Parramatta the only side yet to win this season.

[size=6]Williams faces possible 10 week ban[/size]

MANLY backrower Tony Williams is facing a whopping 10 weeks on the sideline for his grade four dangerous throw on Cronulla hooker Isaac De Gois on Monday night.

The tackle occurred in the ninth minute of the Sharks 17-14 win over the Sea Eagles with Williams rag dolling De Gois, in a back flipping, body slam-like tackle.

The Australian representative was immediately put on report and despite Manly coach Geoff Toovey’s belief that the penalty was a sufficient punishment, the NRL match review committee has come down hard.

Williams will miss seven weeks with an early guilty plea meaning he will be ruled out of Australia’s Test match against New Zealand on April 20 at Eden Park.

This means the 23-year-old won’t be available for the Sea Eagles until their Round 11 clash with the Roosters at Brookvale Oval however should Manly fight the charge or the grading and lose, Williams could face a 10 week suspension.

With an early plea he will be available for the opening State of Origin game at Etihad Stadium on May 23 if he takes the early plea although he will not have played in any of the games leading up to the series opener.

The grade four dangerous throw charge carries a base penalty of 725 points, but Williams has two prior non-similar offences which have added a 40 per cent loading on the dangerous throw charge.

Williams was charged in the 2011 Preliminary Final against the Broncos with a grade 2 careless high tackle on Bronco Jharal Yow Yeh and then received a one-match ban during the Four Nations tournament in England for a high tackle on England’s Ben Westwood.

If the Sea Eagles are successful in downgrading the charge to a grade three dangerous throw, Williams would still miss five matches, meaning he would be available for Manly’s Round 9 clash against the Raiders.

The Sea Eagles will have until 12pm on Wednesday to respond to the charge.

Although De Gois did not pick up an injury, the NRL are setting a precedent that dangerous conduct will not be tolerated.

The charge comes as no surprise to Melbourne skipper Cameron Smith who believes the tone was set this week with Wests Tigers hooker Robbie Farah being hit hard for his dangerous tackle on Friday night.

“He was just getting aggressive in a tackle and unfortunately it went wrong but the bad thing for Tony is they don’t really look at whether a bloke gets injured or not,” Smith told Big Sports Breakfast.

“It’s whether he’s put in a dangerous position and obviously we’ve seen Robbie Farah’s tackle on Ben Hornby.

“(Hornby) didn’t hurt himself but they came down pretty hard on Robbie.”

The Wests Tigers skipper accepted his ban and will spend two weeks on the sidelines after being charged with a dangerous throw on St George Illawarra captain Ben Hornby.

Farah’s tackle occurred in the fourth minute of their 36-12 thrashing at the hands of the Dragons last Friday night.

Farah’s legs tackle took Hornby over the horizontal region landing him in hot water with the hooker to miss two weeks if he takes the early guilty plea, but could face three weeks if he fights the charge at the NRL judiciary and loses.
http://www.sportsnewsfirst.com.au/articles/2012/03/20/williams-faces-possible-10-week-ban/

Knights hospitality deal rocky

BY IAN KIRKWOOD
11 May, 2012 12:00 AM

For five years, Newcastle promoter Peter Anderson's RockCity Event Marketing was paid to sell corporate boxes and raise third-party sponsorship for the Newcastle Knights.

According to former Knights chief executive Steve Burraston, RockCity's work for the club was extremely valuable, not least because the third-party sponsorships gave it more money to pay Andrew Johns and other top-line players without going over the salary cap.

But Nathan Tinkler's Hunter Sports Group has another view.

According to HSG chief executive Troy Palmer, the contract was "a rort" because Mr Burraston had extended the contract a few months after RockCity had employed his son Joel, a former Knights junior player.

All of this dirty laundry might have remained behind closed doors were it not for a court case lodged late last year by Mr Anderson, who said yesterday he was seeking as much as $700,000 in damages and unpaid invoices.

The Knights have lodged a cross claim against RockCity and Mr Burraston, claiming that he acted "unlawfully" and breached his fiduciary duties as a director.

In its defence of the case brought against it by RockCity, the Knights say Mr Burraston used his position to gain an advantage for his son.

Mr Anderson said Joel Burraston was "an outstanding candidate" and he employed him in early 2010 because he was the best person for the job and did his job well.

Mr Burraston said the fact his son worked for RockCity had no influence in his June 2011 decision to extend a contract that Mr Anderson says was worth between $270,000 and $400,000 a year.

Mr Burraston said he knew his son's job was a potential conflict of interest, but he said "everyone" knew about the job and others at the club were involved in the decision to extend the contract.

He said Newcastle was a small place and family members often worked together.

Mr Anderson said he knew the Tinkler camp had "deep pockets", but he was determined to fight the case to obtain a judgment he believed he deserved.

"I was misled during the takeover in that the Knights said they would honour all of the contracts in place at the time," Mr Anderson said.

"We had to extend the contract because it was going to extend mid-season. Steve extended it for 12 months on the proviso we would see how we were going with corporate hospitality in the new western grandstand."

Mr Anderson said he tried to negotiate with HSG before taking the court action, but Mr Palmer said there were no such attempts.

"We look forward to this matter being heard in court where an uncommercial extension was exercised by Mr Burraston without the approval of the previous Knights' board," Mr Palmer said.

"The only winners appear to be RockCity, Peter Anderson and Mr Burraston's son Joel, the company's only permanent Knights employee.

"There is no money outstanding to RockCity. They were paid in full to the end of their contract and as the new owners of the Knights, HSG deemed any extension to the agreement with RockCity to not be beneficial to the club."

http://www.theherald.com.au/news/local/news/general/knights-hospitality-deal-rocky/2552355.aspx?storypage=0

Clubs want rugby league commission to take action on Broncos monopoly - and more cash by: Phil Rothfield
From: The Daily Telegraph
May 19, 2012 12:00AM

RUGBY league’s independent commission is 100 days old and the honeymoon is over for its chairman John Grant.
The Maserati-driving NRL supremo is speeding towards a collision with powerbrokers at the Sydney clubs over a number of issues.

Part of it is the perception that, after arriving with grand expectations that Grant would deliver real and lasting reform, he has been enjoying the trappings of his new post as much as tackling the hard issues.

“It’s early days yet, but we need more decisions, fewer trophy presentations and fewer trips to the UK and New Zealand,” said one prominent Sydney based club official.

The other area of concern for the financially strapped Sydney teams is the perceived favouritism towards the Broncos and the Titans from Grant’s home of Queensland.

The Sydney clubs and other members of the recently formed clubs association are preparing for an allout confrontation with the commission over the off-field power and supremacy of the Broncos.

A copy of Brisbane’s annual report has been circulated amongst the clubs showing the club’s turnover of a staggering $34 million and more than $28 million spent on the football team. It’s leading the push from the NRL club chairmen and the clubs’ association for expansion and a second team to be fast-tracked into Brisbane.

“The commission has got to do something about the Broncos monopoly,” said one of the more influential club chairmen. “We’re just not on a level playing field and they’re going to get stronger and stronger until they get some opposition.”

The Roosters make about $1.2 million in gate takings all season while the Broncos make that much in just two games.

Cronulla has a turnover of less than $13 million for the whole year – a third of what the Broncos get. The Broncos get the
Friday night Channel Nine game almost every week and sell sponsorship on the back of having more free-to-air prime time
exposure than any other club.

Grant’s ties to Queensland and his tight relationship with former Super League boss John Ribot has raised eyebrows, particularly on the day Ribot was a guest on Grant’s table at a recent function in Brisbane.

He also has a close association with Wayne Bennett from their days together at Brisbane Souths in the 70’s. When Bennett recently bagged the game as being too boring on the back page of this newspaper, Grant was straight on the phone to David Gallop to get referees to speed up the play-the-ball.

Grant has also gone out of his way to personally act on the Gold Coast Titans financial mess with fellow commissioner Gary Pemberton. At the same time, struggling Sydney clubs have been left to fight their own battle for survival.

There have been few tough calls made since the commission came into power. The scrapping of the McIntyre system for the finals was happening anyway. They have acted on the player eligibility fiasco in representative football by introducing new guidelines for when players first join the NRL. It will prevent any future Greg Inglis or James Tamou cases where they are clearly playing for the wrong teams.

The commission has also taken a strong stance on domestic violence by banning Cowboys halfback Robert Lui for 12 months and Cronulla’s Isaac Gordon for 10 weeks.

The television broadcasting deal is obviously the biggest topic in the game. Anything less than a $1.2 billion payday
will be considered a failure.

There are other pressing issues that the commission needs to act on, including the mid-season player transfers, not that it even appears to be on their radar. “The system that is there is transparent and enforceable – no one has a workable alternative,” said chief executive David Gallop.

The future of suburban home grounds and transferring blockbusters to big stadiums to create more revenue has been driven by the clubs and has had no input from the commission.

Gold Coast boss Michael Searle was the major architect of the commission and declared the game would save millions of dollars a year in administration costs. But as one official said: “Michael has hardly proved himself to be a financial guru.”

If anything, management costs have risen. Grant earns $150,000-a-year as the chairman and the other seven commissioners take home $75,000.

In the AFL, their commissioners are paid only $25,000, but most don’t even take the money.

And so much for the game coming under the one umbrella. Veteran officials Geoff Carr, Bob Millward, Bob Saunders and John Chalk are still at the NSW Rugby league.

They are still paying former ARL boss Colin Love’s legal firm for advice, despite the commission appointing a full-time in-house lawyer and still using the services of senior lawyer Tony O’Reilly for major cases.

If the commission thought they had a fight with the clubs over the Broncos domination, it is nothing compared to the tussle they are facing over the carve-up of the television money.

The clubs now get a $3.85 million grant and operate under a $4.4 million salary cap. The clubs association and the chairmen want a $7 million grant with a $6 million salary cap. The players association are getting in on the act too. They’ll be asking for as much as $75,000 match payments for State of Origin appearances and backing the clubs for the salary cap increase.

“Getting the money from the networks won’t be the problem,” said one official. “The difficulty will be the clubs fighting for their share of it.”

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/clubs-want-rugby-league-commission-to-take-action-on-broncos-monopoly-and-more-cash/story-e6frexnr-1226360670977

Nine giving us a raw deal

by: Phil Rothfield
From: The Daily Telegraph
May 21, 2012 12:00AM

NO wonder the NRL wants more control over scheduling of television matches in the next broadcasting deal.

Rugby league's club game of the year will be shown on delay in Sydney on Friday night because Channel 9 doesn't believe it will rate.

First-placed Melbourne Storm against the second-placed Brisbane Broncos will be on delay at 9.30pm after we've sat through the Rabbitohs against the Canberra Raiders.

You could almost understand Nine's decision if it was two Sydney clubs playing.

But the Raiders? Puhlease.

It's the third time in the past month viewers have had to watch rugby league's best matches on delay, following on from the Test in New Zealand and the Broncos-Manly Friday night game at the Suncorp double-header.

The Storm-Broncos match features Queensland superstars Cameron Smith, Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk against Maroons teammates Sam Thaiday, Petero Civoniceva, Matt Gillett and Ben Hannant.

But Nine's director of sport Steve Crawley makes no apologies for the decision.

"I hear what you're saying," Crawley said, "but you're still going to see the game. We have to rate the best we can and try to get to the most number of people watching.

"Souths are an absolute juggernaut. I have no doubt they will rate better in Sydney than the other game.

"The Storm and the Broncos are great footy sides but they don't always rate well in Sydney."

Between them, the Broncos and Storm are on 36 competition points compared to Souths and Canberra with 24 points. The Raiders have been huge disappointments this year and hardly deserve Friday night prime time.

Could you imagine this happening in the AFL in Melbourne. Last Friday night Collingwood and Geelong packed the MCG out and were live on Channel 7 and Fox Sports. Could you imagine the outcry if the stations showed it on a two-hour delay and covered GWS against the Lions live instead of the blockbuster.

The NRL has a real opportunity with the next television deal to get back control of its own game and weekly scheduling.

Nine's position is understandable in that it has a responsibility to its advertisers to deliver maximum ratings.

But the network and Fox Sports should never have been given the right to decide the game's programming every week.

That's a job for David Gallop and his staff at NRL headquarters.

Rugby league is the highest-rating sport on Australian TV. In future, Gallop has to stand up to the networks and say: "If you want our product, you cover the best games live on free to air."

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/nine-giving-us-a-raw-deal/story-e6frexnr-1226361712584

Fantastic result now to watch the NSW bitters complain about the correct decision.

Wait so you can knock the ball on before grounding it now? Or does that rule only apply to Queensland.

I'll have my whinge about the many stupid decisions in that match.

Jennings is an idiot and deserved the sin bin but so was most of the other players on the field. The only one that I saw not trying to hit someone was Hayne, he was trying to grab fists to stop people hitting each other. Saying someone is throwing a punch to defend themselves is stupid if you policed it correctly with the right rules they wouldn't feel the need to "punch in self defence".

I'm pretty sure Sam Thaiday missed the ball completely when he "grounded" it for the disallowed Stewart try.

How the hell was Inglis awarded that try? If that was 10m out from the line it would have been a knock on.

NSW had control of that match until Civoniceva start lying in the tackles and holding the ball so NSW couldn't play the ball quickly. I don't know how he gets away with blatantly slowing the play down as much as he does. Other players get penalised for doing not even half of what he does.

Have to agree with the Jennings one. As stupid as he was, if you're going to send him for 10 why not send almost every player for 10. Can't just single out one player when there was more than one running in.

The Thaiday one is interesting, they take two looks at that incident and made the decision, when both replays didn't conclusively show that he actually put downward pressure on the ball, yet were happy to give Inglis a try for knocking the ball on.

I can handle losing fairly to QLD, because they are a fucking great team, but I can't handle losing like that. I can't handle being robbed of any chance at getting anything out of the game, and if I was Sticky or Gallen I would be going fucking nuts in the post match press conference.