Blog with Hoops below from 1.30pm.
Some cracking rugby league over the weekend but no question the biggest story remains what’s going on at South Sydney — the pride of the league.
The notion that nobody at the Rabbitohs knew that a multi-millionaire third party associate of the club secretly approached Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga about being parachuted in as a caretaker coach is almost too funny for words.
We’re calling it now — BS.
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So the chairman, the CEO, the board, the owners — no one at South Sydney had any idea whatsoever about the man known as The Art Dealer in rugby league circles telephoning the 13th Immortal and asking him if he’d be interested in taking the job?
Please. The Art Dealer is a bloke otherwise known as Steve Nasteski who is a highly-successful, self-made multi-millionaire and a dyed-in-the-wool South Sydney tragic.
The way Rabbitohs management have treated current coach Jason Demetriou — one of the most genuine people in the game — is nothing short of apocryphal.
Forget the fluffy cupcake quotes from chairman Nick Pappas and CEO Blake Solly supporting JD — they were plotting to get rid of him behind-the-scenes.
Bunnies CEO backs embattled JD | 04:55
The way the Rabbitohs have treated Meninga — a gentleman and an ornament to the game — is equally as poor.
What it’s exposed is the problems at South Sydney run far deeper than the coach or some of the star players.
The problems at South Sydney go all the way to the top where the owners and several of the powerbrokers are disgruntled and not seeing eye-to-eye.
Some of them don’t speak. So as brave as the Bunnies were against Cronulla — they still leaked 34 points but in fairness had one player on the bench for 40 minutes — is it any wonder there’s problems on the field now the full picture off the field is being exposed.
There’s a strong tip co-owner Russell Crowe wants to bring back Shane Richardson to try and clean up the mess after the Bunnies 1-5 start to the season.
Whether that can happen given he’s currently running Wests Tigers and only recently released the Roaring Ahead strategic plan remains to be seen.
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Richardson and Solly are great mates having worked together for many years at the Bunnies and were having lunch when the news broke about the Rabbitohs approaching Meninga last week.
Clearly the problems club icon Sam Burgess exposed last August were on the money.
Ultimately the club didn’t like what they heard and opted to sack Burgess but given the way it’s all unravelled they made need to try and mend that bridge.
Burgess blew the bridge up on the way out the door at Heffron Park but it’s rugby league so often even the fiercest feuds can be resolved.
The Clive Churchill Medallist is still extremely close to 25 per cent owner Russell Crowe and will always retain strong support from The Gladiator.
The ownership of the club has been another hot topic around the game with the disputes at the top end of the Bunnies meaning some are suggesting 25 per cent owner Mike Cannon-Brookes should try and buy a bigger share.
‘I expect to be coach next week’ | 07:23
If that was to happen then the chairman Pappas and the CEO Solly would be expected to be safe given they have a close rapport with “MCB” as the Bunnies like to call him.
What Crowe thinks of it all is unknown given he’s currently overseas on a film set.
Meninga is now in Vanuatu working with Fox League and given his comments on Super Saturday sounds like he’s rightfully gone completely cold on the idea of taking over.
If The Art Dealer Nasteski had truly gone rogue off the reservation and secretly approached Meninga without anyone at the club knowing then perhaps it’s time the powers-that-be at Souths started listening to him.
The Art Dealer has previously set the club up to sign Roosters winger Dominic Young and Semi Radradra only for the deal to fall over in the closing stages.
The Meninga deal has now gone the same way.
Nasteski has been involved at South Sydney for well over a decade and was the figure responsible for the club bringing through young gun talent Joseph Suaali’i.
He’s also a member of Club 22 as the Rabbitohs call it which is a group of wealthy and well-connected people who bleed red and green.
It’s called Club 22 because the Rabbitohs are chasing their 22nd premiership.
The quicker Souths pick the phone up to Wayne Bennett the better.
Wayne with Sam Burgess, Ben Hornby and David Furner as his assistants can quickly recorrect the Bunnies.
That’s no knock on JD who is a good coach and showed it by making a preliminary final in his first season but he’s been badly let down by too many people around him at South Sydney.
What were your likes or dislikes from Round 6?
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