On a Wing and a prayer

Craig Wing must sit down sometimes and wonder who he has offended. Not only does he play out of his socks every time he takes the field, but he invariably has to do so in a multitude of positions.

Despite this, Wing may miss out on a spot in the NSW State of Origin team simply because selectors and media commentators alike seem to continually ignore his on field form.

It appears Wing may be the victim of Jason Taylor’s inability to set him in a permanent position, rotating him from hooker, to five eighth, to lock back to the bench.

I like to call this often-cruel coaching indecisiveness as the “Mark McLinden syndrome.” This is when a player’s career can be potentially destroyed by their own versatility.

Wing was selected in the City Country game this year and had a blinder for City, setting up tries at will with his roving running plays. Yet nobody appeared to notice.

Isn’t this a game supposedly billed as an Origin trial match?

Ricky Stuart never seemed to notice his brilliance either, not even when Wing helped win a competition for him at the Roosters playing halfback, only to be dumped to the hooker/bench spot the next year, replaced by Brett Finch.

History will show that the Roosters may well have won three competitions in a row if Wing was selected in the halfback spot.

Has anybody taken note that Souths have knocked over some big teams in the last fortnight when Wing finally got a run in the number 6 jersey?

Perhaps Wing needs to fire his publicist, because for reasons that are difficult to fathom, nobody appears to notice he is one of the best number 6’s in the game.