Channel Nine footy reporter Danny Weidler has slammed NRL great Braith Anasta for allegedly threatening to beat him up in remarks he made on a podcast.
Weidler – who also writes for the Sydney Morning Herald – accused the former Bulldogs, Roosters and Tigers star of ‘wanting to bash people and abusing them’ after Anasta said he wanted to fight him in a celebrity boxing match.
Anasta used his BTFU podcast to lash out at members of Nine’s footy commentary team after he was accused of having a conflict of interest because he manages several NRL stars while discussing movements on the player market in his role as host of Fox Sports’ NRL 360 show.
After pointing out that Nine stars Phil Gould, Paul Gallen, Brad Fittler and Billy Slater all have close ties to teams in addition to their commentary work, Anasta talked about holding a charity boxing bout against journalists.
‘Sign me up. Sign me up now,’ he said.
When his co-host and fellow ex-NRL star Reni Maitua suggested Weidler’s SMH colleague Michael Chammas, Anasta replied, ‘Don’t worry about Chammas, the other bloke, Weidler.
Channel Nine and Sydney Morning Herald reporter Danny Weidler (pictured) has accused NRL star turned TV commentator Braith Anasta of threatening to bash him
Anasta (pictured) said he would ‘love to’ get in the ring with Weidler in a charity boxing match as he lashed out at the ‘hypocrisy’ of Nine stars on his podcast
‘I’d love to.’
Maitua then joked that Weidler would ‘punch the s**t out of you’, with Anasta sarcastically replying, ‘Please.’
Weidler hit back in his SMH column on Sunday, alleging that ‘Anasta was saying he wanted to belt a journalist and also bagged people at Nine’.
‘It appears the pressure is getting to Anasta as he struggles to balance his role as a prominent player agent and a commentator.
‘His bumbling [on NRL 360] was so bad that he dropped the “f” word on live TV this week after he stuffed up an introduction.
‘That didn’t stop him from getting stuck into a fellow player agent without declaring his possible conflict of interest.
‘Wanting to bash people … is not smart.
‘Some of the messages … are damaging for Anasta.
Pictured: A mocked-up boxing promotion featuring Weidler and Anasta that’s on the former Bulldogs star’s Instagram
Anasta (left) said he has called Weidler a few times and ‘got quite feisty with him’ over the journalist writing that he has a conflict of interest when he hosts Fox Sports’ NRL 360 show
‘The smart approach from Anasta would be to keep his head down instead of saying he wants to bash people about 15 years older than him.
‘This columnist is definitely not Mike Tyson, but I’m not so sure that Anasta doesn’t think he is Jake Paul.’
Those messages to Weidler were also discussed on Anasta’s podcast as the 43-year-old former NSW State of Origin star fleshed out his problems with the reporter.
‘Danny Weidler puts it in his article, he puts it in there heaps. Whenever he gets a chance to have a crack at me and push the conflict of interest through being a player agent, he often puts it in the paper, and every shot, he takes,’ Anasta said.
‘They [Nine and the SMH] question my integrity.
‘And as much as I hate it – and I’ve actually rang Danny a few times about it and got quite feisty with him – it’s not going to stop.
‘So then, you know, people read that and it puts a false narrative in their mind.’
The discussion around Anasta’s perceived conflict of interest isn’t new, but it has been given renewed prominence by the scandal surrounding the future of Wests Tigers star Lachlan Galvin.
The 19-year-old became the biggest story in footy last week when he turned down a $5.5million deal and revealed he’ll leave the club once his contract is done at the end of next season.
That kicked off widespread speculation about the reasons behind the split, and the possible role of Galvin’s manager, Isaac Moses, who has been heavily criticised by many commentators.
Anasta and the NRL 360 panel have discussed the issue at length, giving rise to the accusations about him being conflicted.
He branded those accusations ‘hypocrisy’ on his podcast, with Weidler taking exception to that, and the questions raised about his colleagues at Nine.
‘To try to dismiss the criticism, Anasta chose instead to attack the Nine network and its highest-profile figure Phil Gould in a podcast, calling him out because of his dual roles as a TV expert and the boss of the Bulldogs. None of this was new,’ Weidler wrote.
‘He then tried to attack the likes of Paul Gallen, Billy Slater, Cameron Smith and even Andrew Johns but barely laid a verbal glove on them.
‘It was not a well-considered or well-thought-out rant, but it has been noted by some of the people who he thinks are his mates.’
