In news that has shakenTheSydney Morning Herald’s sports section, the paper’s best day to day rugby league writer, Steve Mascord, is jumping ship to TheDaily Telegraph.

Mascord has stood out for the past couple of years in his reports and commentary and would be second only to Roy Masters (a former League coach at Wests and St George) in his contacts and understanding of the game. So much so that ABC sport in Sydney have been slowly bringing him on and using him for player updates and team changes from time to time. Here’s a list of his recent columns from the SMH website.

The Tele has struggled since the unfortunate death of Peter Frilingos more than a year ago, with Ray Chesterton moving to more occasional and general commentary and the occasional column from Mike Gibson which is more tabloid comment than well-informed speculation on the game.

The Tele’s coverage has also suffered from not having someone with good contacts across all clubs, especially since the Rebecca Wilson- Malcolm Noad brawl has moved into the legal arena.

Why Fairfax didn’t keep Mascord is very puzzling. The SMH has just spent a lot of money redesigning the flagship Saturday and Monday sports sections. So why the penny-pinching when it comes to one of the stars of the pages?