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Put up or shut up: Parker calls for serious change to NRL press conferences
Charles Goodsir • September 10th, 2025 1:42 pm
SEN’s Corey Parker has called for the NRL to clamp down on coaches who fail to give adequate responses in post-match press conferences.
The NRL dictates that a coach and player, typically the captain, must attend a post-match press conference and answer questions from the media.
Parker believes too many coaches are being disingenuous in their responses to the media and are not taking their press conferences seriously.
“The dribbling from coaches in some of the press conferences (are farcical),” Parker said on SENQ Breakfast.
“The coaches have to front and a player. It’s all part of the broadcast deal.
“You see Wayne Bennett turn up to a press conference sometimes and it’s just rubbish.
“Some of these coaches give fans and everyone else absolutely nothing.
“Des Hasler with his dribble that we see from time to time, it’s absolute garbage and nothing gets done about it.
“No one is pulling up Wayne on it. There is no one who is saying ‘can you please just not give us one word answers?’
“As a coach, if you’re just going to toss up garbage, then don’t turn up.
“Just put your assistant coach up instead.
“However, you should always have your head coach.”
The Courier Mail’s Travis Meyn has recently fought back against lacklustre responses from coaches.
He recently had a fiery exchange with Hasler following the Gold Coast Titans loss to the Warriors.
Meyn explained that his frustrations with Hasler and other coaches in press conferences is that fans are the ones who ultimately suffer through a lack of information.
“There has been no lean in from (Hasler) in regards to the media and community,” Meyn told SENQ.
“I don’t understand the way Hasler and the Titans approach situations.
“What happened in the press conference with Des, I thought it was a bit of a storm in a tea cup.
“The thing that frustrates me the most is a reluctance to answer newsworthy questions.
“If they do answer them, there is so much spin and you can’t even use the answers.
“I just don’t understand why you would operate like that.”
