Rumours and Stuff

[Gronk]

It’s not for me to judge who “owned” who — I’m simply calling out nonsense when I see it. If you agree with it, that’s your right. Everyone gets a say here in the court of public opinion, but only a select few have earned the title of registered f**kwit. And I’d have no issue telling them exactly that in person — aquarium or otherwise.

Likewise, I have a no dickheads rule. I don’t put up with them.

 

[Gary Gutful]

It’s not for me to judge who “owned” who — I’m simply calling out nonsense when I see it. If you agree with it, that’s your right. Everyone gets a say here in the court of public opinion, but only a select few have earned the title of registered f**kwit. And I’d have no issue telling them exactly that in person — aquarium or otherwise.

Yeah - agreed. That's just your opinion. We all have different ones and people can decide whether they are valid or not.

 

[Johnny88]

Rugby league commentator Paul Kent diagnosed with throat cancer
Longtime NRL commentator and podcast host Paul Kent was diagnosed with cancer after returning home from the Kangaroo tour of England in December.

Rugby league commentator Paul Kent is fighting cancer.
The former Fox Sports and Daily Telegraph journalist was diagnosed after returning home from the Kangaroo tour in England before Christmas.
Kent, 56, who now hosts the popular Kenty’s Blitz podcast, has confirmed the news to this masthead.
Kent’s great mate, former NRL 360 host Ben Ikin, is travelling down from Brisbane to spend the weekend with him.
Nikki Short
Kent will begin treatment next week at the Chris O’Brien cancer treatment centre.
The cancer has formed on his lymph nodes around his neck.
He faces six to nine weeks of treatment.
“Plenty of people have got it worse than me and I’ll be okay,” Kent said.
“I’ve had lots of people reach out, I know the value of true friendship and I appreciate it.”

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/rugby-league-commentator-paul-kent-diagnosed-with-throat-cancer/news-story/d828aad73466970798a84d1f10359775?amp

 

[Gary Gutful]

Wish him all the best. I've enjoyed his podcasts during 2025.

 

[Soren Lorenson]

Wish him all the best. I've enjoyed his podcasts during 2025.

Spot on Gary. I wouldn’t wish throat cancer on anyone. Well, almost anyone.

 

[Soren Lorenson]

Likewise, I have a no dickheads rule. I don’t put up with them.

The definition of posting on here is putting up with dickheads. Me included. Lean into it.

 

[Eelementary]

Rugby league commentator Paul Kent diagnosed with throat cancer
Longtime NRL commentator and podcast host Paul Kent was diagnosed with cancer after returning home from the Kangaroo tour of England in December.

Rugby league commentator Paul Kent is fighting cancer.
The former Fox Sports and Daily Telegraph journalist was diagnosed after returning home from the Kangaroo tour in England before Christmas.
Kent, 56, who now hosts the popular Kenty’s Blitz podcast, has confirmed the news to this masthead.
Kent’s great mate, former NRL 360 host Ben Ikin, is travelling down from Brisbane to spend the weekend with him.
Nikki Short
Kent will begin treatment next week at the Chris O’Brien cancer treatment centre.
The cancer has formed on his lymph nodes around his neck.
He faces six to nine weeks of treatment.
“Plenty of people have got it worse than me and I’ll be okay,” Kent said.
“I’ve had lots of people reach out, I know the value of true friendship and I appreciate it.”

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/rugby-league-commentator-paul-kent-diagnosed-with-throat-cancer/news-story/d828aad73466970798a84d1f10359775?amp

That's horrible news.

I never minded Kent.

I hope he makes a full recovery.

 

[hindy111]

Likewise, I have a no dickheads rule. I don’t put up with them.

You have a zero dickhead policy.

 

[Chipmunk]

We refused to play Lane and Cartwright because their replacements were already at the club. Matterson was only used as a middle. He started on the edge in one of his NSW Cup games.

It still doesnt mean the two blokes who started ahead of them were on $400k.

 

[Avenger]

Likewise, I have a no dickheads rule. I don’t put up with them.

It’s my Slava today, buddy. Be nice.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

JAC was cheap because sacked and no demand from other clubs.

If he was cheap enough there would have been plenty of demand.

Say $300k originally but now prob upgraded to $500k.

Yeah maybe, but you could also add $100k to both of those figures and it would still be within range for the player. I'd say he would be more likely at the upper end of that range at our club, because what else could we offer than money when he joined?

Lomax here for $650k its been reported.

I suspect more, and we would have cleared nearly all of it from our cap. Unlike Gutherson and RCG, there would have been no payout for Lomax other than a few weeks of pre-season, if that. If we have any cap space spare, it's from the Lomax release, not from any other players. But Iongi's and JAC's upgrades and the Kelly signing would have eaten into that.

Williams not resigned by Sharks and was always a backup so prob $300k.

He hasn't been a backup since 2018. Coming off the bench doesn't mean he's a backup; he played every week ffs. Matterson was coming off the bench when he signed his current contract. Does that mean he was a cheap backup? No he was an important member of the pack, and he'd be on big money, just like Jack Williams. He'd be on well over $600k.

Walker came mid season but prob on $400k full year.

Nah, $600k+ as well

TDS come here on $650k per year but came mid season.

I reckon TDS was probably cheap last year, but yeah this year he'd be on big money.

No Drown on about $1m.

Yeah no less than $900k I reckon

If you looked at who we lost in 2026 just in Cartwright, Lane and Offa they alone would be on over $1m between them and Samrani , Kautoga, Papalii would be well under $1m between them imo.

We are discussing 2026 and Lane was the only one with a contract for this year. Being a mutual option, the PO side would be less than the CO, so we're probably not saving much to rissole him, maybe $400k. Last year he would've been on at least $600k, maybe $700k. But we also paid him all last year, so we didn't clear any cap space just because he wasn't playing.

 

[Tiger5150]

I reckon TDS was probably cheap last year, but yeah this year he'd be on big money.

TDS had a PO at the Tigers for $700K which he knocked back to go to the Eels

Edit - FWIW Zero Tackle has him on $650 pa at Eels

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I think your assumptions are a little wrong here. If a player has a contract for 2026-7 and they upgrade his contract to 2030 I would think the increased money would apply from 2028 onwards. In other words there is a new contract now applying from 2028-30 when the existing contract expires. Please correct me if I'm wrong if there is a person out there familiar with NRL contracts.

The club doesn't have to upgrade any of the years in the current contract, but if they have cap space and nobody available to spend it on then they can definitely frontload part of a contract extension to offset the player's salary demands in the extension years.

So for example Iongi might be on $400k for 2026 and $450k for 2027. We want to offer an extension to stop him going to market in November 2026 (for 2028+) and so we negotiate a total of $2.4M for the years 2028-2030 (an average of $800k). Then we say, how about we give you $400k of that as a signing bonus under the 2026-27 caps ($200k per year or whatever). That saves our 2028, 2029 and 2030 salary caps more than $100k each year.

There's no point keeping this cap money free if there's no merkin available to spend it on. The NRL rules state you need to spend 97.5% of the cap each year anyway. It's not a coincidence that Iongi and JAC were extended right after Lomax was released. The club won't be holding out for the Dolphins to release Farnworth, no matter how many tantrums we throw. It was Kelly plus some upgrades and that's probably it. We might have a bit more to spend on players 29 and 30 than we previously did, but it wouldn't be much at this time of year.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Storm don’t lose players they want to keep.

You mean like Folau, Inglis, Widdop, Cronk and Fa'asuamaleaui?

 

[JokerEel]

You mean like Folau, Inglis, Widdop, Cronk and Fa'asuamaleaui?

Widdop I don't think the Storms were too concerned to lose.

Cronk / Inglis wanted to go to Sydney.

Tino would have been a tough loss for them same as Folau.

 

[Pazza]

TDS had a PO at the Tigers for $700K which he knocked back to go to the Tigers

Edit - FWIW Zero Tackle has him on $650 pa at Eels

f*&k we're getting robbed

 

[The Predictor]

30-40%, but they are normally in response to someone antagonising him. If you look at his tone and compare it to Hineyrulz, Avenger or even Bandwagon I think it’s pretty mild.

People like Pou and Gronk might rub people up the wrong way with what they say, but they cop an absolute shit tonne of abuse from people on here. A lot of circle jerk pile ons.

Not everyone though. Plenty of people tackle the issue rather than the man.

Avenger 🫤

 

[The Predictor]

30-40%, but they are normally in response to someone antagonising him. If you look at his tone and compare it to Hineyrulz, Avenger or even Bandwagon I think it’s pretty mild.

People like Pou and Gronk might rub people up the wrong way with what they say, but they cop an absolute shit tonne of abuse from people on here. A lot of circle jerk pile ons.

Not everyone though. Plenty of people tackle the issue rather than the man.

I disagree because he’s motivation is to troll and cause maximum angst for people, hence bringing the worst out of people this is more about him than anyone else same goes for the other two you mentioned, dozens of people can’t be assholes and him being the innocent party….nothing can be further from the truth, u believe what u like though….this fella has massive issues and your summation only adds to them as he sees this as a green light to continue trolling everyone and anyone because he gets a reaction !!!!

 

[The Predictor]

Likewise, I have a no dickheads rule. I don’t put up with them.

Don’t look in any mirror then

 

[emjaycee]

What was that Dunn and Kroger or whoever thing again?