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Paul Kent in hospital with suspected collapsed lung and broken ribs

The man who clashed with the rugby league personality outside a Rozelle nightspot also suffered a head injury after a bystander intervened in the melee.
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Paul Kent in hospital with suspected collapsed lung and broken ribs​

Chris Barrett

ByChris Barrett​

Updated April 30, 2024 — 3.48pmfirst published at 1.07pm


Rugby league personality Paul Kent is being treated in hospital for a suspected collapsed lung and as many as five broken ribs after a street fight in Sydney’s inner west on Saturday night.

Kent, the Fox Sports NRL 360 co-host and Daily Telegraph columnist, has been stood down by his employer News Corp while it reviews his involvement in the melee.

Paul Kent is held back before shaping up to a man outside Three Weeds Rozelle.

Paul Kent is held back before shaping up to a man outside Three Weeds Rozelle.CREDIT:X

A 35-year-old man has been charged with affray over the incident with Kent, vision of which was captured on a phone camera and posted on social media.

The man was subsequently left with a head injury after a bystander intervened.

On Tuesday, it emerged that Kent had also been badly hurt and admitted to hospital after the altercation.
Kent’s lawyer, George Elias, told this masthead that he was undergoing tests in hospital to determine whether he had sustained a collapsed lung after he was flung into a roadside tree by the man he squared up against.

Kent also has four or five broken ribs, he said.
“He’s been in hospital since after the incident,” Elias said. “I’m just concerned about his health and wellbeing.”

On Tuesday, the 35-year-old man’s high-profile lawyer, Chris Murphy, said he expected Kent, 54, would also be charged by police over the brawl, which occurred outside the venue Three Weeds Rozelle. Police were continuing to investigate.

“I believe my client was the subject of violence from two other men and this was occasioned to him while he was retreating from Paul Kent,” Murphy said.

“A group walked past [the venue] and Paul Kent accused him of saying something. It just didn’t happen. My client didn’t know who Kent was until someone said, ‘C’mon Paul, back off Kenty’ and tried to restrain Kent. But he broke away from them and came at my client.”

The 35-year-old who clashed with Kent sustained an injury to the back of his head when he was tackled to the ground by a third man.

The 35-year-old who clashed with Kent sustained an injury to the back of his head when he was tackled to the ground by a third man.

Murphy said the man he is representing had acted in totally reasonable self-defence.
“Under attack, it is perfectly legal to try and shed your attacker wrestling and grappling with you and trying to get away from them,” he said. “Kent shaped up to strike then pursued [the man] across the street as he backed away.”

Kent had been drinking at the Sackville Hotel, a 10-minute walk away on Rozelle’s main strip Darling Street. He lives close by in Lilyfield.

Vision of the scuffle appears to show Kent accusing the man of saying something derogatory towards him as he walked past, before calling him a “doghead” and then taking his watch off and brushing off attempts to hold him back.

It then appears that Kent shapes up to the man, cocks his fist and charges at him, before being tossed head first by the man into the base of a tree on the other side of the street. Footage shows the 35-year-old then being tackled onto the footpath by another man, who had initially tried to restrain Kent. The man suffered an injury to the back of his head, for which he has sought medical attention.

A photograph of the man shows a large lump at the back of his head, which he alleges remains swollen and has caused him to be unable to sleep and have dizzy spells. He also alleges he sustained cuts to his back.

Murphy said his client does not drink and had been about to travel home after having a meal at Totti’s Italian restaurant, which is in Three Weeds.

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NRL journalist Paul Kent stood down after brawl outside Sydney restaurant

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“He was out for dinner with his wife and another couple at Totti’s restaurant. They had a reservation, they paid for their meal and were leaving. He was on the step with the other couple waiting for his wife to come down the stairs,” he said.

“He was approached by Kent and retreated.

“If this matter ends up in a courtroom, Mr Kent will be subject to very close cross-examination.”

Kent was contacted for comment.

One of Sydney’s most well-known defence lawyers, Murphy also has a long history of acting for rugby league players in criminal and football matters, from the late Immortal Johnny Raper to Hazem El Masri and members of the Burgess family.

He said the man he was representing over the brawl with Kent had presented himself to police before being charged but had not given a statement. His wife and the couple they were out with had also not been interviewed.

Kent was replaced in his NRL 360 co-hosting chair on Monday night by former England international James Graham.

“Paul Kent is not with us tonight. Paul has been stood down from Fox Sports while an investigation takes place into an incident over the weekend,” said fellow host Braith Anasta in a statement opening the program.
 
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From a Saturday afternoon session at the Sacky to an ugly street ruckus

NRL personality Paul Kent had settled in at a pub that had a table reserved for him and his mates. Hours later he was embroiled in a violent altercation that threatens his decades-long media career.
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From a Saturday afternoon session at the Sacky to an ugly street ruckus​

Chris Barrett

ByChris Barrett​

April 30, 2024 — 5.00am

t the Sackville Hotel in Rozelle, they call it the locals’ table.

Situated in the TAB section of the popular Darling Street pub, it’s often occupied on Friday and Saturday by high-profile sports journalist and television pundit Paul Kent and a revolving cohort of mates, among them colourful rugby league identity and former player John Elias.

The Sackville Hotel, Rozelle, is a regular haunt of Paul Kent.

The Sackville Hotel, Rozelle, is a regular haunt of Paul Kent.CREDIT:EDWINA PICKLES

So embedded is the group at the watering hole that the table has been permanently set aside for them, marked with a reserved sign, and has usually remained vacant even when none of them are there.
It was at the Sacky, as it’s known by regulars, that Kent settled in for an afternoon on the punt on Saturday.

Hours later, outside Three Weeds Rozelle, another hotel 10 minutes’ walk away and in the direction of his Lilyfield home, the 54-year-old Daily Telegraph columnist and NRL 360 co-host became embroiled in a violent altercation that threatens his decades-long media career.

A table reserved for Paul Kent and friends at the Sackville Hotel.

A table reserved for Paul Kent and friends at the Sackville Hotel.

Video footage captured an intoxicated Kent reacting angrily to being “shit-potted”; that is verbally insulted by a man as he walked past him, branding him a “doghead” before removing his watch and resisting an effort to subdue him.

Cocking his fists, he then charged at the 35-year-old, with whom he traded punches before the clash shifted onto the street in front of the venue and Kent was flung head-first into the trunk of a roadside tree.

The man he squared up to was on Monday charged with affray by police, whose investigation into the evening was continuing.

Kent, who was on Sunday stood down by his employer News Corp pending its own probe, had only returned last month to the flagship Fox Sports panel show after sitting out much of the 2023 season and working for a funeral parlour while he defended charges of domestic violence against his former partner.


He was found not guilty in December of choking and assaulting the 33-year-old woman, telling reporters afterwards he was relieved “the truth is out there, finally”.

“It’s been a big cost to me, it’s been a big setback in my life,” he said at the time. “But, we’ve all got our struggles in life. This is my one currently, so it’s up to me now to regroup and get back to my normal life. I can finally leave this all behind.”

While he was cleared, there has been concern at Fox Sports about his behaviour for some time and the incident on Saturday night may be one blow too many.

Kent is close friends with his boss, Fox Sports executive Steve Crawley, who backed him during his court case last year, but it was unclear on Monday what his future, if any, would be at the subscription television network and the Daily Telegraph, with both not returning calls.

Kent’s temper and appetite for confrontation has made headlines in the past.

Last year he had a heated run-in at an NRL season launch with Mike Meehall Wood, a writer with sports website The Roar who on social media had been scathing in his criticism of Kent’s journalism.

In 2022, he quit his role on Triple M radio, refusing to apologise to host Anthony Maroon over on-air jibes that prompted Maroon to walk out mid-show on the program they both appeared on.

Four years ago, Kent also inadvertently became wound up in a betting scandal over the Dally M coach of the year award when wagers he and Fox Sports personality Bryan Fletcher placed on the eventual winner, Melbourne Storm’s Craig Bellamy, appeared on betting records provided to police. Both were not accused of any wrongdoing in that affair.

Instead, it’s Kent’s tendency towards aggression that has come back to bite him.
His presence on television affords him minor celebrity status in Sydney, where rugby league is king, and previous vision spread on social media has demonstrated that he has been baited while out in public, as he claimed to have been on Saturday night.

In one clip, which was posted by mixed martial arts fighter Tai “Bam Bam” Tuivasa and emerged after he was exonerated last December, Kent was on the receiving end of a horrific slur in a pub from an unknown man, who snarled at him: “I’ll smack the f--- out of ya”.

Kent did not respond to the abuse in that vision but in another video, shot in 2022 and seen by this masthead, he was held back by a friend from approaching a man in a bar. “Don’t film this,” Kent said in that footage. “Well, don’t be a c--- … don’t be a f---wit,” the man replied. Kent was ultimately talked into cooling off on that occasion.

He did not show the same restraint on the weekend in Rozelle.

Kent, who has trained in the past with legendary boxing trainer Johnny Lewis and wrote a biography on him, was visited at home on Monday by a series of friends.

They included Elias, who played in the 1980s and 1990s with six Sydney clubs and served several stints in prison including for shooting a man and for drug offences. Elias was also charged over $5500 in bets he placed on the North Queensland Cowboys to score first against Canterbury in the infamous match between the two sides in 2010, but he was later found not guilty. His brother George, who is a lawyer, represented Kent in court last year.


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Paul Kent in pub row

​


Another to turn up at Kent’s house was former Olympic boxer Rick Timperi, who competed for Australia at the 1992 Games in Barcelona and in 1996 in Atlanta.

Once a promising young league player who made one first-grade appearance for Parramatta in 1989, Kent had a notable stoush with former Australian international Mark Geyer while they were playing in the Central Coast competition in 1994 for Ourimbah and Umina respectively.

Upset at one of the young journalist’s columns, Geyer made his fury clear as their two teams took the field to play each other, barking at him “you’re f---ing dead”, before pursuing and eventually launching at Kent during the game.

“It wasn’t a tackle ... [it] was a little high and a little late, [an] elbow behind the ear,” Kent told Fox’s Matty Johns podcast about Geyer’s retribution, which triggered a brawl and them both being sent off.

He went on to carve out a career as one of the most prominent faces in Australian sports media, firstly at the Sun-Herald and The Sydney Morning Herald and then News Corp.

He has been very well-connected with some of the most influential figures in rugby league, among them coach Ricky Stuart and the late Immortal Bob Fulton, and is known for his delivery of unwavering opinion.
 
Chris Murphy is going to wipe the floor with Kent - just ask Ian Roberts after this thuggery...

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  • Wow
Reactions: BZN
Nrl 360 doing its best to protect bulldogs and that coach for the wrestlin issue over the player , Anastasia needs to keep his mouth out of it as he is saying nothing to se hear , , Fk me they bang on about mental health and player wellbeing but say nothing hear with out it doing due coarse in court , again fox sports looking after who they pick , disgrace , NRL cant keep this up , step in you morons and shut them down , no comment needed hear not wide TV coverage to say nothing hear is a absolute disgrace
 
426Tlgerland said:
Nrl 360 doing its best to protect bulldogs and that coach for the wrestlin issue over the player , Anastasia needs to keep his mouth out of it as he is saying nothing to se hear , , Fk me they bang on about mental health and player wellbeing but say nothing hear with out it doing due coarse in court , again fox sports looking after who they pick , disgrace , NRL cant keep this up , step in you morons and shut them down , no comment needed hear not wide TV coverage to say nothing hear is a absolute disgrace
Click to expand...
They’re defending practices that have worked since 1908 and not putting up with snowflakes.
 
BAGNF05 said:
They’re defending practices that have worked since 1908 and not putting up with snowflakes.
Click to expand...
If it was your son I doubt you would be calling him a snowflake , let’s see what happens in the end , my prediction Bulldogs settle out of court for u disclosed amount ( $ 2 million ) in stead Of defending $ 4 million suite
 
426Tlgerland said:
If it was your son I doubt you would be calling him a snowflake , let’s see what happens in the end , my prediction Bulldogs settle out of court for u disclosed amount ( $ 2 million ) in stead Of defending $ 4 million suite
Click to expand...
I’d be proud that he put in all the hard work to get to the NRL but very disappointed he couldn’t hack it when he got there. Lots of witnesses, interesting one.
 
Demps said:
Back to driving uber.
This will be interesting, watching it unfold.

Kenty only just returned from his last alleged drama. I cannot see how they can stand by him after another one.
Click to expand...
He was driving a hearse - TRUTH!

Told the owners he was keen on writing a book about the funeral business...

Thinks he's Norman Mailer!
 
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Reactions: BZN
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