Nine Network commentator Phil Gould made good on his promise to become a player agent on Friday. Gould confirmed via text message to The Weekend Read that he had submitted his application to the NRL’s agent accreditation operations manager Paul Massey ahead of the deadline, the next step considered a fait accompli.
Gould will get his application rubber-stamped and Limitless Management Pty Ltd — the company he registered in February this year — will be off and running. All eyes will be on Gould as he enters a rough-and-tumble world arguably more fierce and vindictive than the one he encountered as a player and coach.
At the same time, his decision to become a manager should end once and for all any discussion over whether he should be given a role at Rugby League Central.
ARL Commission chair Peter V’landys has made no secret of his desire to clean up the ranks of the player agents. He wants to bring the six-percenters into line.
As such, he can’t have one of them running around the corridors of Rugby League Central, having access to information reserved for the game’s decision-makers, even if that man happens to be arguably the sharpest mind in rugby league.
Gould’s ascent to rugby league officialdom will have to wait. It doesn’t mean V’landys can’t pick his brain. It just means he should be precluded from having any official role within the governing body.
At the same time, The Weekend Read understands the coach whisperer, Joe Wehbe, declined to apply for accreditation. Wehbe is the man who took powerful player agent Isaac Moses to court and walked away with a handful of his clients, among them Sydney Roosters superstar James Tedesco.
Tedesco is able to negotiate with rival clubs from November 1 and the Roosters are keen to tie him to a new deal. Wehbe would appear to be the chosen one by Tedesco yet the Roosters are unable to directly negotiate with him because he is not an accredited agent.
Nor does he appear to have plans to apply for accreditation. The elusive Wehbe confirmed to The Weekend Read on Friday afternoon that he had not applied by the deadline before insisting he was with people and would call back.
We are still waiting. It is understood at least one of Wehbe’s relatives put forward an application before Friday’s deadline and provided they are successful, they are likely to be the face of the organisation.
There are no guarantees. It is understood another of Wehbe’s relatives has previously made an application but is still waiting. The Roosters may be forced to wait a little longer too, although there are few concerns about Tedesco striking a new deal with the club.
The expectation is that he will do a deal that aligns his future with Luke Keary — Tedesco is likely to sign a three-year extension worth in excess of $3 million.
Xerri ripe for hearing
The NRL’s patience is wearing thin with Sports Integrity Australia. At the urging of Cronulla chief executive Dino Mezzatesta, the NRL has tried and failed to get SIA to move along the case against suspended Sharks centre Bronson Xerri.
More than two months have passed since SIA — the umbrella organisation that has taken over the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency — announced that Xerri had returned a positive test to a cocktail of steroids.
Xerri was due to have his B sample tested on June 9 and the lack of information emanating from SIA has been a growing cause of concern for both the NRL and the Sharks.
Xerri remains on Cronulla’s payroll, meaning his salary is burning a hole in their pocket at a time when every club is counting the cost of COVID-19. The Sharks understandably want to remove him from their salary cap and move on.
That money could be better directed elsewhere. Sadly, the gridlock has prevented them investing the Xerri money in new players. He continues to occupy a spot on their roster. A spot that could have been used to help coach John Morris’s quest for the finals.
So frustrated has the NRL become, there is now consideration being given to pushing ahead with a hearing without SIA. The NRL has the right to do so under their anti-doping code but have adopted a stance of waiting on SIA to come back with a recommendation on any ban against players who fall foul of the anti-doping code.
They have done it out of courtesy. But on top of the glacial pace taken to resolve the James Segeyaro case, which is finally headed to a hearing, the NRL have now forced to adopt an even more patient approach over Xerri, who was first tested in November last year.
The governing body would be well within their rights to send Xerri a notice informing him his provisional four-year- ban has become permanent pending an appeal, should he choose to head down that path.
And that is exactly what they may do in coming weeks unless SIA get a wriggle on and bring the process to a head
Corey backs Barrett
Before he signed on the dotted line with Canberra, Corey Harawira-Naera spoke to incoming Canterbury coach Trent Barrett.
“Once I heard he was coming over — I knew if I wasn’t able to get down here (to Canberra) – I would have been happy going back (to Canterbury) knowing he was the coach next year,” Harawira-Naera said.
“My first year over here in under 20s he was our coach. He got me off the ground running.”
Harawira-Naera knows Barrett well. When he joined Penrith as a teenager — moving over from New Zealand with James Fisher-Harris and sharing accommodation on top of the horse stalls at Fernhill Equestrian Centre after being spotted by respected player agent Darryl Mather — he worked under Barrett.
Harawira-Naera holds Barrett in the highest regard and if he had to stay at Canterbury, he would have been more than happy to play under the Bulldogs coach next season.
So strongly is his connection to Barrett, he sent Bulldogs chair Lynne Anderson and chief executive Andrew Hill a text after he had secured a release not only apologising once more, but assuring both that they had found the right man in Barrett to take the club forward.
“I messaged Lynne and Hilly as well about it saying that is a good move for the club,” Harawira-Naera said.
“I know they have signed someone who can do the job and put the club where they should be. Obviously you can see what he has done at Penrith.
“He is a good fella too. You want good coaches and good people – he is one of them too.”
As effusive as he was about Barrett, Harawira-Naera was equally excited about working with Ricky Stuart. He did his research before joining the Raiders. He picked the brain of the Raiders players he already knew. He heard nothing but good things about Stuart.
“I have never really heard a bad word about him,” Harawira-Naera said.
“I think it is just his passion — it comes through in the way the boys play – and also his player-coach relationship.
“He is a mate but once you hit the work scene, he is there to grill you if you need to be grilled, but look after you as a mate away from it all.
“He doesn’t mind a beer but his thing is you have earn it at the end of the day.”
Parcells has answers for Cows and Warriors
During one of their fact-finding missions overseas a few years back, Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy and head of football Frank Ponissi spent the day with Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Parcells.
Amid the pearls of wisdom Parcells provided to the Storm’s brain’s trust was some advice on coaching. Or more pertinently, what clubs should look for when they are in the market for a new coach.
“Find a coach you need, not one you want,” Parcells told them. It begs the question what the two clubs in the current market for a new head coach — North Queensland and the Warriors — need in their incoming coach.
Weekend Read picked the brains of some of rugby league’s sagest operators. On the Cowboys, the belief was that North Queensland needed a coach who could help the club defensively, work with young players and put the smile back on their faces.
The Cowboys have leaked points in recent seasons but have a batch of emerging stars in their ranks. Former assistant and current Warriors interim coach Todd Payten fits the bill, having a proven track record of working with young players.
So too former Newcastle coach Nathan Brown, who is also likely to come under consideration in Townsville. As for the Warriors, the belief is that they need a coach capable of helping the club rediscover their aura and identity.
All roads lead to the big names — Wayne Bennett, Craig Bellamy and Michael Maguire. Bennett and Bellamy appear off limits.
Maguire, in particular, is an interesting option. He has only one year remaining on his deal with the Tigers and coaches the New Zealand national side.
The Warriors would be silly not to ask the question.
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