{"id":877170,"date":"2026-09-02T07:48:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T07:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/877170\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T07:48:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T07:48:35","slug":"nrl-conflict-of-interest-crackdown-braith-anasta-hands-in-player-management-accreditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/877170\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL conflict of interest crackdown: Braith Anasta hands in player management accreditation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Chris<\/p>\n

September 2, 2026 \u2014 3:30pm<\/p>\n

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Television host Braith Anasta has handed in his player manager accreditation ahead of the NRL\u2019s crackdown on conflicts of interest in the game.<\/p>\n

The NRL announced \u201cmore stringent quality assurance mechanisms in relation to conflicts of interest\u201d under the seven-year $5.3 billion broadcast rights deal it unveiled in July.<\/p>\n

\"NRLNRL 360 host Braith Anasta has represented several NRL players.NRL Photos<\/p>\n

The governing body is set to deploy a media watchdog<\/a> to monitor perceived conflicts at its broadcast partners, Foxtel and Nine Entertainment (publisher of this masthead).<\/p>\n

Anasta, the host of Fox Sports\u2019 flagship panel show NRL 360, is among a range of on-air personalities at both companies who have dual roles in the code.<\/p>\n

The Canterbury Bulldogs premiership-winner has represented players Cameron Munster, Lachlan Ilias and Jonah Pezet as well as inaugural PNG Chiefs coach Willie Peters through Searoo Sports Management, where he has been the general manager.<\/p>\n

But he will relinquish those duties to Searoo Sports founder Justin Caines after voluntarily handing in his agent\u2019s accreditation to focus on his on-screen career.<\/p>\n

Caines is the sole director and shareholder of the company and is also an accredited player agent. Anasta was contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

Anasta\u2019s two jobs have invariably crossed over when his players have been discussed on the program he fronts three nights a week, for instance with Munster\u2019s contract negotiations and in relation to Ilias\u2019 relegation to reserve grade at St George Illawarra by coach Shane Flanagan last year.<\/p>\n

While not naming Anasta, who was a vocal critic of Flanagan, Dragons chairman and Nine board member Andrew Lancaster in April took aim at \u201cpersonal agendas\u201d in the coverage of the coach\u2019s demise.<\/a><\/p>\n

Anasta fired back on his show before apologising the following week to Lancaster, who as CEO of WIN Corporation represents the interests of billionaire Bruce Gordon, the largest single stakeholder in Nine and a 50 per cent owner of the Dragons.<\/p>\n

As one of the most prominent faces in the game and a player agent, the 44-year-old has been seen as a poster boy for potential conflicts of interest from broadcasters.<\/p>\n

\"PhilPhil Gould has high-profile dual roles with Nine and Canterbury.Nine<\/p>\n

However, he is far from the only television figure to be employed elsewhere in the game.<\/p>\n

Fox Sports\u2019 stable includes Matthew Johns and Gorden Tallis, who are part owners of Gold Coast Titans; Cooper Cronk, who is a Queensland Rugby League director; as well as Luke Keary, who is on the coaching staff at the Sydney Roosters. Panthers board member Greg Alexander and Kangaroos coach Kevin Walters are also Fox commentators.<\/p>\n

Nine have Canterbury general manager of football Phil Gould, Perth Bears board member James Bracey as well as retired greats Darren Lockyer and Cameron Smith, who have positions at the Broncos as a director and leadership consultant respectively. Billy Slater was coach of Queensland but has stood aside, and Johnathan Thurston has been on the Maroons coaching staff.<\/p>\n

Gould has gained attention in the past over his commentary around emerging playmaker Lachlan Galvin<\/a>, who switched to the Bulldogs midway through last season<\/a> after a dispute with Wests Tigers.<\/p>\n

The NRL\u2019s so-called \u201cmedia cop\u201d is yet to be appointed but Australian Rugby League Commission chairman and interim NRL CEO Peter V\u2019landys has made tackling conflicts a priority.<\/p>\n

The NRL also this year introduced new anti-tampering rules that club officials and staffers with broadcasting gigs could be sanctioned under if they slip up.<\/p>\n

The rules prohibit public and private comments that could be seen as courting a player when clubs are not permitted to negotiate with them<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Marcus<\/a><\/p>\n

The Australian Rugby League Commission, which owns the NRL, has also been considering proposed reforms to how player agents operate, including changing the minimum age for players before they can be approached by managers, and decreeing that agents can\u2019t represent both players and coaches.<\/p>\n

League officials will also look at ensuring shareholders in player agencies are registered as agents.<\/p>\n

Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"ChrisChris Barrett<\/a> is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former South-East Asia correspondent for the Herald and The Age.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"September 2, 2026 \u2014 3:30pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":877171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-877170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=877170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/877171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}