NRL Grand Final Shorts: Book first ask later will pay a dividend

Manu Vatuvei has some fun at the NRL Grand Final Breakfast. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Talk about a big call. New Zealand's No 1 fantasy NRL player Justin Eggleton booked flights and grand final tickets before asking his boss for a few days off. Thankfully, Deloitte understood the importance of the situation. The rising star of the accounting industry heads to Sydney as the leading Kiwi contender and Warriors fan in the popular Foxsport competition, where contestants pick a team each week and are rewarded for player performance. Sitting ninth globally, Eggleton has upped the ante with a "happy bet" of $400 on Manly to win at $1.57. Should his beloved Warriors lose, he stands to gain $228 to drown his sorrows. Should the Warriors upset the "Sea Evils", Eggleton reckons the lost $400 is a "small price to pay".

Tweeting twits

After Manu Vatuvei put the trophy on his head at the grand final breakfast, Krisnan Inu tweeted: "We have our own juggernaut from X-Men in our team", referring to the helmet wearing X-Men villain who can run through walls. But do his superpowers include catching a high ball?

Gorgeous George I

Manly prop George Rose was the victim of a viral twitter joke this week, with an "official" release doing the rounds saying the roly-poly prop had been banned from the grand final breakfast by NRL chief David Gallop. The reason for the fictitious ban: there were fears Rose would eat all the food. Coming in the wake of the Brett Stewart Affair and the suspensions handed out over the infamous Battle of Brookvale, the Breakfast Ban was said to have raised tensions between the club and the game's top administrator to breaking point.

Gorgeous George II

Turns out Rose wasn't banned from the breakfast at all. He actually quite enjoyed the occasion. "I'm not eating the tuna and crackers for lunch and dinner like some of the boys," Rose said. "I'm just having a good feed. The breakfast today [bacon, sausage, eggs, potato hash] was good. My type of feed."

Gorgeous George III

Our breakfast hero revealed he is often surprised at the apparent fitness levels of those labelling him fat. "I'll never claim to be an athlete or anything like that. I am built the way I am. The thing I don't get is that, half the time, the people who are saying something about my build have got the same sort of build themselves. I'd love someone with an eight pack or something to tell me I'm overweight, that would be nice."

Aussie Rex

Manly prop Tony "T Rex" Williams doesn't appear to have followed international league very closely in recent times. Being, er, large and brown, the Sydney-born Williams is often asked whether he intends to play for the Kiwis. "I was born here. It would be pretty odd to play for New Zealand when I am Australian," he said. Since when?