THE CONTRACT KILLER: KHODER NASSER

It is July 2008 and if you are a Canterbury Bulldogs fan you probably know the time well for all the wrong reasons. This is when their golden boy, the next megastar of the National Rugby League, Sonny Bill Williams skipped town in the dead of night bound for French rugby union.

Williams was the past, present and future of the Bulldogs. Everything was banking on the masterful Kiwi forward. But nothing is ever as cut and dry as you think. On one side, the club thought they had been doing a good job with their gun player. On the other, opinions and paranoia raged beneath the surface.

Anyone, anywhere can befriend whomever they want.

They can take advice and go into business with whoever they feel.

In 2008 this was a case of a young superstar lining himself with Australian boxer and former St. George five-eight Anthony Mundine. On said surface, Mundine and Williams had begun an odd couple friendship. At least at the time it looked odd. Soon it became apparent that Williams was prepared to buy into a journey because he wanted to and now he wanted out of his contract.

Much is being made now of rugby league contracts and how brittle they are. How Sonny Bill began it all and nothing would ever be the same. But it didn’t begin with Williams. It began with Mundine and a man named Khoder Nasser ten years earlier.

It wasn’t simply getting out of a contract, it was the method used and it was Nasser and Mundine who masterminded the exit, ironically from Canterbury, of former star Solomon Haumono in 1998.

“I was under contract for the Bulldogs so it was decided to come up with a plan that would ultimately force the Bulldogs to rip up my contract,” Haumono told The Sydney Morning Herald in 2011.

“So the plan was formed that I was going to chase after my girlfriend at the time in England.”

Haumono was dating Gabrielle Richens, a brit model nicknamed ‘The Pleasure Machine.’ If you can recall that far back, the story went that Haumono was in L.O.V.E and just had to leave the country to be with her. Truth was, he just wanted to play for another club.

“So off I went and before I knew it, the paper got a hold of it and blew it up, making headline news and myself being chased by the media at home and even there in London.

“It was crazy, Choc [Mundine] added a twisted by flying over to rescue me and that just created more of a stir.

“We arrived back at Sydney and it was just chaos. All the media wanted to get in on the buzz so it literally didn’t stop.”

Canterbury granted him a release.

Enter Mundine.

“We had to calculate it in a manner that we had to try to get him out of the deal with the Dogs because by mouth, verbally, the deal was done [with the Dragons],” Mundine told the Herald.

“We put on that little stage play to try and get the Dogs to do what we wanted them to do.”

“No one thought Sonny was going to get out, not even the Dogs, but we found a way.”

And what did Mundine do two years later in 2000?

He skipped the country and headed to San Francisco leaving his Dragons team-mates behind. He returned weeks later before parting ways with the Saints to take up a boxing career.

It all sounds familiar doesn’t it?

Contracts have been terminated by clubs and yes players have walked out on clubs.

But never like this.

The only constant in this tale is Khoder Nasser, ‘The Contract Killer.’

A FORGOTTEN RIVALRY: WESTS V BALMAIN

Today we know them as Wests Tigers but prior to 2000 and a pre-arranged marriage that saw them win the NRL premiership five years later, Western Suburbs Magpies and Balmain Tigers were fierce foundation rivals.

In fact, apart from the obvious amalgamation, there a few trivia items that links these great clubs.

The Magpies’ biggest ever win came against the Tigers when they smashed Balmain 62-5 at Lidcombe Oval in 1974 while Balmain’s record victory came against Wests at Pratten Park in 1944 where they won 64-2.

Wests’ final ever win in first grade came in round fourteen 1999 at the opening of the newly built Campbelltown Stadium which also came against the Tigers.

Another stat which would be easy to forget in St. George’s legendary run of eleven consecutive premierships was that the Magpies and Tigers featured in seven of those grand finals between 1956 and 1966.

Balmain’s last finals appearance came in 1990 while Wests played their last at Parramatta Stadium against Cronulla in 1996.

THE WALTERS RIVALRY: STEVE v KERROD

If you find the right Queensland pub at the right time you’ll probably hear an argument about who the best Walters brother was. Most of the time it’s probably Steve who is regarded as one of the greatest hookers in history, occasionally it’s Kevin who won six premierships in an illustrious career but few times you’ll hear Kerrod.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget a brother in such an argument when the talent pool is so rich and especially when Kerrod was so good himself. That’s a big pool.

In 1986 Steve joined the Canberra Raiders and played in a losing grand final effort in 1987 against Manly. By round 11 of 1988, Kerrod was putting pressure on Greg Conescu for the dummy half duties at the Brisbane Broncos and started on the bench against Steve’s Raiders at Lang Park.

Within twelve months, Kerrod had passed Conescu and brother Steve as the premier hooker for Queensland and Australia.

Kerrod went down with injury in 1990 and was replaced in the Queensland State of Origin team by Steve but it would be Kerrod selected on the Kangaroo Tour, not Steve, at the end of the season.

The neck and neck rivalry would be put to bed in 1991 with Kerrod suspended.

Steve became the top hooker for both his state and country from ’91, winning a premiership with the Raiders in 1994 and cementing his place in history.

Their final clash came in 1998 with Steve’s North Queensland Cowboys beating Kerrod’s Adelaide Rams 14-10.

@woodward_curtis