What’s the Buzz: Saint, sinner, shoosh
Sea Eagles CEO can’t remember if he has done his paperwork, why the return of Matt Cecchin is a big win for rugby league, and Cameron Smith is wrong about Melbourne getting their titles back.
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Why the return of Matt Cecchin is a big win for rugby league, the upside of the wildcard weekend and why Cameron Smith is wrong about Melbourne getting their titles back.
SAINT
The return of Matt Cecchin to the NRL refereeing ranks, a bonus for fans who love free-flowing footy without the nitpicking. We look forward to “Chicken Legs” regaining his position as the game’s No. 1 whistleblower.
SAINT II
Innovation at the NRL. Not everyone loves Graham Annesley’s wildcard weekend proposal but at least someone is looking at different ways to improve fan engagement, TV ratings and crowds. That’s something we should be supporting.
SINNER
Cameron Smith’s call for the NRL to return the two premierships stripped from Melbourne after their old salary cap scandal. Perhaps Cameron needs to be reminded that his own contract was hidden from the NRL at the home of then chief executive Brian Waldron.
SHOOSH
Which NRL star is facing an expensive divorce settlement and bitter custody dispute with his ex-wife in coming weeks? His club is aware of the situation and is keeping a close eye on his welfare.
SHOOSH II
Which St George Illawarra Dragons star is being chased hard by the Canterbury Bulldogs to switch clubs? It will be a huge coup for the Dogs if it happens.
SHOOSH III
Which State of Origin star was withdrawn from media opportunities at the NRL season launch at Bondi on Thursday because of rumours he may be involved in a soon-to-surface sex tape.
SPOTTED
Sea Eagles stars Jake and Tom Trbojevic at the Kanteen in Warriewood, a new coffee shop run by Marie Fittler, the wife of NRL legend and Blues Origin coach Freddie.
SPOTTED II
Under-siege St George Illawarra star Jack de Belin parking his car at Fox Studios in Moore Park on Wednesday.
SPOTTED III
Soccer supremo David Gallop, Nick Politis and Todd Greenberg deep in conversation at a function at the flash Quay restaurant on Tuesday night.
SPOTTED IV
Cricket legend Mark Waugh and horse-trainer wife Kim at Shoal Bay Country Club in Port Stephens on Thursday night before hitting Friday’s Newcastle races.
WHERE WAS RABS?
The voice of rugby league, Ray “Rabbits” Warren, was a noticeable absentee from Channel 9’s midweek season launch.
The veteran caller phoned on the morning of the function as a late scratching to deal with a family matter. It’s interesting that it coincides with Nine’s decision to promote a much younger commentary team in 2019 to try to arrest a ratings slump from previous years.
Warren, 75, has cut back his calling to about a dozen games this year, including State of Origin and the grand final.
Older commentators Phil Gould and Peter Sterling are not on the outer but won’t be anywhere near as prominent as in recent years. They will cover only one game each weekend. Others, including Andrew Johns, will get three matches. Nine’s pre-season marketing has focused on the much younger Billy Slater, Johnathan Thurston, Sam Thaiday and Paul Gallen. Even the on-air team’s dress code will be smart casual rather than suits and ties to appeal to a younger audience.
CHOC WANTS TO GO ONE MORE TIME
Anthony Mundine is preparing for yet another farewell fight.
The “retired” boxing champ was spotted on a long-distance run around Carss Park last week, fuelling speculation he’s training for one last fight.
Mundine will need to find a new trainer because his father, Tony, refuses to be in his corner.
“If people don’t believe in me, I’m cool,” Mundine said. “I love my dad and that’s fine, but I want to go out a winner.”
There’s talk Choc’s aiming to fight in May. He turns 44 that month. Even Mundine’s closest supporters were hoping he would quit after he was knocked out by Jeff Horn in the first round of their fight in Brisbane late last year.
SOME NRL SCANDALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS
The NRL has two sets of rules for scandals — one for the players and one for officials.
James Packer is part-owner of South Sydney Rabbitohs. The Hollywood sexting scandal involving him was plastered over the front pages of major newspapers on Friday. So we checked in with the NRL. Will the integrity unit issue Packer a please explain?
No chance.
A spokesman for the NRL said there were no plans to become involved in the matter relating to Packer.
“It has nothing to do with rugby league and we will not be getting involved,” the spokesman said.
GORMAN’S SELECTIVE MEMORY
It appears Manly Sea Eagles chief executive Lyall Gorman is suffering from memory loss in relation to his old job at the Cronulla Sharks and their salary cap scandal.
Your columnist phoned Gorman on Friday to check if he had signed the statutory declaration all chief executives must provide to the NRL to confirm salary cap compliance every year.
He wasn’t sure.
“Mate, I can’t remember any of that,” Gorman said.
“I don’t know the answer to that.”
A phone call to integrity unit boss Nick Weeks cleared it up.
Yes, Gorman had in fact signed not one but two statutory declarations, both times proclaiming that all payments at the Sharks, to his knowledge, were above board.
Interesting.
The integrity unit has since found this, in fact, was not the case. Under Gorman’s watch, hundreds of thousands of dollars of illegal third-party payments were offered to players.
Yet, somehow, the Sea Eagles supremo has escaped punishment.
At the Wests Tigers, CEO Justin Pascoe was suspended until June for his role in the Robbie Farah salary cap breach.
Previously at Manly, CEO Joe Kelly and CFO Neil Bare lost their gigs. The same at the Parramatta Eels with Scott Seward. He’s long gone.
Again this is an issue that comes back to consistency, or lack of, at the NRL. There is evidence there are different rules for some clubs, some officials and some players.
MORE FRICTION BETWEEN LOCKYER AND BENNETT
There is serious friction inside the management stable of player agent George Mimis over the falling out between Broncos legends Wayne Bennett and Darren Lockyer.
Mimis has looked after the affairs of both men for many years. Lockyer spoke this week of his feud with Bennett over his axing from the Broncos before Christmas. They are no longer on speaking terms.
Lockyer is a board member and played a key role in the signing of Dally M Coach of the Year Anthony Seibold. That obviously didn’t go down well with Mimis, who was desperately trying to keep Bennett in Brisbane. It will be interesting to see whose side he takes.
CARNEY WILL TELL HIS STORY
Footy bad boy Todd Carney has found a publisher to print his life story as one of the most colourful characters in rugby league history. The book is being ghostwritten by veteran scribe Tony Adams, better known by his Twitter handle as The Mole. The book will be on the shelves by Father’s Day. All his infamous exploits , including ‘the bubbler’ and the incident when he ran from police after a car crash in Canberra, will be covered.
THE BIG O’S 15 TO 1 COUNTDOWN
The best Australian sport converts we’ve seen since 1960.
15. NOVA PERIS: Won an Olympic gold medal in hockey in 1996 then, in 1998, won two Commonwealth Games gold medals in athletics.
14. SIMON O’DONNELL: Played two seasons in the VFL for St Kilda before turning to cricket.
13. KARMICHAEL HUNT: Debuted for the Kangaroos at 19, played 44 AFL games for the Suns before a move to rugby union to become a dual international.
12. ISRAEL FOLAU: At just 18, he was an Origin and Test star. Had a brief stint in AFL and, since 2013, has been capped 91 times for the Wallabies.
11. MAX WALKER: Spent six seasons in the VFL for Melbourne as a ruckman and took 138 Test wickets for his country.
10. GRAEME HUGHES: Was only 19 when he played for NSW in both cricket and rugby league. The only sportsman to do so since 1960.
9. RIC CHARLESWORTH: Played eight seasons of Shield cricket for WA before representing Australia in hockey, winning silver at the 1976 Olympic Games.
8. SCOTT DRAPER: Reached a ranking of 42 in tennis, winning five tournaments, and then turned professional in golf, winning the 2007 NSW PGA Championship.
7. CRAIG BRADLEY: A two-time AFL premiership winner with Carlton and also played first-class cricket for South Australia.
6. DEAN BROGAN: Won an NBL title with Adelaide and, remarkably, six years later in 2004 won an AFL flag with Port Adelaide.
5. HEATHER McKAY: The world’s greatest female squash player was also a member of the national hockey team in 1967 and 1971.
4. ANTHONY MUNDINE: The three-time boxing world champ was a gifted league player who a won a premiership and played Origin.
3. MIKE CLEARY: In 1961, he played six Tests for the Wallabies before joining Souths where he became a dual international. Was also a bronze medallist at the 1962 Commonwealth Games.
2. ELLYSE PERRY: Made her international debut in cricket and football at age 17, playing in both World Cups during her career. In cricket, she has a Test average of 62 and in ODIs averages 50.
1. DICK THORNETT: A remarkable athlete. Represented Australia in water polo at the 1960 Olympics. A year later, he was playing for the Wallabies and then switched to rugby league and played 11 Tests.