Ex-Shark’s circling this veteran NRL columnist

LUKE Lewis picked up the phone yesterday morning and gave your columnist a decent old spray.

The retired Cronulla Sharks warhorse was one of a number of players exposed in The Sunday Telegraph from leaked documents on the club’s recent salary cap scandal.

Former coach Shane Flanagan sent a confidential spreadsheet of undisclosed player payments from his own private Bigpond account to his Sharks email address that revealed hundreds of thousands of dollars of unapproved third-party agreements, including cash payments, to seven of his star players who had won the premiership the previous season.

The Lewis case is there in black and white.

After months of exhaustive investigations, the NRL integrity unit found the club had made commitments to Lewis to obtain third-party benefits of $200,000 that were not disclosed in his playing contract.

The Sunday Telegraph report made it very clear there was no suggestion of any wrongdoing by the players.

Yet Lewis let loose. The old shoot-the-messenger trick. Blame the media.

He was later interviewed on ABC Grandstand, where he is on the payroll.

“All I can do is laugh,” Lewis said. “I have no idea where they get their information from.

“I haven’t heard of a more false story in my life. It’s just a crock. There’s a bit more to the story that it comes to Phil Rothfield and his vendetta against the club.”

This is why there needs to be some self-defence in today’s column.

Lewis was entitled to be angry. If he’s telling the truth, why didn’t he know about it? A man in his 30s is entitled to know from where his money is coming.

But instead of blaming the journalist, why isn’t he asking his manager?

Or Lyall Gorman, the Cronulla chief executive at the time?

Or Flanagan, who sent a private document that contained all the club’s third-party agreements to his Sharks email account which the integrity unit’s forensic investigators later picked up.

No, it’s a personal vendetta, according to Lewis.

Your columnist is in a no-win situation with the Cronulla Sharks.

I am a proud member and my family are season ticket-holders.

If I write positive stories about the club, I’m slammed by supporters of the other 15 teams.

If I write negative stories, I’m slammed by the locals for not backing the team.

You can’t win. Lewis is new to the rugby league media.

He’s doing a sterling job on Fox Sports and the ABC and no doubt has a great future as an analyst.

Still, he has much to learn. His old job was about getting two competition points each weekend. His new one is about keeping the fans informed, salary cap rorts and all.