Blake Ferguson is set to play for the same country club as Curtis Scott as the two fallen stars try to rebuild their careers.
And their signing by the Thirlmere Roosters in the Group Six competition south-west of Sydney has caused angst among some of the club’s former players with The Daily Telegraph reporting eight of their Old Boys have cancelled their membership in protest over the move.
Scott had his contract terminated by the Raiders last year after a string of off-field indiscretions and is due to face court in August where he is facing domestic violence charges over alleged incidents involving his former partner in 2018.
He had tried to restart his career at Parramatta but his contract was not registered by the NRL due to the seriousness of the allegations levelled against him.
Ferguson was released by the Eels at the end of last season and was due to play rugby in Japan for NEC Green Rockets but was arrested for cocaine possession and spent nearly a month in jail. He was also accused of punching a man in a restaurant in the Azabu district of Tokyo on the night of his arrest.
The Green Rockets tore up his contract. The 31-year old had played 249 games in the NRL at the Sharks, Raiders, Roosters and Eels and also represented NSW and Australia.
Ferguson and Scott are due to line up on Sunday against local rivals Picton, a team which contains another controversial former NRL star in Tony Williams, in the first round of the bush league’s season.
Williams was sacked by American franchise New York Freedom over his social media rant following the guilty verdict in former teammate Jarryd Hayne’s sexual assault trial last May.
(Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
Storm boss refutes Anasta’s deadline claim
Melbourne football manager Frank Ponissi has rubbished claims by Cameron Munster’s agent Braith Anasta that the Storm had set a hard deadline on a decision by the five-eighth, along with Harry Grant and Jahrome Hughes.
Anasta said on NRL 360 on Tuesday night that the trio had until Wednesday afternoon to accept multimillion-dollar offers. The following night he said the club was not enforcing a deadline because Munster, as well as the other two stars, were not off contract until the end of next year and there was no rush.
“There’s certainly no deadline, that’s my understanding,” Ponissi told SEN Radio. “Negotiations have been going well, so in terms of deadlines, I just think they’ve beefed it up a bit – it must’ve been a slow news day.”
Ponissi also refuted Anasta’s suggestion that the uncertainty over coach Craig Bellamy’s future in the role was causing angst among the representative trio.
“No, not at all. The simple reason is with those three players that you talk about – they’re all contracted through 2023 anyway.
“We’re talking about 2024 and beyond, with those three players, while they think the absolute world of Craig as the coach, they know that if they do re-sign at some stage – as much we want Craig to coach forever – we know that day will come at some time [when he quits].
“There’s no link whatsoever even though they’d like him to continue coaching.”