The NRL has sanctioned Storm prop Tui Kamikamica for bringing the game into disrepute following an incident in Brisbane last November when he was charged by Queensland Police with assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
That charge was dismissed in the Queensland Magistrate’s Court on 27 April but the NRL has reviewed available CCTV footage of the incident which showed Kamikamica in a physical altercation with a female member of the public.
The NRL said it would not tolerate “any form of violence against women” and has suspended Kamikamica for nine matches and fined him $10,000 with 50 percent suspended pending completion of mandatory personal development and tailored rehabilitation programs with NRL Wellbeing & Education.
Kamikamica will be allowed to play in Round 10, as he has already been stood down since the start of the season, once he has done the training programs and fulfilled certain conditions.
The NRL said it took into account his previous clear record and “forthright evidence”.
Bennett keen on Fifita for Dolphins
Titans star David Fifita is the latest NRL star linked to the Dolphins with the new club’s coach Wayne Bennett admitting he’d be keen to sign the Maroons forward if he became available.
Fifita’s future at the Gold Coast has been an ongoing source of headlines – the second-rower is under contract on a lucrative three-year deal until the end of 2023.
His form has not lived up to the price tag since arriving from Brisbane last year and he has been shuffled to the centres and the bench by coach Justin Holbrook in a bid to get him firing on all cylinders.
He is out for a month with a knee injury suffered in last week’s loss to Penrith and is racing the clock to be fit for Queensland’s State of Origin series opener in Sydney on June 8.
Bennett, who tried to lure Fifita to South Sydney before he linked with the Titans, told News Corp that he had “a lot of respect for Dave” after handing him his NRL debut at the Broncos in 2018 as a teenager.
“If he is on the market, yes, I would be interested in David Fifita. You can’t walk away from quality players, but he isn’t on the market just yet, so we will have to wait,” he said.
“I know what a wonderful player that he can be. It’s just not happening for him right now. It’s up to him and his coach at the Titans to work it out.”
Maroons legend Darren Lockyer said Fifita’s million-dollar-plus per season contract meant he was a magnet for criticism if he didn’t perform.
“Because he’s being paid what he’s being paid, he becomes a target,” he said on the QLDer program. “I think putting him out in the centres was not good for his confidence but the Titans were in a position where they had to try something but I don’t think they’d go down that path again.”
The Dolphins have chased several marquee signings for their foundation year but are yet to land a big-name player with Harry Grant, Jahrome Hughes, Tino Fa’ausamaleaui, Kalyn Ponga and Brandon Smith rejecting their offers.
Storm star Cameron Munster is a possible recruit but he is under contract for another season while Warriors fullback Reece Walsh had been touted as a possible option but he told Fox Sports he was “100% going to New Zealand next year” to fulfil his contract when the team returns to Auckland.
“It’s got to the point where it’s worth addressing because it’s spiralling out of control,” he said when asked about the media speculation.
“At first I sort of laughed about it and would ask the boys, where do you think they get this information from because it definitely isn’t coming from me or my management or my family.
“After a while it became too much, there were questions from my teammates.”
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Integrity Unit boss becomes Titans coach
The NRL’s integrity unit is set for the most significant shake-up in its history with lead investigator Karyn Murphy to quit her post and take up the job as Gold Coast’s NRLW coach.
Murphy has informed NRL CEO Andrew Abdo of her intention to finish up in the coming months to assist with the league’s transition, after heading up the unit since 2015.
The move to the Titans will make her just the second female to be head coach an NRL or NRLW side, after Warriors women’s coach Luisa Avaiki in the competition’s inaugural season of 2018.
But the shift has far bigger ramifications for the NRL. Murphy is by far the longest serving lead of the integrity unit, having taken on the role just two years after it was formed in 2013.
She brought to the role 25 years of experience in the Queensland Police Force, including at one stage being named the Australian Female Police Investigator of the Year. Murphy’s rugby league credentials are equally as impressive — including 27 Tests for Australia and 13 years as Jillaroos captain.
In her role with the NRL she has since led the probes into the Mitchell Pearce Australia Day scandal of 2016 through to the determinations on the no-fault stand-down policy.
Included in that has been the NRL’s summer from hell in 2018-19, several salary cap investigations and breaches as well as claims of match fixing and illegal bets placed by players.
Such is the length of Murphy’s tenure that it has lasted across three NRL chief executives and as many chairmen. It is no exaggeration to label her one of the most crucial figures at NRL headquarters.
Her exit comes on good terms, with NRL bosses understanding of her desire to move into a football role. Murphy will succeed Jamie Feeney as Titans coach after he guided them to the NRLW semi-finals in their first season.
With Murphy at the helm and also in charge of the entire Titans’ women’s program, she will have immense recruiting power as arguably the game’s finest-ever player.
Meanwhile, Feeney’s exit follows Newcastle’s foundation coach Casey Bromilow being axed after a winless opening season.
(Photo by Matt Blyth/Getty Images)
Hastings sweet with DCE but yet to clear air with Barrett
Jackson Hastings has smoked the peace pipe with Daly Cherry-Evans after their infamous bust-up at Manly in 2018 but he still hasn’t spoken to his coach at the time, Trent Barrett, after he was shown the door.
Hastings takes on the Sea Eagles for the first time since his acrimonious split with the club on Saturday when the Wests Tigers travel to 4 Pines Park.
The in-form playmaker told the Sydney Morning Herald that he and DCE after their teams played a trial in February but he has not heard from Barrett, who said four years ago that Hastings would not be selected in first grade again and that he had an issue fitting in with the team.
Hastings and Cherry-Evans got into a stoush during an away game in Gladstone and he ended up heading to England to revive his career in the Super League.
“I haven’t spoken to Trent since I got flicked,” he said. ““I don’t hold grudges. I get over things pretty quickly. I understand I’ve let myself down on a few occasions and put myself in situations where I deserved a lot of what I got. There were also a lot of things I didn’t deserve and copped.
“We don’t really have any sort of relationship. I don’t speak to him, but I don’t wish anything bad upon him.”
Barrett’s Bulldogs take on the Wests Tigers in Round 11 at Leichhardt Oval on May 20.