What's the Buzz: Board bust-up cripples Manly Sea Eagles THE soap opera inside the Manly Sea Eagles boardroom continues after last Thursday night's board meeting had to be abandoned following another disagreement between directors. Banned former Leagues Club chairman Bob Reilly walked out when the majority shareholders, the Penn family, asked for all future meetings to be taped. It follows a disagreement over minutes from a previous meeting when Rick Penn's apology to Darrell Williams from their racial dispute was not recorded in the official minutes. To end any future confusion, the Penn family have strongly indicated they will not attend future meetings until there is an agreement on taping all conversations from inside the board room. It could potentially lead to months of delays in running the football club business. At the moment, the warring parties cannot even agree on annual salaries for senior football club staff. Surely it's time for NRL chief executive Dave Smith and his senior staff to step in. The game cannot continue to allow such a dysfunctional board to hold back one of the NRL's leading clubs. The Penn family recently put forward a motion to call in Smith and the NRL to try to settle the long-running disputes between themselves, Quantum and the Manly Sea Eagles football club. Directors of Quantum, whose share price tumbled to a record low of .005 cents last week, and the football club directors voted against it. There is now grave concern that the boardroom brawling will spill over to coach Geoff Toovey and the players. It's a miracle it has not yet affected the football team who again remain in serious contention for the finals. The Penn family has poured more than $20 million into the Sea Eagles and purchased the Leagues Club to save it from going under. Yet while they are major shareholders, they only have three of the seven votes against the football club and Quantum who vote together on every issue. There is no question the dramas are holding Manly back and even attempts by the club's godfather Ken Arthurson end all hostilities have failed. The game's best CEO Todd Greenberg recently spoke of the importance of operating under a stable board. "It's been an absolute pillar of our success at Canterbury to have a strong and stable board behind the footy team," he said. THE Wests Tigers covered up the real reason why struggling superstar Benji Marshall was demoted to the bench last month. A furious coach Mick Potter dumped the five-eighth for disciplinary reasons, not poor form, as was suggested at the time. In the week leading up to the Souths clash at ANZ Stadium, Benji was on the Tigers' rehab list with fullback Tim Moltzen and centre Blake Ayshford. The club has a strict no-alcohol policy for players under medical treatment but word got back to Potter that all three had spent a night out drinking. Potter had no hesitation in benching the champion playmaker but agreed to keep it out of the media. I keep hearing this will be Benji's final season at the club and that he will be looking for what he probably needs most - a fresh start in 2014. Blake Ferguson during Origin I. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: The Daily Telegraph DISGRACED Blues star Blake Ferguson was spotted in the last place you'd expect to find him after Wednesday night's Origin - a Brisbane pub around midnight. A patron at the Exchange Hotel phoned me to say Ferguson was there and enjoying a beer despite recent claims he was off the grog. I sent Ferguson a text on Friday night to ask him about the night out. He first denied even being there: "Nah mate! I've been laying low! When I pressed him on the drinking, he replied: "I was there for I reckon 3 mins to see my best mate! I don't see anything wrong with that buzz I don't drink anymore. Been off it since I got in trouble mate! Ferguson had been in Brisbane to watch the Origin match with boxer and mentor Anthony Mundine. Mundine did not go to the pub. He texted me saying: "He don't drink Buzz. He is off it mate. Trust me, when I'm finished with him, he will never want a drink again. Ferguson is staying at Mundine's home in Sydney while he awaits his court appearance on July 16 on an indecent assault charge. The pair train every day. At the game, Mundine and Ferguson sat with the family of Nathan Merritt, the man who replaced him. "I wanted Blake to be there in that crowd to understand what he had given up," Mundine said. He's the first Australian player in more than a decade to make the world's most boring game, rugby union, remotely interesting and even watchable. IT makes me feel sick every time NSW born, bred, raised and schooled Greg Inglis runs out in a Maroons jersey. THE shocking performances of Origin referees Shayne Hayne and Ashley Klein, both rattled by the 50,000-odd lunatics at Suncorp Stadium. WE keep hearing Australian cricket boss James Sutherland is under extreme pressure to retain his job. The names being bandied about as possible replacements include former Aussie skipper Mark Taylor and Todd Greenberg. WHICH State of Origin star's marriage is on the rocks after his wife discovered his second mobile phone full of text messages to call girls and phone numbers to escort agencies. She has even spoken to his coach about it. SUSPENDED Melbourne jockey Damien Oliver with his family at the Denarau Sheraton in Fiji. BLAKE Ferguson and Lote Tuqiri greeting each other with a Gen Y handshake at Brisbane airport after the Origin on Thursday morning. TALK about having no respect for money. On Friday a punter invested $400 with the NSW TAB on the Parramatta Eels to play the Broncos in the grand final at odds of 5000/1 for a $2 million collect. His only hope would be the other 14 clubs getting busted for salary cap rorting. FORMER referees boss Stuart Raper has undergone hip replacement surgery to repair an old footy injury that was preventing him from walking for more than a couple of hundred metres. IN the ultimate insult, struggling Bulldogs forward Tony "T-Rex" Williams has been put up for sale on eBay by one disgruntled fan. Listed under the "used" section, bidding started at $1. The former Blues and Kangaroos forward has struggled big time to make any impression since arriving at Belmore. Mike Hussey acknowledges the fans as he leaves the field in his last Test at the SCG. CHANNEL Nine have signed Mr Cricket Mike Hussey and Shane Warne to cover the home Ashes series next summer. The bad news is my favourite commentator, the great Bill Lawry, is cutting back and will only commentate on games out of Melbourne. Over at Channel Ten, Ricky Ponting and his old teammate Adam Gilchrist have been signed up to cover the domestic Twenty20 competition. For the Ashes series in England, Aussie fans will have to put up with a mostly English commentary team on Nine. They will take the BSkyB team of Mike Atherton, Ian Botham, Nasser Hussain, Andrew Strauss and David Gower. Warney will make guest appearances, too. BOOM centre Dylan Walker will keep every penny of the three-year contract he signed at the South Sydney Rabbitohs last week. While most NRL players hand over 6.5 per cent of their earnings to their managers, Walker doesn't have an agent shopping him around. Instead his mum and sister negotiated the deal - and a nice little pay rise - with South Sydney chief executive Shane Richardson. NEWS that FFA wants to sell the Western Sydney Wanderers has come with guarantees that the name, colours, logo, home ground and the club's culture will be enshrined in any deal. I'm told the Wanderers faithful are renewing memberships at the fastest rate of any A-League club, including Alessandro Del Piero's Sydney FC. It's Bling v the Real Thing, and the Western Sydney heartland wants to overtake the city slickers. FOOTY caller Andrew Voss could be making a free-to-air TV comeback at Channel 7 for the rugby league World Cup in October in the UK. The network wants Voss to call the Kangaroos' matches and is considering Laurie Daley and Shane Webcke as co-commentators. Jim Wilson, husband and handbag of stunning newsreader Chris Bath, is likely to host the event. SOCCEROO legend Brett Emerton has been thrown a career lifeline by A-League fans. Online votes for Emerton have elevated him to the A-League All Stars to face Manchester United, just when his fortunes with the Socceroos and his club Sydney FC have been on the wane. The World Cup in Brazil might be a bridge too far for the veteran, but the very decent and popular Emmo deserves the accolades in what's looking like a farewell season. MICHAEL Clarke has shown his patriotic side by ordering a new bat carrying the Australian flag for the Ashes series. The bats arrived in the UK last night and the Australian skipper will use them in the final warm-up game before the first Test on July 10 at Trent Bridge. The Spartan bat is the same style he used to score his record-breaking 329 against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Only the stickers have changed for his first series as Ashes skipper.