Nathan Cleary has slammed radio shock jock Marty Sheargold for his controversial rant about the Matildas with the Penrith superstar labelling his comments sad and unnecessary.
The Panthers co-captain made the most of a break in his team’s training schedule at Las Vegas to fly to San Diego on Thursday for a brief catch-up with his partner, Matildas striker Mary Fowler, before returning to Sin City to prepare for Sunday’s stoush with the Sharks to open the NRL season.
Fowler played the last half-hour of the match off the bench as the Matildas went down 2-1 to Colombia in the SheBelieves Cup.
Sheargold sent shockwaves through Australian sport earlier in the week when he launched an on-air rant about the Matildas, saying “I’d rather hammer a nail through the head of my penis than watch that. Got any men’s sport (to talk about)?”
He was subsequently sacked by Triple M and the veteran comedian issued a carefully worded statement to aplogise for his actions.
“Having mutually agreed to part ways with the Triple M Network, I fully understand the gravity of my comments,” he said.
“I’d like to sincerely apologise to the Matildas and the broader organisation. I would also like to thank my immediate team for their hard work and apologise for the situation they now find themselves in.”
Cleary gave Sheargold’s comments short shrift.
“It’s pretty sad that people are still saying that sort of stuff,” Cleary told The Daily Telegraph. “It’s just unnecessary.”
Cleary has declared himself a certain starter for the Cronulla clash after working his way back to full fitness after off-season shoulder surgery.
He will have a new halves partner after Jack Cole was handed Penrith’s No.6 jersey after coach Ivan Cleary opted to go without star recruit Blaize Talagi in Las Vegas.
Talagi also underwent off-season shoulder surgery. Winger Brian To’o will also miss the marquee clash at Allegiant Stadium, after failing to recover from a hamstring strain in time to play.
Jack Cole kicks. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
Abdo makes call on future Vegas teams
Every NRL team will be offered the chance to play in Vegas before clubs who have already been there are offered a second go.
So says the NRL, which is a chance of turning profit in the second of the five-year venture despite the overwhelming costs associated with the Sin City exercise – not least business-class travel for players and eight nights’ accommodation in American hotels.
The league is hopeful of passing 50,000 ticket sales for the four games at Allegiant Stadium this Sunday (AEDT), when Penrith meet Cronulla, Canberra face the Warriors, Australia and England contest a women’s Test match and the Super League’s Wigan and Warrington clash.
But attention has already turned to next year’s edition.
St George Illawarra, Canterbury, North Queensland and Newcastle have put their hands up for spots on the plane, while the Dolphins, Parramatta and Melbourne showed initial interest for this year.
Given the demand, the NRL appears set to resist the temptation to recycle teams with big fan bases like Brisbane or South Sydney to give smaller teams a chance first.
As there will be at least one new team in the competition by the final year of the Vegas deal in 2028, there is a world where teams only begin repeating in the fifth year of the agreement.
“We’ve obviously made a five-year commitment and we’ve also said we’ll give every club that wants an opportunity to get to experience this,” said NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo.
Jacob Gagai scores a try at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
“So far we’ve had more demand than we can cope with, which means that we’ll be wanting to reward clubs that haven’t been before that put a great business case in front of us.
“But over the course of five years, who knows? We may have teams that come again, it all depends on who wants to come and what the business case looks like.”
The NRL insists it is beginning to make an impression on Americans; in early February around a quarter of the 35,000 tickets that had been sold were purchased by locals.
The drive into Las Vegas from the west is adorned by billboards spruiking the NRL will give Americans their “football fix” now that the NFL season is over, even with “No pads. No timeouts.”
Abdo and Australian Rugby League Chair Peter V’Landys were presented with the key to Las Vegas before a healthy crowd of around 500 fans at the NRL’s fan hub on Wednesday.
But for the NRL’s quest to crack the American and international markets, Vegas is just the beginning.
“It’s not just about how many fans come to the game this weekend, it’s about how many fans we can get interested in the sport throughout the season, watching on television, streaming, playing NRL Fantasy, being engaged,” Abdo said.
“Slowly but surely, we want Americans to not only think about NFL and NBA and NHL, but add NRL to that repertoire of sports that they follow and love.
“It’s not just about the US, it’s about taking great athletes and great competition and showcasing it to as many fans as possible across the entire world.”
with AAP
