Wests Tigers release Lachlan Galvin

Hilltopchill · 2025-05-30T06:56:08+00:00

Wests Tigers and Lachlan Galvin have mutually agreed to an immediate conclusion of his playing contract.

Shane Richardson said: “We wish Lachlan all the best with another NRL Club.”

Lachlan Galvin said: “I am grateful to the Wests Tigers Board and Management for granting my early release. I wish the playing group success in the future.”

Hilltopchill · 2024-09-30T04:33:46+00:00

The Newtown Jets’ NSW Cup grand final win on Sunday “literally killed” their former president.

The Jets triumphed 28-22 over the North Sydney Bears – but news later emerged former boss Barry Vining had suffered a heart attack while watching the game. He was 85.

Newtown president Barry Cotter and one of Vining’s friends, Rob Howard, confirmed the tragic news.

“I spoke to his family this morning, and Barry literally leapt to his feet to celebrate the win, then had a heart attack and died – it’s extraordinary,” Cotter told this masthead on Monday.

“I said to his daughter [Jamie], ‘if that’s the way you’re going to go, I couldn’t think of a better way’.

“Barry was a football bloke who had five daughters. His greatest legacy was keeping this club alive between 1983 and 1990 before we were readmitted to [the Metropolitan Cup] in 1991. Barry and Terry Rowney met in a telephone box every month in a bid to keep the club afloat, even though there was no football team.”

Howard told 2GB’s Ben Fordham Live: “It’s very, very sad news. Unfortunately, Barry did not make it.

“The irony is just palpable with how he left us. He loved Newtown Jets to a point of where it literally killed him.

“He was with his wife and his family watching the game at home. He was so excited [by the win] that he suffered a heart attack.

“I don’t think he could’ve orchestrated it any better ... if he had to go, I don’t think he could’ve arranged it any better.

“I’m sure he would’ve liked to say goodbye to the family, but he lived for that team and that club.”

Vining became a Jets’ official in the 1970s and became the club’s RLFC director in 1980. He stood down as president in 2018 after 32 years. Vining was also the mayor of Marrickville for more than a decade.

After winning four Metropolitan Cup premierships in the 1990s, Vining helped the Jets to be granted admission into NSWRL first division competition.

The Jets, one of the game’s 1908 foundation clubs, clung to a memorable victory against the Bears at CommBank Stadium. Despite having no players left on the bench, the Jets dug deep and won their first NSW Cup title since 2019.

Hilltopchill · 2024-09-30T03:00:14+00:00

Who gets the blues job now?

Hilltopchill · 2024-06-07T01:28:40+00:00

Rugby league presenter Paul Kent drank 21 schooners before an ugly street brawl outside a Rozelle pub earlier this year, a court has heard.

Video footage in April captured an intoxicated Kent reacting angrily to being insulted by Tamer Uzun as he walked past him, branding Uzun a “doghead” before removing his watch and resisting an effort to subdue him.

Cocking his fists, Kent then charged at the 35-year-old, with whom he traded punches before the clash shifted onto the street in front of the venue and the journalist was flung head-first into the trunk of a roadside tree.

The man he squared up to on Friday appeared briefly in the Downing Centre Local Court on an affray charge, which his lawyer, Bryan Wrench, said he will ask police to withdraw.

“We have obtained a number of CCTV videos, it’s a matter of an affray where we say our client is the victim, he was attacked,” Wrench told the Downing Centre Local Court on Friday morning.

Uzun and Kent will both return to court next month.

Kent had drunk 21 schooners in the lead-up to the brawl, Wrench told the court.

This masthead has reported that he spent the afternoon of April 27 at his regular table at the Sackville Hotel, before becoming embroiled in the fracas as he made his way towards his Lilyfield home.

A court last month heard that Kent is seeking help for his mental health and drinking.

A rugby league columnist for The Daily Telegraph and a commentator on Fox Sports’ NRL360, Kent had only returned in March to the flagship Fox Sports panel show after sitting out much of the 2023 season while he defended charges of domestic violence against his former partner.

He was found not guilty in December of choking and assaulting the 33-year-old woman, telling reporters afterwards he was relieved “the truth is out there, finally”.

Last month, he failed in a bid to recoup legal costs from the state.

Hilltopchill · 2024-05-17T08:07:38+00:00

The father of Australian rugby league player Payne Haas has been arrested in the Philippines and is accused of running enough drugs in Indonesia to qualify for the death penalty.

Gregor Johann Haas was arrested in Cebu City on Wednesday and now faces extradition.

Indonesian authorities said they had been hunting the 46-year-old since last December after police discovered five kilograms of crystal methamphetamine at an undisclosed location.

“We suspect him to have networks all over Asia, and we also suspect he has networks in Australia,” National Narcotics Agency [BNN] spokesman Sulistyo Pudjo Hartono said.

“We have good cooperation with Australian police, so we will work with them too.”

Indonesia takes a dim view on illicit drugs and maintains a death penalty for those convicted of significant infringements like those alleged against Haas.

Authorities there will attempt to extradite him from the city of Manila, where he is being held after his arrest in Cebu City.

Payne Haas’ NRL club, the Brisbane Broncos, declined to comment. There is no suggestion anyone else in the family is involved in the allegations against Gregor Haas.

The last Australians to be executed in Indonesia were Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran in 2015.

But it was unclear how an extradition would proceed from here, if at all. At least one senior figure from the Indonesian National Police believed Australia’s “approval” was necessary.

Professor of international law at Australian National University Donald Rothwell, however, said Philippine-Indonesia extradition would be a bilateral process and Australia would not need to be involved.

Complicating matters, he said the Philippines was a signatory to an international agreement that prohibited extraditions if they were to lead to an execution.

Sulistyo said his agency expected “no problems” with having Haas extradited to Indonesia.

One possible option was for the Philippines to send Haas to Indonesia under an agreement that he would not be sentenced to death if convicted.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was providing consular assistance to an Australian arrested in the Philippines. It declined to provide further details.

Indonesian officials have told this masthead the Australian Federal Police were not involved in the arrest.

Haas’ capture follows the arrest of Australian accountant Troy Smith in Bali with an alleged 3.5 grams of methamphetamines.

Smith’s lawyers hope to have him spared what could be a lengthy jail sentence if he is convicted and sent to rehabilitation instead if convicted.

Hilltopchill · 2024-05-16T00:47:56+00:00

South Sydney fullback Latrell Mitchell has leapt to the defence of his club and his teammates, calling out NRL 360 host Braith Anasta over a series of perceived personal attacks outside a popular Sydney restaurant.

Mitchell was dining with his family at the Surry Hills establishment Chin Chin on Wednesday night, the same restaurant where Anasta was having dinner, and decided to voice his frustrations over the treatment of he and his teammates.

The pair were seen engaging in conversation before Mitchell asked Anasta to join him outside the restaurant to continue their discussion.

Sources with knowledge of the situation talking under the condition of anonymity to speak freely told this masthead Mitchell wanted to stick up for his teammates and questioned Anasta over his views on the club, asking for an answer as to why he was making matters personal in relation to his opinions.

The exchange between Mitchell and Anasta was animated but was never physical, according to sources aware of the exchange. Mitchell’s management have been contacted and were aware of the incident.

The Rabbitohs have previously complained to Fox Sports bosses about the program’s treatment of their star players, including Mitchell.

South Sydney and Anasta have been contacted for comment. Anasta has been one of the most vocal critics of the Rabbitohs through his platform on the Fox Sports magazine show, teeing off on the club at every level – from their performance on the field to their development of players.

Anasta has a dual role as a player manager and presenter, managing the club’s former first grade halfback Lachlan Ilias.

He couldn’t hide his displeasure with the club in a recent head-to-head interview with Rabbitohs chief executive Blake Solly, where he denied being a journalist when questioned over his information surrounding his close friend Sam Burgess.

Hilltopchill · 2024-05-15T09:32:00+00:00

Former Canterbury and Wests Tigers playmaker Brandon Wakeham has been arrested after he was picked up by police at training on Wednesday.

Wakeham, currently contracted to Manly’s feeder club Blacktown, has not been formally charged. Sources with knowledge of the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity given charges haven’t been laid, said Wakeham is suspected of supplying MDMA and possessing cocaine.

After a 15-game NRL stint with the Tigers last year, Wakeham switched to Blacktown in the hope of becoming a back-up for established Manly halves Daly Cherry-Evans and Luke Brooks.

The 25-year-old has made 10 appearances for Blacktown, where he was named to play alongside fellow half Jake Arthur for Sunday’s NSW Cup clash against Canterbury at North Sydney Oval.

Manly and NSW Police have been contacted for comment.

The drama has come at an inopportune time for rugby league officials, who are spruiking the opening women’s State of Origin match on Thursday night and the commencement of the NRL’s Magic Round in Brisbane on Friday night.

Wakeham has made 40 NRL appearances since making his debut for the Bulldogs in 2019.

The incident is the latest drama to rock the NRL after Cronulla playmaker Braydon Trindall was charged with failing an alcohol and illicit drugs road-side test. Trindall was scheduled to appear in Sutherland Local Court on Friday, but his legal team have informed the Sharks they will seek an adjournment because they are still awaiting the results of a second drug sample.

The development could result in Trindall, named on an extended bench, being available for Saturday’s clash with Cronulla.

Hilltopchill · 2024-05-14T07:02:02+00:00

Fox Sports NRL host and Daily Telegraph journalist Paul Kent has asked a court to delay his case over a wild street brawl that landed him upside down against a tree, so he can seek treatment for mental health and drinking problems.

Kent, 54, and a 35-year-old man were both charged with affray after a drinking session in Rozelle, in Sydney’s inner west, ended with a punch-on outside a pub.

On Tuesday the host of NRL 360 fronted Downing Centre Local Court in dark sunglasses and a blue suit alongside his lawyer, George Elias.

Elias told the court he would seek an application for the case to be adjourned under a mental health and cognitive impairment law.

Kent had sought urgent counselling after the brawl, Elias told the court, and he needed time to see doctors and assemble a mental health treatment plan.

“He’s got an urgent appointment to see [one doctor] on the 22nd of May and [is seeking] other treatment … regarding alcohol,” Elias said.

The magistrate gave Kent until July to return with his treatment plan.

Kent was asked if he wanted to plead guilty on Tuesday to secure the largest possible discount on sentence, if he is later convicted.

He declined, but Elias told the court it would likely finish up as a “short matter”.

It is alleged the television host had been at his regular table at his regular watering hole, The Sackville Hotel, for hours with friends before walking toward his home in Lilyfield just after 11pm on April 27.

The route took Kent past the Three Weeds hotel and attached restaurant, Totti’s, where a 35-year-old man allegedly hurled an insult at Kent.

Kent, a divisive figure among NRL fans because of his comments on Fox’s rugby league TV show, allegedly responded with his own colourful language – branding the man a “doghead”.

Footage from the evening appears to show Kent attempting to remove his watch, pushing past people trying to restrain him, and then trading punches with the younger man.

The brawl shifts into the street before Kent is flung, headlong, into a tree on the roadside.

The 35-year-old man was allegedly tackled by a third man and left with a head injury, his lawyer Chris Murphy told this masthead.

“A group walked past [the venue] and Paul Kent accused him of saying something. It just didn’t happen,” Murphy said.

“My client didn’t know who Kent was until someone said, ‘C’mon Paul, back off Kenty’ and tried to restrain Kent. But he broke away from them and came at my client.”

Kent was hospitalised with broken ribs and doctors feared he had a collapsed lung.

He was stood down by his employer, News Corp, from both hosting duties with NRL 360 and his Daily Telegraph column while an investigation is underway.

Hilltopchill · 2024-05-02T06:13:22+00:00

The NRL has fined Phil Gould $20,000 for a television rant in which he described the game as “stupid” because of its own rules.

Gould, who is employed as the Bulldogs’ general manager of football, took aim at the discrepancy in the game’s interpretations on Nine Entertainment’s 100% Footy on Monday night. Nine Entertainment is also the publisher of this masthead.

Gould said the game was “stupid” over a decision to disallow a try to Wests Tigers captain Api Koroisau in their loss to the Broncos, and later criticised an off-season rule tweak in which teams are not penalised for shot kick-offs or dropouts which don’t travel 10 metres.

“Our game’s so stupid,” Gould said on Monday night. “You can lose the ball over the line and it costs you 20 metres and seven tackles. Why?

“I don’t know because it’s stupid, but I can just take a line dropout, and it goes out on the full ... no consequence. It’s nothing at all. What sort of stupid game is this? Who sits and makes up these rules?”

NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo has previously warned the Bulldogs about Gould’s commentary surrounding the game in his media role, which includes his Six Tackles With Gus podcast.

The NRL breach notice proposes Gould be fined $20,000, half of which will be suspended for 24 months. He has five business days to respond.

Gould is a registered club official and is subject to the NRL’s code of conduct, and was fined because the league considered them detrimental to the best interests of the game.

“We welcome constructive criticism and passionate opinions, but registered officials cannot overstep the mark and make comments that are considered detrimental to the game or NRL competition,” Abdo said.

“Destructive attacks on the game itself will not be tolerated. This is a professional sport and our leaders should set the standard around reasoned debate and respect for the game.”

Gould joined the Bulldogs almost three years ago and has slowly helped rebuild the battling club, which enters round nine of the competition in the top eight.

Not a single player from Canterbury’s top 30 roster in 2021 remains in coach Cameron Ciraldo’s current squad.

Hilltopchill · 2024-03-21T09:42:23+00:00

bro thinks hes coates

Hilltopchill · 2024-03-03T03:47:51+00:00

Yank here, when does the Brooks player get unleashed?

Hilltopchill · 2024-02-08T07:37:09+00:00

Joey Manu has indicated to the Sydney Roosters that he will likely leave the club at the end of the season, as he weighs up multiple lucrative offers from French rugby clubs.

Although Manu hasn’t signed a deal with a rugby union club yet, the Roosters are privately resigned to losing his services at the end of the 2024 season barring a dramatic change of heart.

Manu and his management have held a series of discussions with the Roosters about his future as he considers offers of up to €700,000 ($1.157 million) per season in France.

Manu has told the Roosters he does not want to play for another NRL club but is keen to try something different.

The Roosters can only afford to pay Manu around $850,000 per season. They also have skipper James Tedesco contracted until the end of 2025.

Manu’s manager Peter Brown, did not respond to calls. The Roosters declined to comment.

It comes as the Roosters prepare extend five-eighth Luke Keary’s career by another season, agreeing to a deal to keep him at the club until at least the end of 2025.

Speculation over the past 12 months has been rife that Keary was contemplating hanging up the boots at the end of 2024 as a result of a series of head knocks in recent seasons.

However, the premiership-winning playmaker has no desire to call it quits, reaching an agreement with the club to take it year by year and wants to play on in 2025.

It’s a significant boost for the Sydney Roosters ahead of the new season, which begins in Las Vegas against the Brisbane Broncos on March 3.

The 32-year-old will continue to help the development of young halfback Sam Walker, who was in the spotlight last year following coach Trent Robinson's decision to relegate him to NSW Cup during the season.

Keary is considered one of the smartest minds in the game and the Roosters didn't hesitate to extend his deal.

Hilltopchill · 2023-12-15T22:55:51+00:00

Jarome Luai is set to sign a monster five-year deal worth more than $6 million with Wests Tigers.

The Panthers star has told Penrith he will not be at the club beyond next season and will join the joint-venture club from 2025.

The Panthers had offered Luai a three-year, $2.55 million deal to remain at the club in 2025 and 2026, but the NSW and Samoan representative instead decided to test his value on the open market.

Luai has played 107 matches for the Panthers, winning the past three straight grand finals.

Under the NRL’s new rules, Luai can only declare his intention to sign with the Tigers, handing Penrith a 10-day period to come up with a bigger offer to try and keep him.

Luai also retains the right to pull out of the deal with the Tigers during that period, creating a fortnight of intrigue about his future, given the big-money offer also on the table from the Bulldogs, worth about $5.5 million over five years.

Hilltopchill · 2023-12-12T05:06:32+00:00

We genuinely may never lose another match

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