Off the field, the NRL News team have been around the grounds to find out whats happening in Rugby League circles – John Chelsea reports on what’s cooking:
The Sunday Telegraph this weekend had to publish an official apology to the Parramatta Eels and Kris Inu, after reports that Eels players avoided Inu’s Birthday party due to the lack of alcohol were way off the mark. The Eels missed the event as they were committed to the teams 2008 season launch.
The prominent Rugby League radio program on 2SM is in doubt after the owner of the segment went financially bust – leaving stars; Mark Geyer, Graham Hughes, Brett Papworth and Cricketer Gavin Robertson out of pocket and with little chance of seeing a return on their investments at Radio Station 2SM.
Disgraced Rugby Union man, Matt Henjack looks set to play in England – after talks with NRL teams proved fruitless. It looks like Henjack could play in the Heineken Cup in the coming weeks.
Reports out of South Sydney suggest the club has been approached by legal eagles, offering free legal assistance should Souths or Craig Wing wish to take civil action against Riley Brown for that prowler tackle last week. Regardless, South Sydney CEO Peter Holmes a Court said Craig Wing is not interested in a legal challenge and just wants to move on from the horror tackle.
Rumblings continue out Penrith way, while coach Matt Elliott remains under pressure – bad blood continues from last season between assistant coach Matt Adamson and senior Penrith Players including the Puletua brothers and Frank Pritchard. With so many players unhappy, many are expected to leave at the end of the year when contracts end. One leading player rumoured to be moving on after this season is Luke Lewis, the former flyer has been linked with former mentor Peter Mulholland and his new home at the Bulldogs.
Former St George mentor Harry Bath has made headlines this week, after only one week of the 2008 NRL – Bath has suggested the Dragons clean-out the ranks, starting with Nathan Brown at the top. This will be water off a ducks back to Browny who is now used to the comments being fired his way. In saying that; Browny will no doubt expect much more from his players tonight against the Titans – after they left him stranded last week, going down poorly to the plucky Wests Tigers.
Kevin Naiqama, the younger brother of Wes continues to impress in the junior grades at the Newcastle Knights. Following his brother the Newcastle, the younger Naiqama scored a nice try to get the Knights home in the Toyota Cup over the Manly side this weekend.
Russell Crowe remains silent on Rabbitohs poor early season form; after playing a pivotal role in the early season sponsorship deals between Souths and National Australia Bank (NAB) – Crowe has been busy working overseas on a new movie and has refused to comment on the Rabbitohs’ losing streak or ‘that’ tackle on Craig Wing. Maybe Rusty needs to give the Bunnies one of his famous inspirational speeches to get them going.