Newcastle’s CEO made a major gaffe at the club’s presentation night, attempting a ribald joke that went down horrendously in the room.
Speaking to an assembled group of club sponsors, officials and players from both the NRL and NRLW teams, Knights boss Philip Gardner ended his speech with an attempt at humour cribbed from former British prime minister Winston Churchill.
“A good speech should be like a woman’s skirt; long enough to cover the subject but short enough to keep you interested,” he is reported to have said by Newscorp.
The gag, which was live streamed, was not well received in the room – not least because Gardner had spent time before explaining how much he wanted the NRLW team to be the best in the world.
The Knights website quickly pulled the stream and has subsequently removed any trace of it from the club’s website.
Shane Flanagan is already making moves as the new man at St George Illawarra – with the incoming coach announcing that the club will split training between Wollongong and Sydney as of next season, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The Dragons have trained exclusively at their Illawarra base for several years, but Flanagan, himself a St George junior as a player, is to return the club to Kogarah for at least one session a week in 2024.
“Let’s get back to Kogarah,” he told the Tele. “The club is St George Illawarra. I’m treating it like that through all facets of the club.”
The playing group is split between Sydney and Wollongong in terms of living arrangements, though the majority are on the South Coast.
It is thought that it could be advantageous in recruitment if players were not forced to relocate to the Gong in order to play for the Dragons.
Flanagan is also set to make a major move on the field, with centre Zac Lomax to be given time at fullback.
The Herald is reporting that Lomax will go head-to-head with current number 1 Tyrell Sloan for the jumper, with 2022’s custodian, Cody Ramsey, still sidelined for medical reasons.
“He’s definitely going to get some reps there in the off-season,” said the coach. “It’s not a bad thing for him to be able to play both sides of the field, either way. He’s done it at left centre and right centre.
“As a fullback, there’s a lot of defensive qualities you need to have and he’s definitely big and strong enough and fit enough; he can handle the workload.
“It’s just the subtleties of the fullback play, [playing] out the back, the three-on-twos and those sorts of things that we will work on with him during the off-season.”
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