Paul Kent had one of the biggest jobs in rugby league media as the angry face of Fox Sports’ NRL coverage.
That was before he faced court on domestic violence charges – he was found not guilty – was stood down, reinstated and then, ultimately, sacked by News Corp after a street fight fuelled by 21 schooners of beer and a clash with a man he called “dog head” during which he was unceremoniously tossed into a tree.
It was the biggest sports media story of the past 12 months. Today, Kent answers the tough questions as he launches his new podcast.
Danny Weidler: It must have been a weird experience, being on the other side of a news story. Was it odd for you?
Paul Kent: No, not really, mate. I understand it was different, but it was not odd.
DW: People enjoyed kicking you a lot during that time. I wrote some critical things, too. How do you feel about that?
PK: It didn’t worry me. I understood it.
DW: When you’re critical and have big opinions, and something goes wrong, you have to wear it, right?
PK: I didn’t at any point ask for preferential treatment or to lay off or anything. I just thought, do your best. People have done it, and some have taken delight in it. I’ve not asked for a favour anywhere.
Paul Kent is sent flying into a tree during his infamous street brawl.Credit: X
DW: Did you know what was happening at the time? It looked bad when you saw the video of the street fight. Did you think, OK, this is bad?
PK: Yeah, well, the video, the video is bad, but the video’s not the whole story.
DW: What is the whole story?
PK: Well, what happened before and after it. Like the bloke, three times, walked up to me, [then he] took his jumper off, wrapped it around his waist and came at me. You know, at some point he was gonna do it. That’s when he did begin filming. I’m not complaining about what people saw. It’s just like in most cases, mate, there was more to it.
DW: I’ve known you for a long time. I could see that something wasn’t right with you, even before that happened. I don’t know if that’s an unfair comment. Was your behaviour a bit out of control? Were you concerned about your behaviour?
PK: Look, I wouldn’t do it again, but it had been a stressful time.
DW: Not just that moment. I mean, the whole the lead-up. You’re under a fair bit of pressure, the job’s public and was there any point where you think, I’m off the rails a bit? You’ve covered many footballers off the rails. Did you ever think, OK, I’ve got to pull myself together?
PK: A couple of times, probably.
DW: It’s hard when it’s you though, isn’t it?
PK: Well, it is. Life is just continual adjustments. I mean, that’s what it is, and that’s what that was, you know, adjust to get through what happened, and adjust to sort of go forward and find new ways.
DW: Was it a kick in the arse you needed? Or was it just a kick in the arse?
Paul Kent leaves court in July last year after he was involved in a drunken brawl in Rozelle.Credit: Kate Geraghty
PK: No, it’s just a kick in the arse. But again, mate, that’s life, you know, shit happens, so get on with it. Basically, I’m not gonna kick stones about it all. And, yeah, I’ve not complained. People saw an opportunity to have a crack, and some delighted in it. And good luck to them.
DW: Probably the biggest thing which people have latched on to, and it was all over socials, is you have been hard on “snowflakes”, and then you talked about mental health in your court case right? Do you see the conflict there?
PK: I do. I see that from where they’re coming from but, again, there’s more to it. But the point is, when you have a court case you are advised by a lawyer how to handle the case, that’s what you do. What a lot of people don’t get their heads around is there’s a lot of nuances in this. So, it’s easy to sit there and point those things out, and they sit back, you know, the fat heads sitting there feeling triumphant in what they’ve just posted, but there’s all sorts of nuances in the whole thing. It’s not as simple as that when you go to court. It’s not as simple as what these dickheads can put into 140 characters. You want to sit there and make that allegation, make it, but you also don’t understand it. I took advice from lawyers. You know that the first rule is that if you represent yourself you’ve got an idiot for a client, you know? I mean, so that’s why you take the advice. That’s what they’re paid for. They advise you the best way to handle the court case.
DW: You are quite an introverted personality, and not the extrovert you come across as on the screen, right? And I wonder at any point did anyone from News Corp say, “Hey, listen, you can pull back a bit, we’re concerned for you?”
PK: I’ve got no comment about News.
Paul Kent was one of the biggest names in Sydney’s sports media, before it all went wrong.Credit: Monique Westermann
DW: Have you learnt a lot about yourself or learnt a lot about people? What’s been the takeout for you?
PK: Well, I don’t change much. I mean, I am who I am, yeah, but everyone says you find out who your friends are. I didn’t need to find out who they are. I know who they are. I haven’t lost one friend out of all this. So I don’t sort of sit and have all this introspection, to be honest. I mean, just get up and go forward.
DW: You don’t reflect? You don’t reflect and learn at all?
PK: You don’t have to reflect to learn, you can just learn. I don’t sit there and examine my life. There is too much of that bullshit in this world.
DW: So when we see and hear you in your podcast, it’s going to be the same Paul Kent that we saw before?
PK: No.
DW: What will it be?
PK: Oh, I don’t know. You know I am introverted in many ways. That doesn’t make for good TV, though. I’m going to be genuine. I’m not going to pretend to be something I’m not.
DW: Do you feel like you’re taking the mickey out of yourself a little bit with a tree logo on your podcast?
Kent had drunk 21 schooners at The Sackville hotel on the night he got involved in a brawl that landed him in court.Credit: Edwina Pickles
PK: I don’t take myself seriously, like people think I do. You take the mickey out of people; they take it out of you. Yes, that’s just life, mate. I come and sit with my mates. I’m not a protected species by any measure, you know?
DW: This whole thing cost you a lot of money, right? Any idea what it’s cost? We’re talking hundreds of thousands?
PK: Oh, easy, yeah.
DW: That must worry you.
PK: As I said, that’s just life. I’m not gonna go kicking stones. Just get on with it. There’s nothing I can do about it, so I can’t change it. So there’s no point sitting there whinging about it. Get on with it. Get up and get going again.
DW: Do you still love rugby league and do you still love media?
PK: I’ve always loved rugby league. Media is not the industry I came into. I’ve got to sort of probably get my mind around that in many ways, because it’s not what it was. I don’t think it’s better. I think the tail wags the dog, as far as media goes. That’s the world we’ve created.
DW: Do you agree with what Dana White was saying that the media here is weak?
PK: He called us pussies. Yes, I agree. Look, I just think there’s a lot of politics played where journalists play the man and not the ball, and I think that journalists on the front line have been made cannon fodder in the battle between the two big media empires in this country.
DW: It has been like that forever.
PK: Well, it wasn’t always like that, mate, but it’s become like that. It wasn’t there when I started. It did become that. But that’s what we’ve created, mate, as an industry.
DW: What do you want to achieve with the podcast? What’s the idea behind it?
PK: I’m just going to talk footy, like I do.
‘It’s not like I needed to go away and sit in the desert for six weeks and look inward. I understand what happened and all the rest of it, let’s just get on with it.’
Paul Kent
DW: Will you be hosting with someone, or is it just you?
PK: I’ll be doing it with others.
DW: Are you excited for it?
PK: Yeah, I look forward to it, actually.
DW: I guess that tells you that maybe you missed working in the media.
PK: I’m looking forward to working for myself. I’m looking forward to having no HR department. I’m just gonna do my thing and do it my way. And, so far, I’ve got a really good response from it.
DW: Are you in a good space now? Because I feel like you’ve been through a lot – probably most of your own making – but you’ve been through a lot. Have you worked on yourself?
PK: I didn’t need a big adjustment, mate. This started out as something a bit out of my control. It snowballed and gained momentum but, you know, I didn’t need to go away and rebuild my life, you know? I mean, it started out of something that was, like I said, beyond my control. And, yeah, I had to deal with that. And then there was a second incident when everything crashed down. But I know what happened and why it happened and all the rest of it, so it’s not like I needed to go away and sit in the desert for six weeks and look inward. I understand what happened and all the rest of it, let’s just get on with it.
DW: What was the low point?
PK: There were probably several. You don’t have high points unless you’ve got low points as well, so just accept it and move on.
DW: Do you have close mates who you can seek counsel from and talk about stuff?
PK: Well, yeah. Where I’m from, you don’t have psychologists, you have mates, and they pull you in to line. So, yeah, they’ve been really good. And I know if need to ring anyone, I can ring them.
DW: Did you get a laugh at least out of the fact that Google had it listed as Kenty’s tree?
PK: I actually wasn’t aware of it, to be honest, until someone told me some time later, but they should still have it to be fair.
DW: Have you been past it?
PK: Often.
DW: What do you think?
PK: I don’t think anything. Mate, it’s a tree on the way home. I don’t ponder and slow down and look at it and any of that. It’s just nothing in my life. I put it in the logo because it was just fun.
DW: With your podcast, I’m just trying to work out what you’re basing it on, or what your thought process is.
PK: It’s going to be much like we made the first half hour of [NRL] 360 [on Fox Sports]. When I first started there, the journos got 10 minutes. They wanted to get rid of the journalists, but I believe that they bring the best content on the show. And so, over time – it was a bit of a battle early on – but over time, we extended that from 10 minutes to the first half hour or more. And it’s actually the journalists that get the most viewers.
DW: You’re writing a book about the funeral industry, or were you driving a car in a funeral parlour? What was the truth?
PK: I had the idea put to me [about a book], but I was just there to help out the Mannings [Funerals], who are really good people.
Sam Burgess is a South Sydney legend – but won’t rule out coaching against them.Credit: Getty Images
Big Sam ready to look beyond Bunnies
Sam Burgess has confirmed the whispers we were hearing last year that a potential coaching career in the NRL does not have to be at his beloved Rabbitohs.
While everything is setting up for that in the post-Wayne Bennett era, Burgess is not silly enough to rule out other clubs. You can imagine a team like the Roosters would love nothing more than to poach a potential quality coach like Burgess to work in Trent Robinson’s team.
“The desire to coach in the NRL one day is definitely something that burns inside me,” Burgess said. “Right now, I’m very happy in England and with Warrington, and I’ve got more time there on contract, and I’m loving every moment of being a head coach in the English Super League. But when the time is right, of course I’d love to move back to Australia, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be the Rabbitohs where I end up. ”
Green PR machine showed how it’s done
The Canberra Raiders have been widely praised for their handling of the Hudson Young–Morgan Smithies incident in their team hotel. The club did not try to hide the scuffle and even made them available for the media.
The Raiders also did a lot of good work in the lead up to going to Las Vegas. Their players had three separate meetings about behaviour and how to handle life on the road. They also had a Zoom meeting with a representative of the Las Vegas police department. The club could not have done more. That’s why they were frustrated by the actions of their players.
Fortunately, the incident was relatively minor.
Sticky goes mad – again
While the Raiders handled the elevator incident with dignity they were not impressed with a red carpet stunt from Cooper Johns at the Fremont Street fan experience. Johns was working for betting company Sportsbet and took an inflatable baseball bat to the red carpet with the specific intention of having fun with Hudson Young.
He certainly did that, and Young didn’t mind Johns producing the bat when he came past. However, when Johns produced it in front of Raiders coach Ricky Stuart, he was told where to go in no uncertain terms. Cooper knows Ricky well through his father, Matthew Johns, so he was stunned at Stuart’s response.
There was no coach or individual who did more than Stuart to promote the Vegas week. His club’s approach to the media was excellent.
New job heaven for Danika but Hull for boyfriend
It’s been a huge week for Nine news host Danika Mason with confirmation that she is now part of the Today show as their main sports presenter.
It has also been an emotional time as her boyfriend, Liam Knight, has secured a deal to play in England with Hull under John Cartwright. It means the pair will have to try to make the relationship work long-distance.
Knight has already set himself up for life after football, but feels he has more to offer as a player, in the English Super League and here in the NRL.
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