An open letter to NRL boss David Gallop.
Dear David,
I'm writing to you this morning in regard to the NRL match scheduling for round 16 of the premiership on the last weekend of this month.
On Monday night, defending premiers St George Illawarra play the premiership's hottest team the Sea Eagles in the game of the season and a possible grand final dress rehearsal.
Because this match is being played on a Monday night in Wollongong - and only 30 per cent of households have pay-TV - I'm appealing to you on behalf of hundreds of thousands of fans who will not get the opportunity to see the game.
I'm asking to you to bring relevant parties together for an emergency meeting - Channel 9 boss David Gyngell, Fox Sports boss Patrick Delany, Dragons CEO Peter Doust and Manly CEO Graham Lowe - to transfer this game to a Sunday afternoon 3pm kick-off.
And while you're at it, move the game from Wollongong to the Sydney Football Stadium which can accommodate a crowd of 46,000 and treble the gatetakings.
The NRL has tinkered with the draw before and surely there is no reason why it can't happen again.
Fox Sports would obviously be entitled to some decent compensation - and that would come from the extra gatetakings generated from the SFS.
Offer the Dragons some compensation too for giving up Wollongong if they are prepared to do it for the good of the game.
Surely the Knights-Roosters match can be moved to Monday night in Newcastle to allow Saints and the Sea Eagles the 3pm Sunday kick-off as a special treat for fans.
It would be almost like a fourth Origin game ... Jamie Soward v Kieran Foran, Brett Stewart v Darius Boyd, Anthony Watmough v Ben Creagh, Beau Scott v Glenn Stewart, Mark Gasnier v Jamie Lyon, Will Hopoate v Brett Morris.
Even if the Dragons are not prepared to move the game, you should still consider switching to Sunday afternoon to ensure that all rugby league fans get the opportunity to watch it on free-to-air television.
There won't be a better advertisement for your great game all season. How Channel 9 programmers ever chose the Knights-Roosters game over this blockbuster in the first place is staggering.
I know the big boss David Gyngell is a Roosters nut but he'd be the first to concede his club has no right to the showpiece Sunday timeslot ahead of the Dragons and Sea Eagles.
Thank you for your time and I and thousands of fans look forward to a favourable response.
Cheers, Buzz
Choc gets his act together
ANTHONY Watmough's representative career was on the scrapheap just two months ago.Â
The reports that he had been blacklisted from future Origin and Test sides were spot on.Â
When The Daily Telegraph carried a back-page story that the Manly second-rower had his papers stamped not to be chosen again, Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler called on one of the club's favourite sons Bob Fulton to help overturn the decision.
A series of meetings between Watmough, Hasler and Fulton have got the barnstorming forward back on track.Â
No one has ever doubted Watmough's ability - it's just been his failings off the field.Â
Who will ever forget the night two years ago he almost single-handedly tore apart the Queensland forward pack in one of the greatest individual Origin performances of all time?
The problem has always been his off-field issues and his behaviour in team camps.
 Ricky Stuart is obviously convinced he has rectified his ways and will be a huge part of the Blues' campaign to square the series.Â
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