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Daley 'almost' keeps his job

Roar Guru
13th June, 2016
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Will Laurie make it to 2017? (AAP Image/Damian Shaw)
Roar Guru
13th June, 2016
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In Game 1, NSW almost won. Laurie Daley almost picked a winning team. Josh Morris almost scored.

Dylan Walker almost got away with milking a penalty. OK, he was nowhere near getting away with that. That was like a bank robber giving the branch manager his contact details to pass to the cops.

The point is though, that ‘almost’ didn’t cut it to beat Queensland in Sydney, so why – an injury swap for Boyd Cordner aside – has Laurie Daley picked the same team? Does he almost believe they will beat Queensland in Suncorp?

The team that ran out onto the dodgy Olympic Stadium turf had a fundamental flaw in the team – they could not score points. One try off a questionable pass was all they could muster after 80 minutes. For the record, I thought the pass was fine (just), but the fact people were highlighting it reflected the sad reality that NSW really didn’t have a clue how to cross the line. They almost did though.

And yet Daley picked the same team. Where are the almost tries going to come from? Perhaps they will come from the left side of the backline: Blake Ferguson and Michael Jennings and the sparkling form they are in. They almost got a mention by Ray Warren during the call.

Maybe they will get them from the massive metres provided by fearsome Aaron Woods? It’s better than having Andrew Fifita on the park eh?

It will be Dylan Walker, a man who did almost nothing as Manly gave up a 20-point lead on Sunday evening. He’ll almost get the job done.

Ah, they will get the inspiration from Robbie Farah. A man who has yet to play in consecutive Tigers victories this year, and can barely hold a bench spot. Clearly when your number one hooker is in a team in the bottom half of the eight that will always be a better pick than the hooker who’s marshalling the team in the top two

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This is a very defensively set team, and that’s why NSW will almost win again. They will almost score more points than Queensland .

Pick boys from form teams, not from reputation. It’s not hard.

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