By Adam Bishop -
July 13th 2009 @ 12:33am
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Soward is no coward
Allow me to dispel a myth for you right from the top, there is no such thing as being too small for Origin! A guy by the name of Alan Langer will tell you that.
I cringe every time I hear a sports commentator claim that the reason Jamie Soward is not up to the task of leading the blues around the park is because of his small frame.
Do people honestly think that a player like Soward could survive in the NRL if he was too small?
The game is full of professional athletes, weighing upwards of 100kg, tearing away at each other at sprinter-like speeds. If anybody can survive that, then they have paid their apprenticeship.
What else does Jamie have to do to prove his credentials!? Let two Mitsubishi Mirages plough into him to see if he survives?
Not only does Soward survive the rigours of the NRL, he dominates it.
Week in week out, he has proven himself to be the most consistent performer in the competition.
The NSW selectors need to be careful with their preoccupation with size, they might like to read a bit of Sigmund Freud’s work to find out why.
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(4)
Hoy said | July 13th 2009 @ 8:50am | Report comment
I agree. People talk about small players not being suited to rep footy. The fact is that they play against the same players in the NRL that they would play against in Origin anyway. Maybe not all in the one team, but for a playmaker, it would hardly matter.
For someone like a back rower it might matter. I find it hard to believe that Soward’s name hasn’t even been bandied about for Origin after his performances this year. The NSW selectors say they (were) aiming for the future.
Tom Alexander. said | July 13th 2009 @ 12:15pm | Report comment
What is a strange excuse/myth about size. QLD had Langer who dominated for so long, NSW had Toovey before that Docking and Ferguson were great Origin players and the list goes on and on.
Richard Brockhurst said | July 13th 2009 @ 3:39pm | Report comment
Geoff Toovey was the toughest guy to play the game, and that’s coming from a QLDer. I thought he was dead a couple of times, but he just got up and played the ball. The second was the axe. So you don’t need to be big to play this game.
The bigger you are the more you have to carry for eighty minutes. They told Thurston he was too small also… how wrong can you be.
Soward is a good operater. People forget these guys are professional athletes and are a ball of musle.
Terry Kidd said | July 14th 2009 @ 8:22am | Report comment
I would feel quite confident about NSW chances tomorrow night with Kimmorley at Half and Soward at 5/8. Soward is not a loud talker so needs someone who talks all night to communicate for him …. Kimmorley does it well. I would be happier if Hornby were half and Soward 5/8 …. I think the combination would transfer well from club to state …. Soward must be there in 2010 or are they going to stick with a 33year old Barrett? Who else is on the horizon?