The Weekend Hangover is back with all the drama and controversy from round eight of the 2019 NRL season.
This week, there's news on big plans for the Sea Eagles, a run in with the cops at Shark Park and a fired-up former enforcer.
The North Sydney Bears won’t be back, the Sea Eagles won’t be leaving the northern beaches and Brookvale Oval will be turned into state-of-the-art stadium under a proposal put to Manly owner Scott Penn by a mystery consortium.
The Weekend Hangover can reveal the consortium has little rugby league DNA but is a big hitter overseas and sees great opportunity to buy into the NRL via the Sea Eagles.
Negotiations with the consortium and Penn have been going back and forward for months, with the deal on and off the table several times.
But every man has his price and Penn is on the verge of signing over control of the club for a figure in excess of $12m.
And despite the scare tactics, we can tell you the new consortium has no plans to move the Sea Eagles away from the peninsula and the deal completely shuts the poor old Bears out of the picture.
If anything, the potential new owners will put all their energy into redeveloping tired old Brookvale Oval with a view to housing the team their permanently with no change to name or colours.
They will also do away with playing home games away for financial gain.
Watch this space. It will blow you away when all is revealed.
MORE: Hasler gets journos off their arses in bizarre press conference stunt
NRL players given strict instructions on how to behave around females
Former Australian netball captain Liz Ellis says the onus should be on players to do the right thing by women to ensure they do not put themselves in a position where criminal charges could arise.
Talking about the Jack de Belin ‘no fault stand down’ case, a fired-up Ellis wanted to know when players were going to start taking ownership of their actions
“Women are constantly told not to take care about not being sexually assaulted,” Ellis told Sports Sunday.
“We’re told ‘don’t walk home by yourself at night, don’t go to a party where there might be alcohol, don’t wear revealing stuff’.
“It is wrong, wrong, wrong.
“If women are constantly being told that, here’s a tip for NRL players – don’t put yourself in a situation where you might be wrongfully accused.
“Have some situational awareness. If it’s good enough for every female on the planet, it’s good enough for football players.”
Big Willie backs up bullied Bunny
Willie Mason is clearly no fan of the no punch policy now enshrined in NRL law.
The big fella took a shot at the young Canberra forwards attempting to rough up Sam Burgess on Saturday night, safe in the knowledge there would be no reprisals.
Mason copped plenty of support, with Candice Warner – a mad Rabbitohs fan – among those to ‘like’ his tweet.
I wonder if some of these Canberra youngsters would be pushing and shoving @SamBurgess8 if they could get a punch in the mouth? Doubt it! Total disrespect.
— Willie Mason WMM 💯🇦🇺🇹🇴 (@mase21) May 18, 2019
Des Hasler calls on the cops at Shark Park
Funny scenes at halftime in the Cronulla-Manly match when Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler asked a policeman to remove Daily Telegraph league reporter Dean Ritchie from Shark Park.
“The coach has asked me to escort you out,” the local cop told a stunned Bulldog.
Ritchie looked around to see a sniggering Hasler sneaking back into the coach’s box.
We can report the Dog saw out the game.
Sharks deny making emotional call on Fifita
John Morris denied the Sharks risk Andrew Fifita for the sake of a milestone game after the normally destructive front-rower failed to make his normal impact in the loss to Manly.
In doubt all week with a hamstring injury, Fifita still managed to clock up 165m, made 34 tackles and produced several trademark offloads.
But he wasn’t quite at the peak of his powers as the Sharks slumped to a 10-point loss in the big man’s 200th game.
“He raced the clock all week. (On) Monday I wasn’t going to name him at all but I thought we’ll throw him in the team and give him the chance to play his 200th game.
“He was fully fit. He passed all the tests.
“He did well to get on the field and get through it, although I kept his minutes down a bit.”
The Cronulla boss hopes to get Matt Moylan and possibly Shaun Johnson back for the local derby against the Dragons next Sunday, but Wade Graham and Aaron Woods are still a few weeks away.