Why Flanagan contract extension could cost Dragons a favourite son

Sydney Morning Herald

09-08-2025

The club needs a halfback, a front-rower and a winger, but they have a range of players they need to offload to be genuine players in the market.
Is Penn mightier than the sword?
The Sea Eagles are fending off rumours about the future of Anthony Seibold, but it is not just the coach who is under pressure. Questions are also being asked about majority owner and chairman Scott Penn and chief executive Tony Mestrov.
We put it to Penn that there was a move to oust him, and while he did not want to comment publicly, he did say the rumours were wide of the mark. Penn has never lied to this column, so we are taking him at his word.
He was in Sydney when I contacted him, however the major criticism of Penn is that he lives in New York and needs to be more involved at Brookvale.
Mestrov is also being linked to an exit from the club. We have previously put this to him and he has denied he is looking for other jobs.
The Sea Eagles say they are all pulling together and are not a club divided.
Playing tough guy takes its toll
The James Hooper story was broken in the Fox Sports-friendly News Corp media last week. Part of the soft landing was also not mentioning Hooper's alleged high-range drink-driving reading of .253. Nor did it mention that after Hooper allegedly hit parked vehicles he tried to leave the scene.
Hooper was charged with high-range drink-driving offences and three counts of damaging property following an incident on July 31. He was subsequently sacked by Fox Sports.
The positive quotes from Fox about Hooper are also interesting. Showing Hooper respect is reasonable, but his issues have been well known for years now and this column has previously reported on his alleged behaviour in Las Vegas and in other circumstances.
Where it will be interesting is if Fox Sports is found to have turned a blind eye to his problems. If he wasn't given any help, or at least directed towards assistance, by his former employer they may even open themselves up to some kind of legal action from Hooper.
There is no question that Paul Kent's issues were well known by Fox Sports, News Corp and many in the media, and in the end Kent took action against News. He got a payout, but will never be employed by them again.
Hooper's demise overshadowed comments he made about not being able to deal with the pressures of being a loud voice on Fox. In News Corp's Daily Telegraph he said: 'Clearly I'm not handling the tough side of the job.'
A further insight into him finding it difficult to be the sort of opinionated bully that Fox apparently like was a quote from Gorden Tallis on Braith Anasta's podcast. Tallis talked about how Hooper's best attribute as a journalist being the stories he didn't tell.
That can be interpreted in a number of ways. Obviously, he is loyal to some people in the game, but as a journalist on a website or television show that relies on breaking news, the idea of sitting on stories is an unusual thing to hang your hat on. There is no question that playing the role of the tough guy is not an easy one, particularly if it's against your nature to be outlandish, outspoken and be responsible for taking down people in the game.
A sorry business
Andrew Voss showed considerable class and humility in offering Ivan Cleary a heartfelt apology on SEN radio on Friday.
Voss went off the top turnbuckle on Fox Sports and on radio in criticising the Panthers and Cleary after trainer Corey Bocking ran in front of Titan Jayden Campbell as he lined up a crucial shot for goal last Saturday. Campbell missed the conversion attempt that would have given the Titans a four-point lead, Nathan Cleary kicked a late two-point field goal to send the game to extra time and the Panthers won in crazy style.
Bocking was subsequently banned for five games by the NRL and the Panthers fined $50,000.
Voss apologised for questioning Cleary's integrity after the well-regarded Panthers coach initially said he did not see the incident.
We did some digging and there was no legal threat to make Voss apologise. There was a word or two that got back to Voss about the Panthers being unhappy, and he responded with a dignified statement saying he got it wrong.
It was a smart move given Voss often sits next to Panthers deputy chairman Greg Alexander in commentary on Fox. You can imagine where some of the Panthers' dissatisfaction may have been coming from.
Failure to launch
As a game that prides itself on being inclusive and having a strong connection to its Aboriginal players, the NRL's launch of Indigenous Round was entirely underwhelming.
Only three men's players out of a potential 17 turned up. Even South Sydney, a club with a proud Indigenous heritage, did not have a player present. Cody Walker was listed to attend but was sick. Souths have organised their own impressive Indigenous Round celebration.
The NRL has staged some magnificent PR events recently – the Las Vegas Fremont Street experience was exceptional – but the Indigenous Round launch was mediocre and not befitting such an important occasion.
The stream team
ARL Commission chairman Peter V'landys and NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo have invited DAZN owner Len Blavatnik to watch the Kangaroos play against England at Wembley in October.
The mysterious streaming service owner is unlikely to have been to a rugby league game, and the bosses of the NRL thought that a big occasion at Wembley would have enormous appeal.
DAZN acquired control of Foxtel in April.
V'landys and Abdo did very well to get a sit-down meeting in Blavatnik's New York residence for a couple of hours to sell the game to him. All the other conversations with Netflix and the like appear to be window dressing next to a chat with Mr DAZN, who is now one of the most powerful figures in Australian sport.
How did the meeting get teed up? They simply went through the bosses of DAZN in Australia.
The NRL needs to create a bidding war for the broadcast rights between DAZN and Nine Entertainment, the owners of this masthead. Nine is now in a position to broadcast games on free-to-air TV and streaming service Stan.
It is widely acknowledged that the AFL's last TV deal – $4.5 billion over seven seasons – was far superior to that of the NRL, so you can be assured V'landys will be using every bit of his negotiating skill to beat that.
Dog Head's (very) last word
Tamer Uzun, the man who helped Paul Kent into a tree outside a Rozelle restaurant, contacted this column asking for one final statement.
'I just want to ask Kent to apologise for calling me Dog Head,' he said. 'It's not a nice thing to be labelled, and I'd like a public apology.'
Where did it go?
Mystery surrounds the sudden disappearance of a story from The Daily Telegraph website. It was published after a shooting in New York and it quoted the bosses of the NRL, who visited the same building where people lost their lives.
The story had a sliding doors feel to it, because Andrew Abdo and Peter V'landys were at the same venue two weeks prior. We are not questioning the validity of the yarn, considering it was supported by quotes, but obviously someone thought it was in poor taste as an hour after it appeared it was suddenly gone.
There was no legal reason to abandon the story, so it was probably considered a tad crass given people died and it was not really a lucky escape story with Abdo and Vlandys at the scene two weeks prior to the shooting.
Restoring faith
The good deeds of the Trbojevic brothers that we reported on last week inspired a letter from Nick Brierley, the assistant principal at St Vincent's College Ashfield.
'I read your article in the Herald today and saw the last part about the work of the Trbojevic brothers at Mona Vale Public School,' he wrote.
'I sent the following story to [Tigers chief executive] Shane Richardson. We were visited by Alex Twal, Adam Doueihi, Fonua Pole and Starford To'a.
'We have a family of 5 children at our school. Amazing children, amazing family who are very full of faith. Alex Twal goes to the same church as this family.
'Two weeks earlier, their father passed away after a long battle with cancer. Alex recognised one of the boys and shook hands. I said to Alex that we are looking after them – they have been through a tough time. Twal calls the boy back, shakes his hand, introduces him to Adam [Doueihi] and they have a chat about church, organises the other players for a photo with him, and offers the family game tickets for this weekend. Then as he is leaving, says words to the effect of 'come see me if you ever need anything'.
'Alex told me he knew what they were going through – he lost his father to cancer last year, he says.
'Later, we are outside in a skills session with the children and all the players. Twal sees another of the boys in the family. Again, makes time for him, jokes with him, organises a photo, grabs one of the footballs and gets the other players to sign it to give to the boy.
'Alex Twal made those children's week. He didn't have to do anything at all. But he was kind when they needed it most.'
Loading
The big league
The most watched sporting league in the world is coming to Channel Nine and Stan Sport. The English Premier League starts next weekend and for the opening three rounds one match a week will be live and free on Channel Nine, giving fans a taste of the action. Every game of the season will be available on Stan Sport.
On Saturday night, following the Rabbitohs v Eels NRL clash, Aston Villa take on Newcastle at Villa Park in their opening match of the season.
Nine has also upped the ante with free-to-air NRL games. There will be Saturday night fixtures for the rest of season and every Storm game will be live on the main channel in Melbourne every week for the rest of the season.