Can you put me out of my misery and explain why Ben Creagh did not make the Kangaroo tour – a fantastic season and a fantastic Origin series. Is he having surgery, or are the Kangaroo selectors dullards with amnesia? (i.e., they can’t remember back as far as the Origin series). I mean, how could Gallen and Waterhouse and even Hoffman be preferred to Creagh on the basis of 2009 form? The Kangaroo incumbency argument does not hold here, because Waterhouse and Hoffman are not incumbents. Similarly, Boyd, Laffranchi and G Stewart are incumbents who missed out, even though their recent form was no more ordinary than Gallen’s!

A word on Stacey Jones. I am not a Warriors supporter, but living on this side of the ditch I can tell you that there has been a lot of debate about the year he has had. The general consensus is that it’s a more a case of he was bad because the Warriors were bad, rather than the Warriors were bad because he was bad. I tend to agree. So I think you have been a bit harsh.

In defence of my side, I’d say that even when Parra were terrible Hayne was still going well. I also reckon Billy Slater was pretty quiet early in the year, I’d have to check his stats but I think early on in the season he was well down on his try scoring record as the Storm struggled to score points.

Maybe I have a soft spot for Cranky Frank but I thought he had a good year.

Would we see our International players put on better week-in-week-out performances if the national squad was picked like this one has been….

If I was an NRL coach I would find the best dummy half I couldfind and then find 7 of the biggest fittest dumbest blokes I could find. By dumbest I mean, charge it up, no off loads, no rubbish – think Hindmarsh as opposed to Ryles. I agree there is bugger all flair in my pack but I think to win you just need to eat up the metres, get to your kick and then let your halves do the rest- the flair comes from your dummy half, in my team from Farah. I would also go for blokes who have the ability to make dominant one on one tackles and I think each of these blokes can do that particularly Ellis and Johnson.

A good side, not sure I could agree with Folau given the amount of time he spent on the sidelines.

Every individual in your pack has a good shout, I think each of them were banding about during my selection session. I would point out that you’ve gone with six 80 minute forwards, plenty of tackles, but enough flair? It highlights that debate about consistency over impact. Do you need Minichello when Johnson is going make 50 tackles?

The thing about Michael Ennis is that he is a very popular with player’s he plays with (who wants someone popular with the opposition) and has zero off field incidents to his name. Agree its a cigarette paper between him and Ennis.

A good debate though.

Cheers

A good test of the quality of your team is to pick the next best, including your near misses, reps for state of origin, Roos & Kiwis.

I dare say that alternate 13 might beat your selection, as good as it is.

Letsnot forget Parramatta did not start playing till August so Burt is out.Moi Moi had a great two months but this is the team of the year right?

Here is mine:

1. Hayne
2. Perrett (best player in a very badly beaten team all year)
3. Hodges
4. Jennings
5. Folau
6.Soward (teams figured him out by season’s end but a great season all in all)
7. Cronk (I agree Prince is superb; my issue with him is his last tackle options seem to be a bit predictable, whereas Cronk gets it right)
13. Dallas Johnson (just shades Stagg)
12. Minichello (did he have a bad game all year?)
11. Ellis (I agree with KO; some ofhis work in a poorly performing team was huge)
10. Hannant
9. Farah (to answer the “no dickheads” question in the affirmative, therefore Ennis is out- although he does have a very hot wife)
8. Civoneciva (although he was injured for a large part of the year, what he did do while he was on the field was awesome – cant wait for him and Moi Moi to go at it during the World Cup)