Wendell welcomes former team-mate back March 13, 2010
Wendell Sailor is officially a former footballer. Not long after Lote Tuqiri touched down in Sydney on Wednesday, his good mate Dell was on the phone.
''Yeah, he was trying to suss me out about interviews,'' Tuqiri laughed. ''He works in the media now, so I can't tell him too many secrets.''
That won't stop Sailor telling Tuqiri a few, though, and the new Wests Tigers player is happy to listen.
Sailor, of course, returned to league after a stint in rugby union, like Tuqiri; a return that can only be described as successful. ''He's done it, and he's certainly telling me a lot of players to watch out for,'' Tuqiri said.
SIN BIN
CHANNEL SEVEN yesterday announced its new league show, hosted by Matthew Johns, would debut on Thursday, March 25, leading into round three of the NRL.
Seven said that apart from tackling the game's big issues, The Matty Johns Show, to screen for an hour from 7.30pm, planned to entertain audiences with a ''family-friendly mix of sporting stars, special guests, live performances, music and comedy''.
Seven said Johns had created several new comic characters for the show, including ''gardening guru Don Kirk, explorer Alby Sandals, and 10-year-old Steven the Big Kid''.
Former Brisbane Broncos star Shane Webcke will join Johns on an updated version of Controversy Corner, the discussion segment first seen in the 1960s, when Rex Mossop was on Seven.
TOP PLAYERS PULL THE PLUG
A number of leading players appear to share the view held by NRL boss David Gallop that having a rival league program to Channel Nine's The Footy Show is a good thing.
After recording endorsements for TFS during last week's NRL season launch at ANZ Stadium, several players asked Channel Nine not to use their comments because they would be appearing on Johns's show.
HOUSTON''S WAITING GAME
Chris Houston and his legal team are sitting on their ''hands, eyes and ears'', waiting to view police evidence behind the drug supply charges the second-rower faces.
Houston, who quit the Newcastle Knights in the wake of his arrest last week, is due in court on April 13 on four counts of supplying ecstasy and cocaine.
''We haven't been served any evidence whatsoever from the prosecution,'' said Houston's lawyer, Peter Harper.
''I expect the DPP to wait until they've got a significant part of the brief to serve.'' It is understood that the evidence compiled by Strike Force Welham is centred on more than 6000 recorded telephone conversations, of which only a small number relate to Houston.
Harper said a plea would not be contemplated until he saw the transcripts. ''In serious cases like this we don't take instructions from clients until such time as we're aware of the brief and the contents of the brief,'' he said.
TEAMMATES BACK JT
Johnathan Thurston's teammates have hit back at suggestions the Cowboys skipper is ''greedy'' because he has not accepted the club's contract offer.
Thurston, who was recently wrongly accused of ''holding the NRL to ransom'' by demanding an image rights fee, turned down an offer to be an ambassador for the federal government's Learn, Earn, Legend program aimed at encouraging indigenous kids to stay at school because he couldn't commit to appearances around the country.
Thurston has told rival NRL clubs not to waste their time making him an offer at this stage but he is in no rush to decide on the bid tabled by the Cowboys.
Cowboys hooker Aaron Payne said: ''We all hope he stays in league, and particularly at the Cowboys, but I don't think he is being greedy.
This is probably the best contract he will get, so he's got to look after himself. When he's retired and he's broken down, I don't think many of the people that are bagging him are going to turn up on his doorstep and help him into his wheelchair.
But regardless of what he does, whether he stays with the Cowboys or if he goes, it's not going to affect this year because this year he's playing for us and we all want the same thing - we want a premiership.''
AND THE WINNER IS …
Taylor Fry Analytics - normally in the business of advising governments and corporations - has developed a statistical model to pick winners based on several factors, including venue, team and recent and long-term form, using generalised linear models.
After an average performance on last year's SMH AFL panel, the boffins have refined the computer model and will donate $250 to charity for each tip it is behind the panel winner at the end of the season in both the NRL and AFL.
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