Aug 6th, 2018

Aug 6th, 2018

Cup of coffee beginning of end for Hook

The beginning of the end for sacked Panthers coach Anthony Griffin came in a Penrith shopping mall last summer before a ball had been kicked in anger.

Griffin’s assistant, Cameron Ciraldo, bumped into a couple of players and the trio decided to have a coffee.

They talked life, summer, families… and of course football.

Word somehow got back to Griffin, and he summoned Ciraldo into his office and tore strips off him, banning him from any future ‘coffee get-togethers’ with his players.

(AAP) Penrith Panthers coach Anthony Griffin and Nathan Cleary at training. (AAP)

It was then that the Panthers realised they had a major problem - that Griffin was clearly insecure about his job and paranoid about his staff.

Ciraldo, the interim coach as of Monday, is popular among the players and knows his football - and Griffin’s move further alienated him from the group.

It was all downhill from there.

But there were earlier danger signs.

After his first coaching session as Panthers head coach in 2016, one of Griffin’s assistants told me: ‘Well, I think we’ve learned all we are going to learn from this bloke’.

Later that year, the Panthers went to Canberra for a big finals match against the Raiders.

Against the advice of his staff, Griffin scheduled a training session in Queanbeyan - rather than at Bruce Stadium where players could have gauged what is a slippery, unique surface in the NRL.

Come game night, the players wore the wrong type of studs in their boots, a couple slipped over when Canberra put in a kick through - and Penrith’s season was gone.

Gould weighs-in on Griffin sacking

For much of this year, Ciraldo and Gould created the Panthers’ match plans, with Griffin a spectator.

This was bound to blow up … the only surprise is that it took so long to happen.

Players to boycott ‘censored’ NRL poll

Players I’ve spoken to are fuming with the NRL for censoring the players poll published on the league’s official website in recent days.

The NRL simply scrubbed questions it did not like the response to - most notably one about the use of the head bin and HIA testing.

Mosese Fotuaika in scary KO

I’m hearing that up to eight questions that were put to the players mysteriously disappeared when the poll went online.

Players feel so strongly about having their views censored that they are talking about boycotting the poll in future years.

For over 25 years, the now defunct Rugby League Week magazine conducted the poll and faithfully reported the results - warts and all.

“It is our one chance to have our REAL say on the issues in the game - albeit anonymously,” one player told me.

(AAP) Parramatta's Peni Terepo leaves the field against Newcastle for a head injury assessment. (AAP)

“But it was doctored and censored - I won’t be doing it again.”

Premiership-winner strengthens Warriors

The Warriors are continuing to strengthen their ranks by signing Cowboys assistant coach Todd Payten.

A premiership winner as a player at the Tigers in 2005 and an assistant at both the Tigers and Cowboys in recent years, Payten will be a handy addition to Stephen Kearney’s staff.

(Todd Payten celebrates Wests Tigers under-20s grand final win in 2012. (Getty)) Todd Payten celebrates Wests Tigers under-20s grand final win in 2012. (Getty)

Rated as a first-grade coach in waiting by plenty of good judges, Payten has agreed to terms - expect an announcement from the Kiwi club in coming days.

Knights fume after Tigers pinch rookie

Wests Tigers are poised to pinch one of the best players in the Knights junior system.

NSW under 18s and Australian Schoolboys five-eighth Jock Madden has apparently agreed to join the Tigers in 2019 - and Newcastle are not happy.

The Knights have been grooming the boom youngster in the Jersey Flegg competition this year and had plans to put him in the NRL squad over the summer.

But the Tigers snuck under their guard and Madden is one for the little black books for years to come.