Shock move for Mansour, Maroons greats join coaching staff

The game’s leading female player Kezie Apps has claimed another prestigious award and Maroons greats have joined the Queensland Rugby League coaching staff for 2018.

All this and more in the latest edition of NRL Confidential!

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NRL STARS DIG DEEP FOR MANSOUR

NRL wingers will have no reason to ‘fear the beard’ at least for the first half of the 2018 season with Panthers and Kangaroos winger Josh Mansour to shave his signature beard for charity.

Panthers and Kangaroos teammates have dug deep into their pockets to help Mansour reach his target of $ 10,000 for Bowel Cancer Australia as part of their ‘Decembeard’ campaign with the target reached courtesy of a flood of donations on New Year’s Eve.

There’s no date yet for when the new look will be unveiled – a look that may come as a shock to his baby daughter – but Mansour can thank a lot of fellow NRL players, sponsors and supporters for reaching his goal.

Panthers teammates Isaah Yeo, Nathan Cleary, Sam McKendry, Reagan Campbell-Gillard, former teammates Leilani Latu and Jeremy Latimore and Kangaroos starts Tyson Frizell, Matt Gillett and Josh Dugan all put their money where their mouths are to make sizeable contributions to a wonderful cause.

QUEENSLAND LEGENDS JOIN COACHING STAFF

Former Maroons greats Jason Hetherington, Jharal Yow Yeh and Michael Crocker have all been named in new coaching staff appointments announced by the Queensland Rugby League.

Hetherington, who has been a fixture in the Maroons Origin coaching staff for a number of years has been tasked with winning the Nellie Dohery Shield back as coach of the Queensland Women’s team, taking over from fellow former Maroon Adrian Vowles.

Hetherington’s assistant coaches are former Jillaroos legends Karyn Murphy and Nat Dwyer.

Justin Hodges and Scott Prince have been retained as the Queensland under-20s coaches with Mick Crocker joining the under-18s as a mentor and Jharal Yow Yeh a mentor for the under-16s team.

SPECIAL CHRISTMAS GIFTS FOR LAWRENCE, CARTWRIGHT

Wests Tigers skipper Chris Lawrence will take on even greater responsibilities in 2018 after he and wife Kathryn welcomed a baby girl into the world in the final days of 2017.

Emmerson Rose was born on December 28 and quickly had her dad smitten who will no doubt find it hard to drag himself away when pre-season training recommences next Monday.

Currently second on the list of all-time games for the Wests Tigers, Lawrence starts the year level with Benji Marshall for most tries for the club with 76, the pair set to duel for the honour of top spot after Marshall’s return to the club.

Lawrence isn’t the only NRL star with a new addition to the family during the Christmas break with Panthers back-rower Bryce Cartwright and partner Shanelle welcoming Koa Josiah into the world in the early hours of the new year.

KEZIE APPS ADDS YET ANOTHER HONOUR

Her year was thrown into turmoil when she broke her leg during the Downer NRL Auckland Nines in February but Kezie Apps’s comeback to win the World Cup with the Jillaroos has earned her the honour of being named the Illawarra Mercury Sportsperson of the Year.

Showing the stature that the women’s game now occupies Apps beat out world surfing champion Tyler Wright, swim star Emma McKeon, Matildas star Caitlin Foord and Dragons, NSW and Kangaroos forward Tyson Frizell to claim the award.

Apps’s honour continues an extraordinary run of success for female athletes in the Illawarra region who have claimed the past five Sportsperson of the Year awards.

NEW CHALLENGER TO COWBOY’S CROWN

He is the undisputed king of the North Queensland outdoors but Cowboys prop Scott Bolton has a new challenger to the crown.

Matt Scott grew up a long way from the water in Ilfracombe in the remote western areas of Queensland but has wasted little time exposing his ‘mini me’, son Hugo, to the wonders of fishing in the state’s pristine waters.