Sports Confidential: NSW Origin players paint picture of contentment; Benji Marshall’s next home

Marshall is adamant he will play on next season and now the Cowboys have emerged as a potential suitor for the 35-year-old. Marshall has a close relationship with new Cowboys coach Todd Payten having won a premiership alongside each other at the Tigers in 2005. Whether Marshall would be keen to move his young family to Townsville for just one season is unknown but it may be his only option to play on. If Marshall does join North Queensland, it could open the door for Clifford to hit the open market. If he lands at Newcastle, it won’t have any ramifications for the future of Knights skipper Mitchell Pearce. Clifford has fallen down the pecking order at the Cowboys, sitting behind Michael Morgan and Scott Drinkwater in the halves. The 22-year-old is off contract at the end of next year but North Queensland could consider letting him go a year early, in a bid to clear some salary cap space. The Knights have a stack of halves options including Pearce, Kurt Mann, Phoenix Crossland and Tex Hoy but the quartet are all off-contact at the end of next year. Newcastle will sit down with Pearce to discuss a contract extension before Christmas. The group of off-contract players become free agents on November 1. Injuries ravaged the Knights premiership hopes this year so the addition of Clifford would add to their depth. Injured playmaker Blake Green will also need to make a decision on his future in the coming days. The Bulldogs are seeking clarity from Green, wanting to know if he intends on joining the club next year. Green is exploring the potential of a coaching and playing contract with the Knights as the Bulldogs close in on Kyle Flanagan. KING GUTHO IS A REAL WORK OF ORIGIN(AL) ART NSW Blues players took a little left field approach to their Origin preparations by sitting down and painting their teammates. For two hours this week the squad members spent time painting each other. Daniel Saifiti is a former pupil of one of the teachers. Tyson Frizell and Angus Crichton painted each other while Daniel Tupou was paired with Clint Gutherson and even finished the painting off with a crown for “King Gutho”. > NRL NEWS Zac Lomax and Reagan Campbell-Gillard were another duo. We had our resident art guru Boo Bailey run his eye over the works. “One thing’s for sure these blokes paint better than I tackle,” Bailey said. “If the Blues show this much creativity with the Steeden in Origin they’ll win three-blot. “When pushed for a winner, Daniel Tupou sealed the VB painter of the match award with his portrait of ‘King Gutho’. Lovin’ the attention to detail with the crown and the hair.” The portraits will be individually auctioned for each players’ nominated charity. We’re reliably informed skipper Boyd Cordner – ever the perfectionist – had to be pulled away from his work to break for lunch. COVID tests before entry The loved ones of Penrith players will undergo COVID tests on Friday to enable a small amount of people to enter the dressing sheds after Sunday’s grand final. The NRL have been given permission for 102 pre-registered people to be inside each team’s dressing room on Sunday but that includes the 56 people in the respective bubbles. That leaves Penrith with just 46 invites – enabling each player to invite two people into the change rooms. To enter though the 46 people will be CVOID tested at Penrith headquarters on Friday and need to receive a negative test before Sunday to fit into the room. “We will set up a testing booth tomorrow,” Panthers chief executive Brian Fletcher said. “Everybody that has permission to go into the dressing room has to have a Covid test and get a negative result back by Sunday and they will be right to go. “Each player has two family members. “People who want to go in have to do what needs to be done. It is nothing out of the ordinary these days.” It is a far cry from dressing rooms of previous years when they are usually abuzz with family and loved ones arms basically shoulder to shoulder celebrating or commiserating. The Storm will only be allowed people who have been part of their Sunshine Coast bubble into the rooms. Family members have been granted permission from the Queensland government to fly in and out on game-day while the Storm will arrive on Saturday before flying back to Queensland on Sunday night. Panthers title catch-up on hold By about a minute past noon Trent Waterhouse should be sitting down sipping on his first beer. Soon after Tony Puletua would hold court and crack his former teammates up with an anecdote or two before the attention turned to Luke Lewis, who will duck and weave a simple question: “2003 or 2016 - which was more important?”. Every year the special group of Penrith 2003 winners share a beer on the Friday before the grand final. Premiership hero Scott Sattler is the social co-ordinator and travels from Queensland. This year though – of all years – the last Penrith team to win a title won’t be able to get together because of COVID restrictions. They considered a Zoom catch-up but couldn’t make it work. “It’s always good to live in the past on one afternoon,” Sattler said. “We put the invite out to not only the 17 who played but the whole squad. “Usually I try and pick a different pub in and around The Rocks. We always kick off at 12pm. I’m usually the first one there and House (Waterhouse) is there at 12.01pm. “T (Puletua) is an introvert by nature but when he talks it’s usually profound or funny. Lewie (Lewis) holds court because we’re putting it on him about which premiership meant more. He always sits on the fence.” Sattler is keen on getting together when restrictions ease and hope – particularly if the Panthers win – members of the current squad will join the 2003 team. Surprise candidate for Sharks role Toronto Wolfpack coach Brian McDermott has emerged as the shock frontrunner to join Cronulla’s coaching staff. Sharks coach John Morris is on the lookout to add an assistant coach to his staff after Craig Sandercock left to join the Bulldogs. McDermott is now the favourite to join Morris’ staff as uncertainty continues regarding the Wolfpack’s future in the game. McDermott is an experienced coach having led Leeds to back to back premiership glory in 2012-13. He was appointed coach of the Wolfpack last year and led them to a historic Super League place. ‘The most awkward radio show I’ve done’ The Johns brothers’ first foray into radio together might be a little awkward after Matty said Cameron Smith had usurped his brother as the game’s best. Matty makes the claim in his News Corp column ahead of his SEN debut at 9am on Friday, after the station launched on Thursday. “This could be one of the most awkward radio shows I’ve done,” Johns said. “Joey will roll up at SEN and be presented with the paper and about 20 minutes later I’m going to ask if he agrees with me. “For the last six weeks I’ve been asking him to confirm if he will co-host the show and he kept saying he would find out tomorrow. I rang him halfway through this week and told him ‘I need to know, it starts on Friday.” Matty Johns will host Fridays between 9am-12pm which involves a cast of rotating co-hosts including brother Andrew, Greg Alexander and ex-Wallabies coach Michael Cheika. “We will tell stories which haven’t been told and not be too serious,” Johns said. Ex-Kangaroos prop Jason Stevens will also host “The Spirit of Sport’ show each Sunday night. Stevens will present a long-form interview show with his first guest former cricket captain Steve Waugh. Souths star still right in hunt Campbell Graham may not have been named in the NSW squad but he is far from out of contention. Blues selectors opted against picking Graham in the extended squad last Sunday but he remains in the mix for a spot. He missed South Sydney’s match against Penrith because of a groin injury with Blues hierarchy wanting to know how a cortisone injection settles before they consider his place in the team. Penrith outside back Stephen Crichton is the other option. Panthers skipper James Tamou is desperate to return to the Blues set-up for the first time since 2016. While unlikely, Tamou has made it clear he has not retired from representative football. “100 per cent I would just want to even just be in the squad,” Tamou said. “I would help even get the boys ready to just be part of the group. Just to be tossed up at the age I’m at, is still a good thing and something to be proud of. We will see what happens.” Blues coach Brad Fittler told Matt Elliott and Anthony Minichiello on the pair’s new podcast The Change Room about how they monitor players’ efforts during the NRL season. “We have our own little geek who puts numbers into computers – numbers we like- and puts in a number for effort,” Fittler told the former players. ‘I got the ball, I wasn’t worried’ He was placed on report and could have missed the grand final but James Fisher-Harris had no cause for concerns. Panthers fans had a sleepless night after the in-form prop was placed on report for a high tackle on Tevita Tatola. But for Fisher-Harris he was at ease before being formally cleared on Sunday. “I wasn’t worried,” Fisher-Harris said. “I didn’t think about it. Even when it happened, I just thought I got the ball.” BLAST FROM THE PAST: Ben Ross 173 top grade games (8 St George Illawarra, 55 Penrith, 86 Cronulla, 24 South Sydney) from 2002-11, plus six Origin games for Queensland. SO fanatical was Ben Ross about Penrith that as a 12-year-old he raced out onto Panthers Stadium and dug up some turf. He returned to his Sunshine Coast home with his bedroom adorned in Panthers paraphernalia and looked after the piece of grass, dreaming one day he could play in the NRL. “I had a shrine of things,” Ross said. “It’s all still in a box at my parents house, including the grass. As a kid from the Sunny Coast I didn’t get to see much football so I made the most of it. I kept the grass and grew it.” Ross made his debut for St George Illawarra in 2002 and had all but agreed to extend his stay at the club before reaching out to his manager with one final request. “The Panthers never circled me,” Ross said. “I asked my manager to call them to see if there was any interest. He said unfortunately the money isn’t there compared to the Dragons. I didn’t care. I took a massive pay cut to go there to live out a childhood dream.” He was a premiership winner by the end of his first season at Penrith, coming off the bench (left) in Penrith’s 18-6 win against the Roosters. “I remember Kelly Clarkson was performing,” Ross said. “I was sitting next to the air vent in the dressing room and a few of the boys were thinking it felt like a rock concert out there. We took a look around and Preston Campbell was sound asleep on the floor. It was the biggest game of his life and he was so relaxed. “Towards the end of the game I was sitting on the bench and I took a look next to my right and Ryan Girdler was crying and screaming with excitement ‘we’ve won this’. It felt surreal. “I achieved my dreams by the age of 23. All I ever wanted in my life was to win a competition with Penrith. “When I talk about it, even right now I have tingles down my back. (Former teammate) Joel Clinton sent me a text the other day telling me ’17 years ago this was us’. My wife said she hasn’t seen me this excited since I stopped playing.” The next year Ross made his Maroons debut. He went on to have stints with Cronulla — where he now works as head of Sharks membership and merchandise — and South Sydney, along the way fighting his way back from a career-threatening neck injury to return to the field.