But in the bitter fallout since Mandic was replaced, Kewell's new manager, James Erskine, said the deal sewn together by Mandic could have been done by a pair of Labradors. The truth of the matter was Kewell was not the player he thought he would be in Australia. If he had lived up to those expectations, there would have been far greater additional revenue from sponsorship, marketing and gate takings. Mandic laughed off the Labrador comment. "I take it as a compliment, being compared to a Labrador - one of the most loyal and trusted friends a person can have," he said. He did not miss when it came to Erskine. "I want to make it quite clear that in no way am I questioning the ability of Harry or his motives to come back to Australia. Unfortunately, those around him seem to be advising him very poorly and have distorted his sense of reality, as often happens with high-profile people. James Erskine may see himself as one of the most powerful people in the Australian entertainment industry but he has found out that in the world of football he is a mere pissant that no one takes seriously. His well-renowned ego doesn't seem to be able to cope with this reality so he has decided to blame me for his lack of success with Harry." As for the rent allegation - that Mandic was responsible: "The lease on Harry's Brighton home was at all times the financial responsibility of Melbourne Victory, as demonstrated by the fact that they have paid for all costs associated with the property and signed off on the bond. More importantly, I have not been involved with anything related to Harry and Melbourne Victory since November 2011 when Harry and I decided to end our partnership." In the end it was a promise of even greater additional revenue from Melbourne Victory that swayed Kewell. According to a Victory director, it was Kewell's idea. "The additional revenue formula was Harry's idea that he confirmed to Melbourne Victory director Robert Belteky in a meeting on February 5, 2010," said the director. "He was still very confident in backing himself when he signed his standard player contract with Victory at the end of September 2011. ''But he knew that unless his football was great from the start, then his income would end up being less than what he could have gotten elsewhere, and that is what happened. At the end of the day, he wasn't the attraction that he thought he would be and what we all thought he would be and that sometimes happens to all of us in life. But if you're going to have a whinge and pretend to people that you did not know about what you yourself created and pushed for, it is misleading at best.''

There was a behind-the-scenes whispering game going on over the last few months that Kewell was not happy because he could not do new commercial deals due to things his previous management group had done. This is not true, according to Mandic. It's interesting that the various sponsorship companies, apart from Politix, that were Kewell fans did not enter into deals with him and his new management team - Ford, Nine, Telstra, Qantas, Woman's Day. Fox and News were also initially interested in doing a joint deal. ''As for the rumour that somehow I did something that hindered Harry doing new deals,'' Mandic said, ''I can produce emails that I wrote to Ford, Nine, Telstra, Qantas, and Politix immediately upon Harry and I parting ways and advising them our company was no longer looking after him, even though in some cases our company had a legal financial entitlement to be involved in those deals.'' Potential Eels MEMBERS of Ricky Stuart's Origin squad have been talking among themselves about the possibility of playing under their state coach at club level. The main player he'd like to bring across as soon as he can is Greg Bird, to give the Eels pack the physical presence that some say it lacks. After that he is looking for players who can create. Robbie Farah, Mitchell Pearce and Todd Carney are targets. Stuart was very impressed by Farah as a player and a person. He knows just how tough it would be to take him from the Tigers. Farah's next contract may well be his last and it will be important to him to maximise his earnings, so that may give the Eels some hope. There will be interest from almost every club in the NRL - but Farah knows the benefits post-football of being a one-club man. Pearce says he has sorted out his issues at the Roosters - but Stuart is the man who has backed him at Origin level. And Carney is known to be impressed by Stuart. Carney will be on big bucks with the Sharks next year - coach Shane Flanagan is confident that he will re-sign with the Sharks in the off-season. I think Carney will go into next season unsigned. Sandow papped

This column has highlighted Chris Sandow's battle with the pokies before - and his management have assured us that plans are in place to help him with the habit. A keen fan spotted the Parramatta halfback at Star casino about 2.30pm on Wednesday playing the machines, took a photo and emailed it, but this column is not in the business of encouraging such actions so it will not be published here. When Sandow saw the person take the picture he bolted. Helping Sandow through that will be a massive task for new coach Ricky Stuart - but he is as good as it gets when it comes to dealing with players and their issues. He will make it a project to get every element of Sandow's life on track. Quade keeping quiet QUADE COOPER playing park football is too weird for words - he's our best attacking weapon and he's being risked with the international season just around the corner. It's a strong indication that Berrick Barnes is either a certainty or a notch away from that for the Wallabies' No.10 jersey. Cooper is yet to sign a deal with the ARU. Trying to get a word out of Cooper on the matter is a challenge - the ARU has stopped the media from talking to him. Out of sight, out of mind? Gal's private grudge THERE'S no more fierce competitor than Paul Gallen - and privately he's been very annoyed the Sharks kept naming him in their line-ups recently. Gallen was never a real hope of getting on the field until this week - yet he was named a number of times. It made Gallen look like he was injury-prone or not putting in - instead he was just trying his guts out to get fit.

SBW in oversupply SONNY BILL WILLIAMS'S Japanese rugby club Panasonic are not happy the All Blacks have decided they want to pick SBW in the national side - despite him saying his farewell to the code in New Zealand. Part of Panasonic's deal with Williams is the All Blacks are off the agenda. The speculation suits the Australian Rugby Union, which is desperate to move tickets. Be sure that SBW and his agent, Khoder Nasser, don't want to be used up by John O'Neill's organisation. Critics were trying to push the line last year that SBW didn't like playing for the Crusaders because he was in a team of stars. His two offloads in the semi sunk the Crusaders and helped the Chiefs into last night's final. SBW helped turn the team into a class outfit - he won't have to do as much with the Roosters but they need him to lift them up the ladder.