What’s the Buzz: Saint, sinner, shoosh
THE Bulldogs are ready to release Kangaroos prop Aaron Woods, the NRL’s special treatment for Gus, Wayne and Cam - plus Saint, Sinner, Shoosh.
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IT appears the NRL is scared of the big names, with Gus, Benny and Cam looking like protected species. PLUS, Aaron Woods up for grabs and Toddski Greenbergski heading to Russia.
SAINT
THE NRL’s Beanie for Brain Cancer round and the beautiful memories of the courageous Matty Callander. That selfless and relentless commitment to spend his final months raising awareness and funds for other sufferers was a life lesson for us all.
SINNER
BRISBANE Broncos are perfect for 55 minutes under referee Gerard Sutton then give away five straight penalties in less than 20 minutes against the Parramatta Eels under a different referee. Work that one out.
SHOOSH
WHICH NRL star, who is supposed to be on injury rehab, has been getting out and about and plastered on the grog in recent weeks?
SHOOSH II
WHICH NRL coach is about to have a difficult conversation with one of his oldest players about retiring at the end of the season?
SHOOSH III
WE received a savage email last Sunday morning from an old-time rugby league scribe over him being overlooked in my item about possible media candidates for future NRL Hall of Fame consideration. He not only attacked your columnist but others I had mentioned as being worthy contenders.
SHOOSH IV
WHICH former Kangaroos star has turned to a popular online dating site to find romance?
SHOOSH V
RUMBLINGS from within the NRL refereeing ranks over the boss Bernard Sutton’s appointment of his two brothers, Gerard and Chris, to handle Saturday night’s Panthers-Dragons blockbuster in Penrith and the perception of nepotism.
SPOTTED
A MAN using a photo of champion Melbourne Storm, Maroons and Kangaroos fullback Billy Slater to chase love on the dating app Tinder.
THERES A GUY ON TINDER USING BILLY SLATER’S PHOTOS
— The Oh Errol Girls (@oherrol) May 22, 2018
SLATERFISH pic.twitter.com/U7VUQOjOPY
SPOTTED II
INDEPENDENT commission chairman Peter Beattie in seat 1A on a Gold Coast to Sydney flight, just a month after declaring all NRL executives would travel economy. Turns out the former Queensland premier was on private business and used frequent flyer points for an upgrade.
SPOTTED III
MATTHEW Hicks, the NRL ground manager who stuffed up the sin bin time keeping in the Storm v Sea Eagles game last weekend, refereeing an under-16s junior match in Melbourne on Saturday.
SPOTTED IV
NRL boss Todd Greenberg sitting next to Cronulla captain Paul Gallen and Sharks chairman Dino Mezzatesta at the Johnny Lewis fight night at The Star on Thursday.
PROTECTED SPECIES
IT appears the NRL is running scared of the more powerful figures in the game.
Wayne Bennett slammed the NRL for not taking action over Dylan Napa’s KO tackle that broke Korbin Sims’ jaw, claiming bias against the Broncos. No penalty. Not even a warning letter.
Then, the great Phil Gould blew his stack on Nine’s 100 per cent Footy Show, describing both Todd Greenberg and refereeing as a “farce” in one of his heaviest sprays. Any other footy club general manager would be facing a hefty fine. Not Gus. He’s too scary.
And finally, poor Cameron Smith. He was so upset about his one-week suspension for a wishbone tackle, match review committee member Michael Buettner and football general manager Jason King flew all the way to Melbourne to give the Storm skipper an explanation.
This is special treatment not normally afforded to individual players.
STAR WITH A SHERRIN, TOO
FORMER Dragons, Sharks, Adelaide Rams and Parramatta Eels star Chris Quinn is now 49 but looks fit enough to be still playing. And he is, for the rival footy code AFL in an over-35s competition in the Sydney Masters.
He goes all right, too, using his old rugby league tackling technique to halt bigger opponents every week. Quinn actually played junior reps in AFL as a youngster before concentrating on rugby league. His brother Tony is a St George club legend who won a premiership and a Phelan Medal (Dally M equivalent) in the ‘90s.
INSIDE INFO
BRONCOS boss Paul White was never going to keep his approach to Melbourne’s Craig Bellamy a secret. His personal assistant just happens to be Wayne Bennett’s daughter, the very capable Katherine Bennett who keeps his diary, books his flights and looks after all his business needs.
THE HOPOATE FIRST XI
FORMER league bad boy John Hopoate and his wife, Brenda, now have their own cricket team. Brenda gave birth to a little girl, their 11th child, during the week. “Hoppa” was so nervous he puffed on Brenda’s nitrous oxide gas during delivery and filmed himself to show the world on Instagram.
BENNY RIGHT
WE don’t agree with Wayne Bennett’s views all that often but his comments on the NRL administration in Paul Crawley’s brilliant interview in Friday’s Daily Telegraph were on the money. That Ken Arthurson, John Quayle and Senator Ron McAuliffe were far superior administrators to the mob we have running the game right now.
RUSSIAN AROUND IS NO JUNKET
WE’RE hearing NRL boss Todd Greenberg might be off to Russia for the greatest show on earth — soccer’s World Cup final. One of the NRL’s biggest sponsors has invited Greenberg as a VIP guest.
Greenberg would fly out after an independent commission meeting, the day after Origin III in Brisbane, and be away for a week.
We think this is a great opportunity and a worthwhile exercise to look at stadiums, check out the incredible hype and hysteria around the event and bring home some good ideas.
Besides, your columnist could hardly call it a junket. I’m off to Russia myself next month to watch the Socceroos in the group rounds of the tournament.
DOGS NOT OUT OF THE WOODS YET
JUST 12 rounds into his career at the Bulldogs, we’re hearing the club is prepared to release Kangaroos and Origin front-rower Aaron Woods if another team are keen. We’ll watch this one closely as there are a number of clubs on the lookout for quality props.
Interestingly, board member and former coach Chris Anderson appears to be entrenching himself in much of the negotiating with players who have been told they can look elsewhere to ease the enormous salary cap pressure. We spotted Anderson having coffee in Cronulla Mall last week with fullback Moses Mbye and his agent.