League Confidential: Todd Greenberg a hard act to follow Todd Greenberg and NRL CEO David Smith. WHEN Todd Greenberg was vying for the NRL top job last year, he was exploiting a get-out clause in his deal at Canterbury that allowed him to pursue a higher post. But when he fell from contention that clause was struck out, in exchange for an upgrade that was supposed to secure Greenberg at Belmore until the end of 2015. Just eight months later, he's packing up for the plum gig under Dave Smith at League Central and Bulldogs fans are entitled to wonder what happened. For the record, Greenberg also received an offer to replace Dave Gilbert as Cricket NSW boss. Canterbury chairman Ray Dib sent a letter to sponsors on Tuesday that simply explained the club did not want to stand in the CEO's way of advancing his career. But the hole Greenberg leaves from August 1 is significant, particularly given the fact it will take an iron-fisted administrator to butt heads with coach Des Hasler. WHICH player-manager is sailing close to the wind with the accreditation committee over attempts to steal stars from rival agents? The L-plater has been using a recently acquired client to convince other players to sign up, and is trying to profit from a dispute between Bulldogs prop Sam Kasiano and his agent. This Johnny-come-lately is one of the reasons why a lengthy text message has been doing the rounds, spuriously suggesting Kasiano is headed to the Dragons next year after requesting a release from Canterbury. Neither the Dogs - or other agents - are happy. RUMOURS surrounding Ben Barba are also heavily featured in the text message, but we can't find any evidence to justify them. Visits to Northies and the Coogee Bay Hotel over the past two weekends won't help to diffuse the talk, even if Barba abstained from alcohol as the designated driver. And he'll soon be cruising around in a more impressive vehicle, having secured a third-party deal with Jeep. OUR best wishes to NSWRL chairman John Chalk, who was sent to hospital last week for treatment on his heart. Chalk was discharged ahead of Wednesday's extraordinary general meeting, but was still not well enough to chair the board as it changed the league's constitution for the first time in three decades. Recent times have not been kind to Chalk - he also lost several toes after stepping on coral while in PNG a few years back. Matt Bowen in action for the Cowboys. THERE'S plenty of chatter about Cowboys legend Matt Bowen, who is yet to strike a new deal. Sources close to Bowen say he's miffed about being left at the end of the re-signing queue after James Tamou, Matt Scott and Johnathan Thurston all secured improved deals to stay in Townsville. Something has to give thanks to the huge money North Queensland spent to keep their star trio and it now appears Bowen won't be offered the type of deal he was expecting after many, many years of stellar service. Penrith recently made inquiries but we're hearing they won't come to fruition, given the 31-year-old's age and injury record. IF the Holden Cup is a road test for NRL, then Canterbury Bulldogs youngster Doug Hewitt should be prepared. The 20-year-old halfback works fulltime in a Rosehill laboratory, running tests on bitumen that's earmarked to be laid out along the city's arteries. "We have to take samples from different parts of the bitumen and make sure the tar levels are consistent," Hewitt said. A former concreter, Hewitt landed the job through Warriors playmaker Harry Siejka, whom he lived with while the pair were contracted with Penrith last year. "Harry's girlfriend's dad ran the company and encouraged me to apply," Hewitt said. I didn't have any real qualifications but managed to talk my way into it. I've been here a year and really enjoy it. The shifts fit perfectly with footy training times. WE'VE all had our issues with airlines, but Bulldogs prop Aiden Tolman was entitled to be particularly browned off with Qantas this week. As he was about to check in for his flight home from Coffs Harbour after representing City, Tolman was called upon to change his baby's nappy but Qantas staff refused to allow him to board the flight after he returned from the bathroom because check-in had closed. Tolman was forced to wait around for the next plane back to Sydney. PARRAMATTA are fighting to retain gun centre Jacob Loko, who has landed a mammoth offer from cashed-up New Zealand Warriors. We can reveal that Loko - included in this year's Emerging Blues squad after missing 1 1/2 seasons because of a double knee reconstruction - has been in the Warriors' sights for months. The Kiwi offer is believed to be around $500,000 a season - huge money for a kid who's only played 16 NRL games. Although they're on the verge of a roster shake-out, Eels officials desperately want to stop the 20-year-old from becoming the latest junior prodigy to jump ship. Loko is extremely close to his mother and Parramatta hope her influence will persuade him to stay. LOKO'S centre partner Ryan Morgan is also a free agent and has attracted interest closer to home, with South Sydney and Manly making recent inquiries. A quiet achiever who's ultra-strict about his training and preparation, the Greystanes junior was a curious omission from last week's City team, overlooked in favour of Joel Reddy. But the free time didn't worry Morgan, who made the most of the weekend off to celebrate his 23rd birthday at Ivy on Saturday night. THE Rabbitohs' interest in Morgan is a fair indication that veteran centre Matt King will retire at the end of this year. King has been desperately unlucky over the past two seasons, suffering consecutive arm injuries that are set to sideline him for a few more months yet. We're also hearing Dallas Johnson is about to give his battle-weary frame a much-needed spell, with retirement a definite option for the tough Cowboys lock. WHICH two speedsters from an out-of-town club were involved in a heated exchange over a woman? Former Australian touch footy representative makes his NRL debut at fullback for the Panthers on Monday night after consistently starring in the NSW Cup. Receives a consolation chance to challenge for the NSW No.6 jersey, after being pulled from City duties last week. Will eyeball incumbent Blues pivot Todd Carney. Gosford hosts its third NRL fixture of the year this weekend and needs to support the Bulldogs-Sharks clash in bigger numbers to justify more games being sent up the F3. Tim Mannah and Tim Grant shared an old-fashioned punch-up when their teams met in the pre-season. Then last week they combined with a strong effort up front for City. Now they're rivals again, coming head-to-head on Monday night. Most young men visit the Gold Coast to lose control, but this journeyman has finally found discipline on the holiday strip after ill-fated stints with three NRL clubs. Faces the latest one to axe him - Newcastle - on Sunday. GREG Inglis has been taking his opponents to school for years, but the time has now come for South Sydney's superstar to be taught a lesson. The start of the season coincided with Inglis's first semester at Sydney University, where he's studying part-time for a Business Certificate. "It's like being back at school, it's quite an eye-opener," Inglis said. Going to uni has done me a world of good and I'm enjoying it. You've got to make a lot of time. Most of the people I talk to are full-time, and I'm only part-time. The amount of work they put into it is ridiculous. The first week we had an assessment and the second week we had an assignment. Matt Keating and partner Jocelyn Kempe. LOVE is definitely in the air at Parramatta, with hooker Matt Keating becoming the latest Eel to get engaged. Keating proposed to girlfriend Jocelyn Kempe last weekend, snaring a fiancee who's sure to become the envy of Eels teammates. Kempe is also daughter of the baron who runs Kempe Engineering - a multi-million dollar firm providing equipment for mine sites across Australia. But Keating certainly earned his catch, travelling to the Gold Coast during the bye weekend to meet Kempe's parents and ask for her hand in marriage the old-fashioned way. With Joseph Paulo also set to the tie the knot, the Parramatta players are already gearing up for an arduous period of post-season celebration. STILL on the Keating family and Kris must be wondering what he's done wrong to not be rushed straight back into first grade with the Bulldogs this weekend. Keating missed Canterbury's 38-0 drubbing to the Roosters with a shin injury, and we're reliably told he recovered and trained at halfback early this week. But on Tuesday he was told to wait another round, with Trent Hodkinson to remain at No.7. Like his struggling teammates, Keating has not set the world on fire this season. Yet surely his effort to guide Canterbury to last year's grand final deserves more recognition. The Bulldogs maintain he's still injured, but sources close to Keating say otherwise. WHEN it comes to jobs, Tony Priddle's head is entitled to be spinning. Since hanging up the boots in 1999, the former Dragons prop has done it all - sales, bottle shops, personal training and even work on a Queensland horse stud. But Priddle is anything but muddle-headed in his latest line of work, helping athletes conquer the mental side of their game through his business Mind Mechanics. "I have a sports science degree and I've always been interested in training people," Priddle said. Both my parents also had cancer, so that made me look closely at nutrition and they're still alive today. I recently found there was a gap in my knowledge surrounding the mental side of things and I've done research into that, before setting up this business. The 42-year-old now lives with wife Eliza and a menagerie of domestic animals in the Gold Coast hinterland. After finding football too difficult to watch for the past decade, he's begun attending Titans matches this year and could soon be working with the club. "It's hard when you've done something for 10 years and then you have to watch other people do it," he said. You feel like you're missing out. It took me a long time to adjust and I even took a whole year off when I just went to the beach and trained. To be honest, I didn't want to do a normal job. Going from $200,000 to $30,000 a year in my first job was a bit of a kick in the guts. Priddle is no longer in touch with any of his former Dragons teammates, but has kept his jerseys from the 1992 and 1993 grand final losses to Brisbane. They are still in a bag. I've always been meaning to get them framed," he said.