NRL News: Salmon breaks silence on 'weak-gutted dog' Sticky spray, Klein gets GF gig, Trainer stoush a mix-up

Jaeman Salmon has broken his silence on Ricky Stuart’s “weak-gutted dog” spray, saying he was shocked and confused by the Canberra coach’s comments.

Salmon will come off the bench for Penrith in Sunday night’s NRL grand final against Parramatta, desperate to put the Stuart affair behind him and focus on football.

Shielded from the media since the incident last month, the Penrith utility said he had been sledged by fans in the weeks that have followed.

Stuart was eventually handed an unprecedented one-match ban and $25,000 fine over the comments, and apologised for the forum in which he made them. At the time, the Raiders coach claimed he had history with Salmon, with suggestions it dated back to a family matter from junior days in Cronulla.

But Salmon said he was caught entirely off guard by the whole affair. “It was a bit of a shock,” Salmon told AAP. “I’ve never heard that before. But I am not worried about that now.

Jaeman Salmon scores a try. (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)

“The club has always been supportive of me, and of any player in positions like that. I can’t thank the club enough. It’s in the past and I am just focused on the grand final this week. Winning it would be a very good feeling.”

Salmon said he had also noted the significant levels of support from his family, who claimed their son had not spoken to Stuart since the age of 12. Penrith also threatened to explore legal avenues at the time, a move that remains a possibility.

But for now, Salmon is determined to repay the Panthers for their support.

A Cronulla junior, he was handed his first chance in the NRL by Brad Arthur and the Eels and debuted at the club in 2018.

He ran into off-field trouble in 2019, but remained with the Eels until the end of the 2020 season.

He is the only ex-Parramatta player in Penrith’s squad for this weekend, with Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Waqa Blake, Bryce Cartwright and Maika Sivo having all gone the other way.

“As a player, I’ve grown quite a bit (since leaving Parramatta),” Salmon said. “I’ve matured a lot over the past few years. I can’t thank the coaching staff enough here at Penrith.”

Klein gets GF refereeing gig

Ashley Klein has edged out Grant Atkins to take the whistle in the NRL grand final between Penrith and Parramatta, his first decider as the sole referee.

Kasey Badger has been appointed to referee the NRLW grand final between Newcastle and Parramatta which precedes the NRL showdown on Sunday at Accor Stadium.

The 43-year-old Klein refereed all three State of Origin matches this year. He previously adjudicated the 2018 grand final with Gerard Sutton.

“I am really looking forward to Sunday. I actually live in western Sydney and you can feel it in the street already that everybody is really excited,” Klein said.

Grant Atkins, who refereed last week’s North Queensland v Parramatta preliminary final, will be the Bunker official for the NRL grand final while the touch judges are Phil Henderson and Drew Oultram. The match kicks off at 7.30pm.

Badger was the first female to be lead referee of an NRLW decider in 2019 and said it was an “absolute honour” to be in charge again.

“It is a reward for what you have done during the season. Everyone has ups and down so it is nice to be here at the end of the year and experience all the different things that come with grand final week,” she said.

“I am a massive fan of the women’s game… and really invested in watching that competition grow. To be able to partake in the day is just incredible.”

Adam Gee is the Bunker official for the NRLW grand final with Jordan Morel and Torie Wilkie the touch judges. The match starts at 3.55pm.

The first match on grand final day, kicking off at 1.20pm, will be the State Challenge showdown between Penrith and Norths Devils.

The match officials for the NRL Telstra Premiership Grand Final are:

Referee: Ashley Klein
Review Official: Grant Atkins
Touch Judges: Phil Henderson and Drew Oultram
Standby Referee: Gerard Sutton
Standby Touch Judge: David Munro

The match officials for the NRL Telstra Women’s Premiership Grand Final are:

Referee: Kasey Badger
Review Official: Adam Gee
Touch Judges: Jordan Morel and Tori Wilkie
Standby Referee: Belinda Sharpe
Standby Touch Judge: Karra-Lee Nolan

The match officials for the NRL State Championship Grand Final are:

Referee: Darian Furner
Review Official: Chris Butler
Touch Judges: Cameron Paddy and Dan Munroe
Standby Official: Wyatt Raymond

The NRL has also announced that all tickets for Sunday’s showpiece event at Accor Stadium have been sold.

Trainer feud over

Penrith fullback Dylan Edwards insists South Sydney’s bust-up with Panthers trainer Peter Green was a misunderstanding, and that there was no sledge directed at the Rabbitohs’ Jed Cartwright.

Green has found himself in the headlines for a second straight finals series, after being involved in a heated altercation with Souths’ Cody Walker following Saturday night’s NRL preliminary final.

The issue is reported to have centred around a comment made late in the game, which Cartwright took to be about an old back injury from his time at the Panthers.

The claim of a sledge came after Cartwright had put a heavy hit on Edwards, as the Panthers inched closer to their 32-12 win.

It prompted Cartwright’s father, Penrith club legend John Cartwright, to call for Green to be banned for life for being a “coward”.

But Edwards maintained on Tuesday no such comment had been directed at Cartwright, and Green was instead speaking to him.

“He was talking to me. I was in the tackle and Jed put a good shot on me and (Green) goes, ‘Righto Dyl, let him have that one’,” Edwards told AAP. 

“It was honestly at me. He said nothing about Jed’s injury, or anything like that. 

“It might have got misheard. It was to me and seeing how I was and seeing if I pulled up alright after getting tackled pretty hard by him.”

Jed Cartwright. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Edwards said Penrith players had joked with Green about again becoming the centre of attention, after the trainer copped a two-game ban during last year’s finals.

In that instance, Green earned the ire of the NRL for illegally stopping play with Parramatta on the attack late in last year’s semi-final.

The Panthers were adamant at the time Green had done nothing wrong and had followed correct procedure, however he was still handed a two-game ban.

There will be no ban this time around, with the Panthers physio back at training on Tuesday and free to wear the orange shirt in Sunday’s grand final against the Eels.

“We were just having a joke about that,” Edwards said.

“But it’s unfortunate. I didn’t see the altercation with Cody Walker and Greeny after the game, but it was always going to blow up after the game.

“He looks after us, he is so good. I can’t back him enough. 

“He didn’t say anything untoward, honestly. It’s just been misheard and taken out of context.”

Lane lashes NRL for stalled salary cap talks

Eels forward Shaun Lane is on the verge of sealing a $2 million extension for three more years but he has lashed out at the NRL over the ongoing stalemate in sorting out the salary cap for next year.

Dozens of fringe first-graders are in limbo because the NRL and RLPA have failed to sign off on a collective bargaining agreement despite negotiations starting several months ago.

Lane, who could be called up for his international debut with the Kangaroos at the World Cup on the back of his career-best season, told The Sydney Morning Herald that it was a sad state of affairs that the NRL could not give clarity on the salary cap figure for each club even though there is just over a month until the start of the November 1 annual pay cycle.’

“If we were dealing with a small business it would be understandable, but the NRL is a huge enterprise, and no other professional sporting organisation in the world would allow this to occur,” Lane, an RLPA delegate, told the SMH.

He said fringe squad members were “being screwed over because of it”.

“I’m not sure what is holding the NRL up. Some people have families to feed and might not have things outside of football to do. They rely only on football.

“They should have been on top of this months ago. It’s disappointing because the RLPA have been ready to go to start negotiations for a long time now, only for it to keep getting put off.”

(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

Wonky Waqa ready for bombing raid

Waqa Blake has conceded he will be Penrith’s No.1 target in Sunday’s NRL grand final but insists there are no mental scars from Nathan Cleary’s aerial assault a fortnight ago.

Blake will have arguably the hardest job of all Parramatta players in Sunday’s decider when likely peppered by Cleary’s famous floating bombs, after dropping three of them in the opening week of the finals.

Even Cleary admitted he felt sorry for his former Panthers teammate that day, with two of the errors leading to tries as Penrith ran away with the match.

Blake didn’t even have to be prompted by reporters about Cleary’s kicking game when interviewed at Parramatta’s fan day on Monday, knowing full well the questions were coming.

Likewise, he knows exactly what to expect come Sunday, saying it would be commonsense for Cleary to target him.

“Oh yeah, 100 per cent,” Blake said. “After last game, it’s coming. So the challenge again is on me. But I’m keen. I’m keen to go out there and rip in for the boys.

“We’ve be practising. The onus is just on me, I just got to catch it. It’s coming. I’ve got to do my best, get underneath it, and then other than that just move on from it.”

Blake’s admission came after Cleary sounded a warning over the weekend by saying his kicking game could still improve.

The Penrith No.7 also terrorised South Sydney and their winger Taane Milne in Saturday night’s preliminary-final win, as the Rabbitohs also failed to put sufficient kick pressure on him.

“You go through stages,” Cleary said. “I’ve been striking them alright, but I still reckon I can be a bit more consistent with them. And especially with my long kicking.”

But Blake insists he is not intimidated. He knows Cleary’s kicking game better than most, having watched for years as he sent bombs high into the air at Panthers training.

He made a point to watch several replays of Cleary’s bombs in the days after the qualifying-final loss, but has since moved on.

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