Melbourne continue to play silly buggers - naming Gareth Widdop in a Colts game he was never going to play in so he could represent Easts in the finals and get some match fitness.
FOGS not Colts.
THE Storm are embroiled in a selection scandal after secretly attempting to qualify Gareth Widdop for the Queensland Cup finals - by naming him for a game he did not attend.
The Queensland Rugby League has vowed to launch an inquiry after
The Courier-Mail exposed the Storm’s cunning plan to have Widdop match-fit for the NRL finals.
Widdop is on course for a shock return from a dislocated hip, two months ahead of schedule, but Storm coach Craig Bellamy knew the British Test star needed some game time under his belt.
And so the machinations for a selection rort began.
Despite not having played for Easts Tigers all season, Widdop was on Sunday mysteriously named on the official team sheet in jumper No.17 for a third-tier FOGS Cup clash at Langlands Park.
The clandestine move was designed to qualify Widdop for the Queensland Cup finals next week, giving him vital match fitness before his planned return for the Storm’s finals campaign the following week.
There was just one problem. Instead of actually taking his place on the Tigers’ interchange bench yesterday, Widdop was nowhere to be seen, remaining in Melbourne 1680km away.
The Storm and Tigers went to extraordinary lengths to conceal the rort.
The Langlands Park ground-announcer only read out the names of 16 Easts players, conveniently forgetting Widdop as 17th man, and Tigers officials refused to release the team sheet when asked for late changes.
But
The Courier-Mail uncovered irrefutable evidence Widdop was not in attendance, taking a photo which showed the Easts Tigers were a player short on their interchange bench.
When inquiries began into why Widdop wasn’t at Langlands Park, when the official QRL team sheet suggested he was, the issue became a political hot-potato.
Easts Tigers’ head coach Craig Ingebrigtsen said he had no idea why Widdop appeared on the club’s FOGS Cup team sheet when the Storm pivot had no intention of playing.
“I don’t know, I can’t make a comment,” he said.
“We are a feeder club to Melbourne. If Gareth has come back from injury and that’s what they want to do (name him in the Easts team), that’s what they’ll do.
“We get players back from Melbourne all the time . . . sorry, you are better off asking the Storm.
“One of their coaches Adam O’Brien is here.”
When
The Courier-Mail tracked down O’Brien, who will replace Kevin Walters as Bellamy’s assistant next year, he was at a loss to explain Widdop’s naming in the FOGS Cup.
“I would not have a clue,” O’Brien said.
“He had a training run during the week . . . but it’s more the physio department thing when he comes back.”
The high farce continued when QRL competitions manager Jamie O’Connor said under existing rules, Widdop only had to appear on a team sheet to qualify for the Queensland Cup finals.
That means Widdop is now free to play for Easts in the Queensland Cup finals next week, despite not having physically laced on a boot for the Tigers.
But O’Connor accepted the Storm were exploiting a “loophole” in the system and pledged to review the Queensland Cup’s qualification rules at season’s end.
“Whether he is at the ground or not, Widdop has been listed on the match-report sheet and that qualifies him,” O’Connor said.
“Is it the intention of the rules? Probably not, but there is a loophole there and if it wasn’t such a high-profile player, we would have no idea if he was at the ground or not.
“Because it is Gareth Widdop, it’s a different story.
“We will review the rules once the season is over . . . it’s important that a player should have to participate if they are named on the match sheet.”
QRL chairman Peter Betros, who attended Langlands Park on Sunday, said the organisation will investigate whether Widdop can play in the Queensland Cup finals.
“I have no idea where Widdop is,” he said.
“I honestly have to check on whether he qualifies. If he has been named and he hasn’t played today we will look into that.”
A Storm spokesman denied the club was deliberately attempting to break the rules, saying they sought clarity from the QRL in accordance with qualification rules.