The NRL cannot duck and hide from Bears scandal
Like cockroaches when the kitchen light comes on, the NRL and the Perth-based franchise it owns are running a mile from the serious allegations.
At some point, however, the league must get to the bottom of what Perth coach Mal Meninga and chief executive Anthony De Ceglie knew about Howe’s alleged plot to gut the Gold Coast Titans while employed by them.
As The Australian revealed on Saturday, the Titans have demanded the NRL launch an investigation into Howe and the Bears after a forensic audit of his work laptop and email following his resignation in early July.
Howe, who is close to Meninga from their days together at the Gold Coast and Canberra, was linked to the Bears job in media reports a month earlier. It was such an open secret that he was headed to Perth that he was commonly referred to as the Bears’ new recruitment manager.
The Titans allege he was acting as a double-agent, hellbent on pillaging their roster for the new West Australian franchise.
Last week, they handed the NRL a bundle of evidence they say proves Howe was acting for one club while working for another, drawing up a hit list of players that included nine of their own.
Captain Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, halfback Jayden Campbell, and former Wallabies five-eighth Carter Gordon were at the top of the list.
“We will talk to Tino’s management if he’s going to put himself on the market,” Meninga said just last week on SEN Radio.
“I’d give myself a few uppercuts if I didn’t talk to them, but I will be one of many.”
Rival clubs fear the NRL won’t properly investigate the matter given the embarrassment it would cause. They saw the writing on the wall months ago and told the NRL in late April that they wanted it to “manage the inherent conflict between controlling the WA and PNG-based franchises, whilst also fulfilling its role as league manager and regulator”.
On May 2, NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo told them that the Bears would “be fully compliant with player contract rules, salary cap rules and football department cap.”
The NRL owns the Perth franchise but insists it is at arm’s length from operations because the club has an independent board. Few actually believe this is the case, knowing that ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys makes all the key appointments, including De Ceglie’s, who has no experience in sports administration nor rugby league.
The early signs of a thorough investigation into Howe – or any investigation at all – aren’t encouraging. After the story broke on Saturday afternoon, the NRL’s initial response was that this was a matter between the Titans and a former employee.
As for the Bears, they’re spinning the line that the Titans’ complaint was about Howe and not the club.
The Titans’ legal letter sent to the NRL with their submission last week suggests otherwise: “This places the Perth Bears and possibly the NRL as owner of the Perth Bears in a position of serious conflict,” it reads.
“We request that NRL conduct an investigation. The scope of the investigation should include if Mr Howe’s misconduct has breached the NRL rules, whether the Perth Bears, its officers and employees, were complicit in that misconduct, and if so to what extent. And whether any sanctions should be imposed by the NRL on either Mr Howe or the Perth Bears or any other person.”
If the Bears knew, it is a clear breach of the club’s licensing agreement with the NRL and heavy sanctions, and possible sackings, must be considered.
What must David Sharpe, the former Australian Federal Police assistant commissioner and Sports Integrity Australia boss who has joined the Bears as general manager of football, think about all this? Maybe he can undertake the investigation.
Among the documents the Titans handed to the NRL last week were a letter of offer from the Bears to Howe and his resignation email in which he informs the Titans he is Perth-bound.
Various sources have suggested to me that the letter is fake because the Bears do not yet have a logo, nor a budget, to hire a recruitment manager.
Regardless, the fact remains that Howe was clearly assembling a squad for the Bears. Either that or he’s the most organised SuperCoach participant in history.
He was privy to the Titans’ salary cap position and what certain players were getting paid. Gold Coast officials became suspicious of his motives when player managers said Howe had told them to “go slow” in re-signing their clients because an opportunity might open in Perth.
Meninga, the rugby league legend who wanted to employ Howe in the first place because of their history, needs to answer serious questions about what he knew.
It is understood he was furious about the Titans making a complaint about Howe, as well as the NRL for denying his registration, and did not know what the fuss was all about.
Meninga declined to answer questions I put to him on Sunday, but you would hope that the NRL pose a few of its own in the coming days.
You also wonder if the NRL would be so reticent to investigate if Howe had come from one of the leading clubs, like the Sydney Roosters, Brisbane Broncos, or Canterbury Bulldogs.
The Titans might be the league’s perennial strugglers, but that does not mean they should be disembowelled to prop up a new WA team that was rushed through so the NRL had another game to take into broadcast negotiations.
Gold Coast businesswoman Rebecca Frizelle and her husband, Brett, took full control of the Titans in June, determined to finally unlock what previous owners and administrations could not.
It is understood the Titans were unhappy with Howe’s performance and were going to let him go before he ended up resigning, telling them he was going to the Bears.
What would it say about the new owners if they simply rolled over and allowed their squad to be gutted – Perth snatching the crown jewel of Fa’asuamaleaui – without a fight?
Titans allege ex-recruitment boss Ezra Howe:
• Compiled a spreadsheet targeting as many as nine Titans players, including captain Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, halves Jayden Campbell and Carter Gordon, hooker Sam Verrills, and winger Jaylan De Groot;
• Was caught on audio recordings telling player managers to delay re-signing Titans players;
• On June 1, forwarded a confidential email thread about commercial negotiations and performance matters to Fa’asuamaleaui’s manager, Simon Mammino;
• On June 2, emailed a letter of offer to Howe from the Bears from his work email to a personal account.
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An explosive legal letter from the Gold Coast Titans has accused the Perth Bears and possibly the NRL of a conflict of interest in the integrity scandal involving recruitment manager Ezra Howe.