I haven’t been gagged, I’m retiring: Sterling

Peter Sterling remembers his exit from The Footy Show. “I rode off set on the back of a donkey,” he said with a laugh. “And that was it.”

No wonder he wasn’t keen to make a big deal about his decision a few months ago to retire from his job of the past three decades.

When I approached Channel Nine last week to do a story with Sterling about his retirement from TV commentary, the view was he wanted a quiet departure with little or no fanfare. But the story leaked and Sterlo has been forced to deal with false claims about him being silenced, moved on and even linked with a coaching job at the Eels. He wants to set the record straight.

“I certainly haven’t been gagged,” he said. “I see my retirement as old news because it’s something that I spoke to [Channel Nine] management about a couple of months ago. When you see headlines with quotation marks [saying] I’ve been gagged – now that didn’t come from me and hasn’t come from management. I haven’t spoken to anyone about doing any coaching at the Eels, which somebody reported. My relationship with Parramatta is very special to me.

“I’m retiring. I’m not looking for more work. That conjecture disappointed me. I have another year on my contract at Nine and they asked would I reconsider. I’m also not leaving to open up things for younger people; they can make their own way. It’s purely a personal decision that it is the right time to walk away from something that has given me absolutely everything. It’s now the right time to give everything elsewhere.”

Sterling’s plans for the future are well advanced.

Peter Sterling commentating alongside Andrew Johns.Credit: Getty

“We’ve sold our place at Terrigal in the last couple of weeks and will have relocated to Nelson Bay next month,” he said. “Turning 61, I guess I felt like I’d have maybe 15 good years physically to direct my energy into other things, mainly family and eventually the opportunity to travel. You know, I’ve never been able to see Europe in their summer because of 30 seasons of working in our winter.

“So, you know, it’s just about steering my energy away from watching eight [NRL] games every week. I just want to do those things now while I can. If I want to walk up the steps of Machu Picchu, I don’t think it’s the type of thing I could put off much longer.”

Sterling says he is in good health, but is mindful of “a bad family history when it comes to illness”. “I don’t want to get that bad phone call and think, gee, I wish I’d done this and regret not doing that. I don’t want any regrets. Right now my health is great. [But] I don’t want to just see things in books, I want to see them for myself.

“I know how lucky I’ve been. Some people collect stamps, some go bird watching; my hobby has been watching footy games. I’ve always been fortunate that I could still find beauty in even the most ordinary of games.

“The best part of the journey has been the people I’ve worked with and for, especially Fatty [Paul Vautin] and Rabs [Ray Warren], all the commentators and bosses, those behind the scenes. I’ve had a professional life that I could never have dreamt of. I knew when I started that it is the kind of industry that any day you could get a tap on the shoulder. I’m extremely satisfied that in the end I tapped myself.”

Channel Nine director of sport Brent Williams said Sterling’s record on the field was as good as any player, and his move to TV had been just as impressive.

“As a player he was one of the greats, helping his beloved Eels win four premierships and going on to represent the Blues and his country with distinction,” Williams said. “His transition to the commentary box was just as successful where he became an integral part of Nine’s biggest matches ... To this day he is still regarded as one of the pre-eminent voices and best analysts in the game.”

Fox and hound

The Rugby League Players Association has taken aim at Fox Sports for giving online bullies a voice, saying a story on foxsports.com.au and an Instagram post highlighting criticism of Dragon Corey Norman on Friday night encourages abuse of players by fans.

In an odd decision, Fox Sports collated fan attacks on Norman at a time when players, led by Latrell Mitchell, are doing everything to counter this behaviour. Players throughout the game got behind Norman and contacted the RLPA to express their concerns. Storm forward and RLPA board member Christian Welch was strong in his support of Norman.

“We all acknowledge as players that critiquing our on-field performance is fair game,” he said. “I was really disappointed to see a major [broadcasting] partner post something completely unnecessary and done to purely humiliate Corey. Hiding behind ‘staff writers’ rather than owning your content is poor form. Sadly, it seems that website traffic and clicks was a priority over a person’s mental health.”

Union boss Clint Newton wants answers. “What NRL players don’t support is the aggregation and promotion of criticism towards any player,” he said.

“The promotion of negative social media commentary about a player incentivises individuals to act inappropriately, in an environment where players and clubs are already trying to manage issues of online abuse. Many tweets and comments are standard criticism, but the collection and broad publication of them can transform them from fan commentary to online abuse.”

Fox Sports boss Steve Crawley said yesterday that as soon as he became aware of the story he asked for it to be taken down.

Will Chambers has been dropped.Credit: NRL Photos

Living on a sledge

Will Chambers has copped a battering in light of his sledge-fest against the Warriors last weekend. It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon and kick one of the game’s last remaining characters.

Writing this without anyone being prepared to tell me exactly what was said to the likes of Matt Lodge and Kane Evans last weekend, and even Dylan Walker the week before, is not ideal. But the politically correct NRL found nothing for which it could fine or ban him.

There may have been other targets for Chambers that we don’t know about but those three players are not exactly role models. Chambers certainly has a lot to say on the field, but his targets were well chosen.

Chambers has never been the best player in any of his NRL teams, but he’s been a player that the champions in a champion Melbourne Storm outfit wanted to play with. The same can be said for some pretty handy Queensland and Kangaroos sides. Chambers’ combative style was a key part of their winning formula.

Cronulla signed him because he is a winner. At all costs. They knew what they were getting. Chambers didn’t want to sign with the Sharks until he had made peace with Paul Gallen, so fierce was his sledging of the Sharks and their former captain. Chambers did it privately and then went on Channel Nine news with Gallen to publicly acknowledge the situation and to clear the air.

If the stories are correct that Chambers told Lodge he is lucky not to be in jail, it would not be the first time the big front-rower has heard that. There are many in the game who don’t think he should be allowed to play after he was arrested and charged with assault for threatening two tourists in New York in 2015 and then attacked a man who tried to help, before breaking into the man’s apartment and terrorising those inside.

As for a split in the Sharks’ ranks about Chambers, I’m told coach Josh Hannay asked his players after the Warriors game if they had any issues with Chambers or his approach. I’m told that only Andrew Fifita expressed concerns. He then spoke to Chambers away from the playing group. Fifita and Lodge are close.

Interestingly, Chambers was supported publicly by a number of Sharks players. Ronaldo Mulitalo took to Twitter and Instagram unprompted. The pair have formed a strong bond. When he joined the Sharks, Chambers told Mulitalo he wanted to help make him an Origin player.

The Warriors were upset, but long-term players have largely good things to say about Chambers. He has relationships with them through many Anzac Day games where he played for the Storm against the Warriors and socialised later.

Players from a rival club in the same hub as the Sharks quizzed Chambers about his “targets” going into the game and he told them no one was on his radar. A whack in the face from Lodge in an early tackle changed all that. That’s what set him off. And it’s ended with Chambers now unlikely to get a new deal at Cronulla.

King’s ransom

There have been several old stories about Brad Arthur and the Eels rehashed lately, but they pale in comparison to suggestions that Clint “the King” Gutherson’s agent walked out on a meeting with the club. The theory was Sam Ayoub was so offended the Eels did not offer his client $1 million a season he stormed out.

That makes Ayoub look immature and Gutherson greedy. The fact is there was no walkout. Someone did leave the meeting: Eels CEO Jim Sarantinos, because he had another meeting to attend. Gutherson has never made a $1 million request.

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