Off the Record: Rugby League Rumour and Gossip #71
Happy holiday
Who did the punch and run during Whitehaven’s recent friendly with Barrow? We won’t name names, but it seems one player threw a few punches when some pushing and grabbing was on, and then promptly ran away. It was like James Maloney on Corey Parker in State of Origin last year but worse. Heroic stuff.
Tiger hunt
Wests Tigers halves partnership Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses are being targeted by rival clubs for 2018. Moses has been linked to Parramatta, while Brooks is being considered by Brisbane as a potential replacement for Ben Hunt. The two young halves are seen as the future of the Tigers and losing them both would be a bitter blow.
Visa issues
Geoff Toovey is expected to arrive in the UK this week. There’s talk that the Australian will arrive on a holiday visa, hence his quick arrival from Sydney. But the conditions of that visa generally are that he won’t be allowed to work, so just how is he supposed to coach Bradford? It seems a grey area. The visa process is notoriously tricky, hence why Huddersfield signing Jake Mamo will miss the start of Super League as he waits for his work permit. But Toovey will be straight over, but he can’t be sitting on the bench, can he? Hmmm.
Pretty penny
Still on Bradford and we have sneaked a peak at the administrators report, and have been stunned at what we saw. The joint adminsitrators have charged a fee of £233,190.40 for their services, at a whopping rate of £230.27 per hour. Nice work if you can get it. The report also details that Bradford were owed £100,000 in sponsorship money. Creditors of the Bulls include the RFL and a whole stack of other clubs – Workington, Whitehaven, Sheffield, London, Leeds, Salford, Huddersfield, Dewsbury, Batley, Featherstone and St Helens.
Nobby conflict
Brian Noble was in the commentary box with Dave Woods on Sunday for Premier Sports for coverage of the Toronto vs Hull FC match. Noble is of course the Wolfpack’s director of rugby while Premier Sports will show all of the Canadian club’s League 1 games this year. But surely Noble can’t be part of the broadcast every weekend? With him working for Toronto and then commentating on their games, it presents a conflict of interest that should be avoided.