Saint, Sinner, Shoosh: Bulldogs stuck with $450,000 reserve grader

Canterbury are set to pay a significant price for failing to offload a former Shark and Rooster, who is at long odds to start the season in the NRL.

All the latest NRL chatter and more in Australia’s hottest sport gossip column.

DOGS STUCK WITH EXPENSIVE RESERVE-GRADER

Canterbury are set to pay Kyle Flanagan almost $500,000 to play reserve grade as the club has failed to offload the unwanted halfback.

The Bulldogs have been unable to find a club willing to take Flanagan off its hands and will have to keep him at the club on a reported salary of $450,000.

While Flanagan is at long odds to start the season in the NRL, the uncertainty surrounding Jake Averillo and Matt Burton as a halves combination should give the former Shark and Rooster a glimmer of hope. Flanagan’s kicking game could eventually get him back into the top grade.

Bulldogs playmaker Kyle Flanagan is at long odds to start the season in the NRL.

SAINT

Most of the so-called celebrities that sign up for reality shows are has-beens looking for a final five minutes of fame. Not Beau Ryan. Already at the height of his celebrity, the host of The Amazing Race only agreed to appear on I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! so he could contribute to charity. Ryan, who has brought countless smiles to the faces of sick children with unpublicised hospital visits, is using his time on the show to raise awareness for the Mark Hughes Foundation.

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Beau Ryan is a contestant on I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! so he can contribute to charity. Picture: Channel 10

SINNER

Novak Djokovic for thinking he could just waltz into Australia and play tennis in a city that has been crippled by Covid after the Serb refused to be vaccinated.

We will see how this one plays out but Djokovic might have been spared an ugly reception from the crowds at Melbourne Park. While we respect his right to be unvaccinated, the arrogance he has shown has not gone down well. It’s not as if he was the crowd favourite before this.

SPOTTED I

Josh Dugan pouring concrete on the South Coast. Dugan might be slogging it out in the heat as a labourer after failing to land another NRL deal, but he has never been happier. A country boy who could never understand why being a good footy player made him a celebrity, Dugan is loving his new life away from the spotlight. We are told Dugan is either riding a dirt bike or training at the gym when not at work.

SPOTTED II

The waterslides at Jamberoo may need some reinforcing after some of the biggest men in the NRL got all wet and wild during the week. Dwarfing the children as they lined up for the water rides, Dragons heavyweights Jack de Belin, George Burgess and Tariq Sims couldn’t be missed as they beat the heat with a trip to Jamberoo Action Park on Tuesday. It is fair to say that the players – with a combined weight of over 330kg – made quite the splash.

Tariq Sims was one of several NRL stars to hit Jamberoo Action Park. Picture: file photo

SPOTTED III

Michael Maguire at the SCG for the opening day of the pink Test match on Wednesday. We are told Maguire was hoping for a call-up after spending most of his break in the nets bowling to his cricket-loving son.

SHOOSH

Which club can thank Covid for stopping one of its biggest names signing with a rival club? The representative player was about to travel up to Brisbane to do a deal with the Dolphins. A timely new offer from his current club, coupled with the uncertainty of uprooting during the Omicron crisis, prevented veteran coach Wayne Bennett from pulling off another coup.

Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett has been denied another NRL signing. Picture: Liam Kidston

ANDERSONS OFF: CANTERBURY ROYALTY DEPART SYDNEY

Bulldogs royalty Chris and Lynne Anderson are set to leave Sydney with the rugby league power couple selling up after nearly 20 years in Cronulla as they plan a northern NSW seachange.

Declaring her everlasting love for the club that she has been part of since her famous father Peter “Bullfrog” Moore started his reign as Canterbury’s top-dog in 1969, Lynne revealed she was leaving Sydney and taking time to recharge.

“The last couple of years have been exciting, challenging, but also very exhausting,” Lynne said referring to her time as chair of the Bulldogs while working full-time as CEO of Paralympics Australia.

“Getting the Australian Paralympic team safely to and from Tokyo in 2021 was an incredible undertaking and one I am so proud of, but the old body is reminding me I’m not so young anymore.

“Both Chris and I thought it was a good time to take a break and begin a new chapter and we are doing that in a big way by moving out of Sydney.”

Lynne Anderson has revealed she is leaving Sydney and taking time to recharge.

Lynne said she is looking forward to becoming a “hippy” after buying a property in northern NSW.

“My daughter (Courtney Humphries) made the move up to the northern rivers and after a trip up there we decided we would move there too,” Lynne said. “I just got a vibe that there is where I needed to be.”

While she is leaving her home town and full-time work – at least for now – Lynne declared she would always be a Bulldog.

“It will also be our club,” Lynne said.

“Both Chris and I have had incredible opportunities in sport, and it all started with the Bulldogs.

“We will forever be grateful. I am hoping that after a hard couple of years they will finally reap the rewards of all the hard work that has been put in.”

Chris Anderson and wife Lynne are planning a northern NSW seachange.

While she may be “taking a break” from a career that includes founding sport marketing and research giant S-COMM (later Repucom), Lynne has already taken on a board seat at the Australian Sports Commission.

Lynne is happy to report that Chris – who is finally returning to the rural way of life that he left in 1970 to chase his rugby league dream – has found himself a pub.

“Yes he has already found his new local,” Lynne said.

“He was a bit concerned when he saw all the boutique beers but all was well when he saw they still had VB on tap.”

CHOOKS SNARE TASTY BARGAIN

The Roosters may have pulled off yet another bargain buy masterstroke with Kevin Naiqama in line for an NRL start in round one.

With a proud recent history of turning discarded rocks into gems – think Josh and Brett Morris – the Roosters looked to have unearthed another cheapie that is predicted to over deliver in Naiqama.

The former Panther, Tiger and Knight is still a flyer at the age of 32 and comes to the Roosters after playing a starring role for St Helens in the Super League. The younger brother of Wes, Kevin is vying to start in the centre alongside Joey Manu, who has fully recovered from the shocking facial blow that was delivered by Latrell Mitchell.

Kevin Naiqama shapes as a bargain buy for the Roosters.

AGENT’S PRESSURE ON SCHOOLKIDS

An NRL agent is doing himself no favours by using social media to brag about the deals he is doing for teenagers. While most NRL agents keep the details of the deals they do for all clients private, the accredited agent has been placing undue pressure on his schoolboy clients by revealing confidential information about their contracts. We are also told some of his claims are factually incorrect.

BIG HITTERS STILL DELIVERING

Former NRL chief executives David Gallop and Todd Greenberg were both spotted at the SCG on Thursday— now heavyweights in the game of cricket.

Gallop is a board member for Cricket NSW and Greenberg the boss of the Players’ Association and cricket has benefitted from their experience and street smarts coming from the rough and tumble world of rugby league.

Both were handy cricketers back in their day, particularly Gallop, who was an effective fast bowler in Sydney grade cricket.

REYNOLDS’ NEW LOVE REVEALED

Josh Reynolds returned to the UK last week with a plus one, after falling “head over heels” for a blonde from the Central Coast.

Well and truly over his disastrous relationship with Arabella Del Busso – the notorious WAG who made a false pregnancy claim – Reynolds invited the mystery girl to accompany him back to the UK after a whirlwind romance that took place while he was back in Australia for the Super League off-season. We are hoping he told his partner to pack a parka, given the average January high in Hull, where he plays for Hull FC, is just 5C.

Josh Reynolds and his new girlfriend at Sydney Airport. Picture: Instagram

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN FOR FERGUSON

Blake Ferguson might not be sitting in a police cell had the Japanese government kept its international border open.

In a sliding doors moment that should have kept him on the straight and narrow, Ferguson’s fiancee and newborn were set to fly to Japan for Christmas but had to abandon the trip when the Omicron outbreak stopped them from travelling.

His family has not spoken to the fallen star since his arrest with Japanese police keeping the sacked rugby union recruit in isolation.

Ferguson is being assisted by a legal team appointed by the rugby team that sacked him.

FIRST SUPERCARS STAR TESTS POSITIVE

Will Davison has become the first Supercars driver to contract Covid after the Dick Johnson Racing star returned a positive test last week.

“He is doing OK,” Davison’s legendary boss Dick Johnson said. “Thankfully, he was fully vaccinated and so far the symptoms have been quite mild.”

Johnson urged Australians to get their booster shots. “It looks like we are going to be living with this thing for a while,” he said.

“You wouldn’t drive a car without wearing a seatbelt so don’t take this thing on without all the protection that you can get.”

COVID SQUADS COULD EQUAL PAY CUTS

NRL development contracts could be scrapped or reduced under a plan to increase the number of full-time spots in an NRL squad. With the ARLC set to consider increasing squad sizes in a Covid-19 insurance plan, some of the spots may come at the expense of the development players, who train full-time with the NRL squad. Wage rates are also set to be examined, given several clubs would struggle to afford any additional players should they be required to pay them the minimum wage.

Originally published as Saint, Sinner, Shoosh: Bulldogs stuck with $450,000 reserve grader