Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. TOTOTO Brisbane: Melbourne Storm co-owner and chairman Matt Tripp will not seek a public apology from Phil Gould for calling his captain and Queensland No. 9 Harry Grant a “cheater” twice on national television. Gould stirred
Brisbane: Melbourne Storm co-owner and chairman Matt Tripp will not seek a public apology from Phil Gould for calling his captain and Queensland No. 9 Harry Grant a “cheater” twice on national television.
Gould stirred the pot ahead of the Origin decider in Brisbane on Wednesday night when he spoke out about Grant and his constant harassment of referees at Nine’s. 100% football show.
Nine
Tripp said Grant laughed when he first heard the comments, but there were no plans to take the matter further.
“This is what we expected from ‘Gus’ [Gould] – We don’t care what you have to say,” Tripp said.
“Last year around this time Gus said Harry was the best player in Queensland to try and put pressure on him and get him nervous.
“Now she is doing the same thing, but this time calling him a cheater in the hope that it will bother him.
“It’s water spilled for Harry. It’s really strange to say something about a player who is one of the fairest in the game.
“Calling him a cheater is quite ridiculous. It certainly hasn’t bothered Harry.”
Following a report in this masthead about how Blues players hoped Ashley Klein wouldn’t fall for any of Grant’s antics, including his constant talking and pleading for restarts and penalties, Gould was happy to share his thoughts.
The topic came up during a light-hearted discussion on Monday night’s edition of 100% footballwhen former Queensland captain Cameron Smith, the modern-day great known for regularly approaching whistleblowers during matches, said: “You have to keep referees honest.”
“Support me ‘Gus’ [Gould]”That’s been going on since 1908, hasn’t it?” Smith said.
“You took it to a new level,” Gould said.
“Let’s call it what it is: Harry is a cheater.
Fans will no doubt be eager to see what happens with Grant and his interactions with Klein at the start of Wednesday’s game.
Arrow cabinet malfunction
Jai Arrow got married on Sunday and then flew to Brisbane, where he pulled out all the stops to speak on stage at a luncheon of former Queensland Origin greats at Suncorp Stadium.
Arrow was due to marry his partner Berina Colakovic in Italy in October, but was so worried that his motor neurone disease would prevent him from saying “I do” that he rushed the nuptials.
He was in great spirits a couple of days later when he joined some of the Sunshine State’s best players.
Sam Thaiday was the MC and ordered Corey Oates to grab a beer when he noticed he was wearing a light blue shirt.
“You can’t use that color here,” Thaiday said, referring to New South Wales blue.
The crowd didn’t know what was going to happen when Arrow came on stage and realized he was also wearing blue.
Being Thaiday, he told Arrow: “I don’t care what you’re fighting, buddy, you’re dressed in blue, which means you gotta skol too.”
Arrow accepted the taunt good-naturedly and joined in the laughter in response.
Support for the 30-year-old with post-trick celebrations in recent weeks has been overwhelming and has grown across rival codes including rugby and the AFL.
“It’s been crazy and I honestly don’t know what I can do to thank everyone,” Arrow told this newspaper.
“The amount of support shown has been overwhelming, but in a good way. I never expected any of this at all.”
Salary increase for Origen
There is early talk that Origin payouts will increase from $30,000 to around $50,000 per game after the NRL announced its $5.3 billion seven-year broadcast deal on Tuesday.
According to the NRL website, Origin payments rose to $12,500 in 2006, then $30,000 in 2013. During the COVID pandemic, payments dropped to $10,000. The money saved was used to supplement the salaries of all the players the following year.
There has been talk of the salary cap increasing from $12 million next year to between $18 million and $20 million the year after that. If it were the latter, that would mean a 75 per cent increase, and some league officials assume Origin payments will rise accordingly.
The 19th players receive $30,000, while the 20th man and players who help out during training camp receive a smaller fee.
Addin Fonua-Blake was paid $3333 per minute for his nine-minute cameo at Origin II in Melbourne, but he says there’s no price you can put on racing alongside champions like Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo.
“I’ve been paid enough throughout my career, and when it’s all said and done, I can look back on my career and say I played in these big games and rubbed shoulders with some of the greats,” Fonua-Blake said.
Suaalii will stop catching up
Joseph Suaalii is not expected to catch up with his former NSW Origin teammates in the sheds after full-time, despite being in Brisbane with the Wallabies.
Suaalii’s only appearance for the Blues was the opening match of the 2024 series when he was sent off for knocking out Reece Walsh.
The 22-year-old is in town for the Wallabies’ test against France on Saturday. And an early training session on Thursday means he is unlikely to catch up quickly with some of his former rugby league teammates.
Future Wallabies coach Les Kiss, who played rugby league for Australia, Queensland and North Sydney, will be at tonight’s Origin decider.
Good to see you, Madge.
The last NSW coach to win the series decider on Queensland soil joined the Blues for dinner on Tuesday night.
Michael Maguire spent over an hour talking about the magical Origin win in 2024, as well as some old stories from his days in Canberra with Blues coach Laurie Daley.
“Madge” is known for waving a baseball bat to motivate his players, but there was no sign of his Louisville Slugger when he arrived at the team hotel.
“If you open up Michael Maguire, his heart is the size of a watermelon,” Blues assistant coach Matt King said.
“He’s one of the nicest guys in rugby league, he’s under pressure at the moment. [at the Broncos]so putting that aside and coming to share a meal, swap stories for about an hour and a half… Laurie and Madge were swapping old Canberra stories, which was great for us younger ones to hear.
“Madge is part of the Blues brotherhood after what she did two years ago. She will always be welcome in our camp.”
Uber cool driver
The Uber driver who drove this header from Gold Coast Airport to Kingscliff training ground in New South Wales was none other than Toby Sexton’s grandfather.
After promising to give me a one star rating for being a new South Welshman, Sexton’s pop Raymond told the story of how Sexton met Canberra and Cronulla before Mal Meninga convinced him to start his career on the Gold Coast. It’s fitting that Sexton and Meninga will reunite on the other side of the country next year with the Perth Bears.
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