Love triangle threatens to disrupt State of Origin preparations

Ray Hadley.

A league coach and a Sydney shock jock are embroiled in a love triangle which is threatening to disrupt the NSW team's preparations for the State of Origin series, it was revealed yesterday.

According to the Sydney Daily Telegraph, the 2GB radio personality Ray Hadley - who split from his wife Suzanne in February after she sought a restraining order against him - tried to have Matt Parish, assistant coach for the Blues, disciplined or sacked only weeks before the first Origin clash in Brisbane.

Hadley, a veteran league commentator, is reportedly furious that Suzanne has been seen "on Parish's arm" at NRL events. The 59-year-old offered a rare insight into his troubled personal life yesterday, telling listeners to his top-rating morning programme that in recent months "at times I have felt like staying in bed and not coming to work".

The most explosive allegation is that he discussed his wife's new relationship with David Trodden, chief executive of the NSW Rugby League, in a telephone conversation last week - and, according to the chief Blues coach, Laurie Daley, tried to "exert his influence and power to have Parish disciplined or stood down".

The conversation was followed by an unscheduled board meeting last Monday, at which directors unanimously voted to support Daley and retain all current coaching staff.

With the Blues set to name their team for Origin I next Tuesday ahead of the match against the Queensland Maroons on May 28, Daley yesterday accused Hadley of "unsettling our entire [State of Origin] campaign". The talkback host has criticised Daley and Parish three times on radio this week.

"Ray Hadley is way out of line," Daley told the Telegraph. "He's using his influence and power to undermine Matt Parish and me ... Ray Hadley has never attacked me before, so I don't think it is a coincidence that it has happened this week."

The talkback host's marriage broke up after Suzanne Hadley applied for an apprehended violence order against him and his son, Daniel, a police officer, on February 20. Before the matter could be heard she withdrew the application, and she and Hadley separated days later.

Hadley yesterday denied asking Trodden to sack Parish, but admitted speaking to him about his wife's relationship, saying that he "simply asked Dave Trodden to advise Matt Parish to be more circumspect in matters involving my wife". He added: "This is a very difficult situation for me and my children, and all I did was ask someone to pull his coat with relation to my wife and to be a bit more dignified in his actions."

On air yesterday, Hadley said that this year had "provided me with my biggest challenge ... listeners have to understand that despite the fact I'm on the wireless, I face the same problems off air [as] you do every day, and the fact my life ends up over three pages of the paper today doesn't make it easier".

Hadley said: "I have mentioned a number of times [that] my former wife and my children are not public figures, and should be spared all of this."