NRL 2024: Canterbury Bulldogs assemble dossier of Gerard Sutton blunders | Bulldog’s Bite
Canterbury are frustrated with Gerard Sutton, and while they won’t publicly slam the referee, some at the club are keeping a dossier of his alleged blunders during Bulldogs matches.
Canterbury continues to be frustrated by some decisions made by referee Gerard Sutton.
With the finals looming, Bulldogs management doesn’t want to publicly slam Sutton but some at the club are keeping a dossier of Sutton’s alleged blunders during Canterbury matches.
And their file on Sutton is certainly detailed, including key stats and moments.
The club does note that the Bulldogs have won just four from 21 games since Good Friday, 2015, and two from their past 16 matches.
After this year’s game against Souths, Bulldogs officials complained to the NRL about Sutton’s adjudication of the match.
Is it Sutton’s style of refereeing? Poor discipline from Canterbury? Either way, Bulldogs officials desperately hoping to avoid Sutton through their big games in August and possibly September.
PNG MYTH BUSTING: DISPELLING THE FAKE NEWS BEHIND NRL BID
How about we drop the stereotype around PNG. You know how it goes – the Aussie superiority complex.
The myths, disrespect and misinformation around PNG’s NRL bid are astounding and sad.
Is it arrogance or a small mindedness from those thinking rugby league should only be played on Australia’s east coast?
PNG has social and economic challenges most Australians will, fortunately, never have to confront but that doesn’t give us the right to mock and ridicule our northern neighbours.
Australia’s high commissioner to Papua New Guinea John Feakes said PNG’s maligned international reputation was “disappointing, unfortunate and askew.”
I just spent four fascinating days in Port Moresby and Goroko among people who are united by rugby league. For some, it’s all that they have.
PNG rugby league has it all – players, passion and money. The PNG bid appears ready to be formally approved by both Governments as early as next month so it’s time to reveal the truth about PNG.
MYTH: PNG DOESN’T HAVE THE MONEY
TRUTH: It’s ill-informed bulls**t. PNG will be among the richest clubs in the NRL, alongside the Brisbane Broncos. The Australian Government’s $600m investment is only part of the financial conglomerate and business plan PNG will build.
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape hosted a dinner last weekend where he asked the top-end-of-town to donate to PNG’s bid – and they will. I’m not talking peanuts here. Yes, the lower class in PNG is poor but the high-flyers are wealthy, exceptionally wealthy.
And PNG rugby league has an influential supporter in its bid chairman, Wapu Sonk, managing director of Kumul Petroleum. This isn’t a Sydney team restricted by suburban boundaries. This is an entire country.
MYTH: VISITING NRL TEAMS WON’T BE SAFE.
TRUTH: Teams playing PNG will be safe. It’s not their job to worry about what happens away from footy in PNG. They are there to play football and that’s it. Teams will travel on commercial flights and stay at the five-star Stanley Hotel in Port Moresby.
I stayed a night at the Stanley and it’s as good as anything I saw in Las Vegas earlier this year.
Games are likely to be played at the all-seat 15,000 PNG National Football Stadium which is expected to be revamped to a 20,000 arena by 2028, when PNG is hoping to enter the NRL. The dressing rooms and corporate facilities are NRL standard.
PNG PM James Marape said NRL players will be treated like “rock stars and royalty.” Opposition teams will be safe and secure, provided some rogue idiot doesn’t wander off into the darkness at night.
MYTH: IMPORTED PLAYERS WILL FEEL THREATENED?
TRUTH: The PNG bid has multiple site options for a village-style resort on Port Moresby Harbour. The complex will varying accommodation options along with shops and supermarkets. Prospective players will be thoroughly informed about the positives and negatives of Port Moresby before signing.
The fear mongering is unfair. Players will be paid well to play well and they’ll train at a yet-to-be-built state-of-the-art high performance centre.
They will live in secure accommodation and told when and where they can go during their down time. Buses would take kids to school and Port Moresby General Hospital is the largest hospital in PNG.
These players won’t be the first international athletes who have shifted to another country to pursue their sporting careers. There are already around 10,000 Australians living in PNG.
MYTH: IT’S A WASTE OF GOVERNMENT MONEY.
TRUTH: It’s not. This is about expanding rugby league, giving PNG footballers a future of hope and warding off any possible Chinese incursion throughout the Pacific.
The Australian Government’s investment in PNG is about securing the region. PNG are loyal allies to Australia and the $60m a year in funding isn’t a lot. Imagine the money required to shore up and protect our shores if China did push closer through PNG. It would run into billions of dollars.
This is a win-win for Australian rugby league and the Australian people.
And remember half the $60m a year payment will be split among PNG and other Pacific nations to propagate rugby league development. Ever wondered how and why the Pacific nations have become such a force over the past ten years? Here’s your answer.
MYTH: A STRUGGLING ECONOMIC COUNTRY CANNOT POSSIBLY SUCCEED IN PROFESSIONAL SPORT.
TRUTH: It shouldn’t be an issue. Let the PNG Government eradicate its social issues. That’s not for a rugby league to fix. Look at some of the powerful soccer nations in Africa and South America.
Those countries have horrendous economic problems yet that doesn’t preclude them from being elite on the world football stage.
There aren’t any Wallabies or Swans jumpers in PNG. This is a pure rugby league country. There are giant photos of South Sydney’s Alex Johnston on billboards around Port Moresby and footy is played by kids on every spare patch of grass.
MYTH: PNG DOESN’T HAVE THE PLAYERS TO COMPETE IN THE ELITE NRL.
TRUTH: You bet they bloody do. I watched a 12-team, two-day NRL bid carnival in Goroka last weekend involving 240 players and the standard was unbelievably high. They just need a little more finesse and that will come with time and expert coaching.
Let’s have an open mind. This would have to be among the biggest strategic and logistic challenges ever faced in rugby league. Good on Albo and PVL. Don’t listen to the doomsayers. Let’s think big.
DOG TREATS
There is a push for the Wally Lewis Medal – awarded to the best player in a State of Origin series – to be given a name change.
There is no doubt Lewis, given his Origin heroics for Queensland, should be included but many in NSW believe Steve Mortimer, who led the Blues to the state’s first Origin series win in 1985, should be also honoured.
What about the Lewis-Mortimer Medal?
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Which former NSW State of Origin star was gently sounded out for an international coaching gig but declined through work commitments?
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Funny scenes at halftime of Origin III inside a pub at Newcastle.
Patrons engaged in a pie eating contest with the first person to consume six ‘dog’s eyes’ winning $50.
Who says rugby league doesn’t have culture?
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Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh is a man of the people.
Spurning any corporate hospitality, Waugh was recently spotted sitting on the hill at North Narrabeen’s Rat Park for the grudge match against fierce northern beaches’ Shute Shield rivals, Manly Marlins.
Some suggest Waugh has the toughest job in Australian sport.
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Model turned boxer Kate McLaren has relocated from Australia, where she trained under Hall of Famer Jeff Fenech, to London to pursue her pugilistic career.
And McLaren, a former catwalk model, will make her UK boxing debut on September 7 in Essex.
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