What’s the Buzz: Saint, sinner, shoosh
Gold Coast second-rower Bryce Cartwright has returned from his off-season break in the best shape of his career, according to Titans coaching staff. All that and more in saint, sinner, shoosh.
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GOLD Coast second-rower Bryce Cartwright has returned from his off-season break in the best shape of his career, according to Titans coaching staff.
And the club is crediting Penrith Panthers supremo Phil Gould for the mentoring role he has played over the past six weeks.
“Gus has been on his case and he’s come back looking fantastic,” said Titans executive chairman Dennis Watt. “He seems to have a different demeanour and is really focused. The staff are impressed and it’s a promising sign.”
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Cartwright’s former Penrith teammate, utility star Tyrone Peachey, has arrived on the Gold Coast and will honour his contract at the Titans.
He has moved into rented accommodation at Palm Beach and will commence training at the end of the month.
SAINT
STEVE Smith for the magnificent work he is doing in the cricket community while serving his 12-month ban. This guy will return to the Australian XI in March for the Ashes in the UK an even more popular player with the Australian public. The way in which he has conducted himself since the sandpaper scandal is a lesson to us all on how to handle the tougher moments in life.
SINNER
CAN we please sack the judges of rugby league’s prestigious Golden Boot Award and start again. With no disrespect to the 2018 winner, St Helens winger Tommy Makinson, we’d never even heard of him before he was presented with the award on Thursday night in the UK.
SHOOSH
WHICH Sydney Roosters star recently paid big bucks — in fact, almost $2 million — for a luxury two-bedroom pad in beautiful Rose Bay? This guy has had a wonderful season and deserves every penny of his big-money contract.
SPOTTED
FORMER Test captain Mark Taylor with wife, Judi, and old agent to the stars John Fordham at the Lord Dudley Hotel in Paddo on Monday afternoon.
SPOTTED II
MELBOURNE Storm coach Craig Bellamy on a train from Flemington to Southern Cross station after the Melbourne Cup and doing selfies with footy fans.
SPOTTED III
FORMER Newtown prop Steve Bowden — best remembered for destroying his Manly opposite Mark Broadhurst in the vicious semi-final brawl at SCG in 1981 — at the Bundanoon Hotel on Melbourne Cup day enjoying the new TAB facilities.
SPOTTED IV
NRL museum manager Frank Puletua at the Golden Boot Award in England. His business-class fare was of course paid for by the NRL. This is the bloke who refuses to acknowledge our late and great mate, legendary journalist Peter Frilingos, in the media section of the museum. And his boss, Todd Greenberg, continues to ignore a disgraceful oversight.
SPOTTED V
JOCKEY Corey Brown calling a mechanic to a Crown Casino function he was at on Wednesday after the boot of his Lexus loan car — which had a replica of the Melbourne Cup in it — could not be opened.
SPOTTED VI
CRONULLA boss Barry Russell at NRL HQ last Monday talking salary cap issues. Independent commission chairman Peter Beattie told me Russell’s honesty in self-reporting will work heavily in the Sharks’ favour when the penalties for cheating are handed down.
SPOTTED VII
NEW NRL head of football Graham Annesley meeting referees’ boss Tony Archer about the biggest problem in the game — the standard of officiating. Annesley slammed the referees’ coaching at an NRL CEOs conference this year and is well aware of the toxic culture within the ranks under Archer’s leadership.
GEE NO GOW AT DINNER
OLD feuds never die. Your columnist tried to host a King Wan reunion with former Sharks chairman Peter Gow and ex-Dragon Barry Beath before Sunday night’s closure of the iconic restaurant.
Gow once famously threw a flurry of punches at Beath and cut up the jersey of a St George supporter at the restaurant after a game against the Dragons at Shark Park. He declined my invitation.
The Sharks have announced the King Wan will be replaced by another Asian restaurant called Sha-Kee this month.
Why they’d kill off such a recognisable old brand for an almost identical eatery says a lot about some of the people in charge at the club.
FOSTER’S FFA AIM
SBS commentator Craig Foster wants to replace Steven Lowy as boss of Australian soccer.
This raises a potential conflict of interest scenario leading up to the board election on November 19.
Mark Taylor pulled out of contention for chairman of Cricket Australia because of his media interests at Channel 9.
Foster is in the same boat. There is no questioning his passion, expertise and knowledge of the game.
But what if there is a serious issue that needs to be addressed in his role at SBS.
Could he be critical of his own board? And what happens when the broadcasting rights are up for grabs when he’s employed by one of the networks? We’ll be watching this one closely.
ZORBA’S 50-YEAR SNUB
PETER “Zorba” Peters ended his 50-year association with the Manly Sea Eagles with a farewell lunch at Manly 16ft Skiff Sailing Club.
It was a fantastic afternoon of reminiscing, yet not one official from the Sea Eagles turned up. Not even Zorba’s nephew, Manly owner and chairman Scott Penn, although coach Des Hasler called in late for a quick beer.
Peters, 71, played in the club’s 1973 grand final victory over the Cronulla Sharks and has been a board member, football club official and consultant since retiring.
The club’s most decorated captains, Bob Fulton and Max Krilich, were there for the farewell.
This is the second major function the Sea Eagles have brushed this year. Not one official turned up to the team’s 10-year reunion this year of the 2008 premiership- winning side.
GEORGE OFF LIGHT
GEORGE Burgess can consider himself fortunate that a soft international judiciary allowed him to escape with a four-match ban for eye-gouging Kiwis fullback Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.
Back in 1984, your columnist covered the Les Boyd judiciary case when he was given 15 months for gouging Canterbury hooker Billy Johnstone. Dragons halfback Steve Linnane got 20 weeks in 1987 and Balmain No. 7 Gary Freeman copped 12 weeks in 1989. It is the lowest of low acts on a footy field.
BLUSHES APLENTY
PLENTY of blushing inside the Channel 7 marquee on Oaks day at Flemington on Thursday when a grey nag called Don’t Blush Baby won race four.
The gelding paid $6.
We could not confirm if the TV network’s sports presenter, Mel McLaughlin, or star West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle backed it home.
WORLD EMBRACES LEAGUE
WHO said rugby league was just an eastern seaboard game? Soon we might be calling it the “world game” judging by the multicultural guest list at last week’s international congress in England.
Todd Greenberg and Peter Beattie sat alongside Roman Bykhov and Gennady Vepryk from the Ukrainian Federation of Rugby League, Radoslav Novakovic and Jovan Vujosevic from the Serbian Rugby League, Robert Doughton from the Deutschland Rugby League and Lukas Hergott from Czech Rugby League.
TAYLOR MADE
MARK Taylor’s son, Jack, is rising through the ranks very nicely in the Channel 9 sports department, where his old man has been a fixture in cricket coverage since retiring.
Jack completed a media degree and joined Nine last year in production. He’s just picked up a full-time role as a sports producer from next year and will be part of the network’s NRL coverage.
TASTY OPENER
THE NRL will kick off season 2019 with an international double-header on the same weekend.
The new look All Stars match on Friday, February 15 will feature NZ Maori against the Indigenous All Stars. The Sydney Roosters v Wigan World Club Challenge has been moved to the same weekend on the Monday morning (AEDT).
Only one Roosters player, Latrell Mitchell, is likely to be in the All Stars team as his club will insist on taking him to England for the WCC.
The NRL premiers hope to equal the Storm and Wigan with four WCC trophies.
MUNDINE’S MUM IN CORNER
ANTHONY Mundine has flown his mum and a dietitian to Brisbane to ensure he makes the weight for his November 30 fight with Jeff Horn.
Mundine has to strip more than 4kg in three weeks to get to the 71kg fight agreement. He faces financial penalties of $50,000 for every 100g he’s over. “I’m just eating fish and chicken salads that mum’s been preparing,” Mundine said. “We have to be scientific about this too, so we’ve called in a dietitian to ensure I don’t lose my strength along with the weight. It’s hard work but this is my last fight and I’m determined to go out a winner.”
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