Super Rugby games over the past five years has dropped by 36 per cent. Try getting advertisers on board with figures like that. At the same time, other big sports on the pay TV network, including NRL and Supercars, have increased substantially.
BIGGER CROWD THAN GF
Despite a disappointing series opener, State of Origin II is on track to host the biggest sporting crowd in Australia since COVID-19 hit our shores, with close to 40,000 expected at ANZ Stadium on Wednesday night and seating in corporate suites all but gone.
The demand for corporate suites and tickets has been far higher than even the NRL grand final, which drew a crowd of 37,303.
ANZ Stadium has become a Blues fortress, with NSW boasting an impressive record of 18 wins, nine losses and one draw since 1999 despite Queensland’s series dominance.
$100M IN US ELECTION BETS
The interest in the US election has blown away State of Origin with NSW punters.
The TAB has held more than $20 million on Trump v Biden but just $3.5m on Wednesday night’s Origin I in Adelaide.
The Melbourne Cup on Tuesday blitzed them both. It held more than $100m.
HEAVYWEIGHT HOSTS
It would be the biggest boxing match ever staged in this country…
There are plans to bring heavyweight superstars Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder to Australia in the new year. Matchroom Sports promoter Eddie Hearn has been in talks with venues in Australia to stage Wilder v Fury III.
The appeal is Australia is virtually COVID-19 free while the UK and US can only host events inside a bubble with no fans.
BOYD NEEDS YEAR OFF: DOC
Dr Lou Lewis has been involved in Australian boxing for 40 years and says if Boyd Cordner was in the fight game, he would advise him to stand down for 12 months.
“Anyone who suffers three concussions in one season should take a year off,” Dr Lewis said.
“I’ve been saying for many years football players should be under the same rules as boxers.
“That’s 28 days for the first concussion, no sparring, and if it happens again he’s off for three months and then they’re off for a year and need a full neurological assessment.
“If in doubt, keep them out.”
Dr Lewis advised 30 years ago that the footy codes should adopt the same rules as boxing.
“I was told there’d be no-one left to play,” he said. “Obviously it’s changed with the more research that is now available and the NRL approaches it very seriously.”
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