Melbourne Storm star fullback Billy Slater’s recovery from last night’s 40-14 win over Newcastle has been disrupted as he races to the Gold Coast to compete in the Commonwealth Games.
Tonight sees the final of the men’s ten-metre platform diving event and assistant coach Chava Sobrino was quick to get on the phone to Craig Bellamy in a bid to secure the fullback’s services.
“I saw Slater’s diving talents on full display a fortnight ago against Cronulla and his effort last night was just as impressive,” Sobrino said.
Australian divers have only managed two gold medals at the games so far, both coming from female competitors.
Sobrino, however, is confident that Slater’s late inclusion to the team will be enough to see them claim the top prize in tonight’s event.
“The fact he was able to incorporate a slight twist into his dive last night was promising. He obviously lacks the level of poise required at this level, yet with enough practice, I believe he is certainly one to look out for in the pool later tonight,” Sobrino claimed.
Storm coach Bellamy said that the late call-up was less than ideal as Slater will now have a rushed preparation for next week’s Friday night clash with Brisbane.
However, he did note that there are obvious benefits from the practice Slater will gain in working with Sobrino and the rest of the Australian diving team.
“While I would have preferred Billy to focus on Friday’s game, I don’t doubt that the skills he will learn will be useful for future games. Newcastle were slowly gaining momentum and were threatening to fight their way back into the contest.”
You can catch Slater’s performance tonight starting at 7pm AEDT live from the Optus Aquatic Centre.
81paling
Roar Rookie
Diving is such a bad look for the game and Slater needs to be named and shamed for this pattern of behaviour.
Penrith Punter
Roar Guru
So you are telling me that Slater did not dive... that the force of Fitzgibbon grabbing him made him tumble to the ground in such spectacular fashion. I'm not saying it wasn't a sin bin against Fitzgibbon, it 100% was but Slater's theatrics were unnecessary.
Brendon
Guest
Wow pathetic article, pathetic comments. Slater was grabbed, what more is there? You can see clear as day the knights player grabs his arm after going to make the tackle. All this hatred and bs against the storm, time to give up on the roar i think, it's just sad and repetitive.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
Agree
Cadfael
Roar Guru
Because diving is frowned upon in Australia unless it is in the pool.Others may do it but his diving has seen two players sin binned. Just hope the ref catches on and sin bins him.
Peter Phelps
Guest
That is an outrageous thing to say. I do hope you don't believe in Karma
Penrith Punter
Roar Guru
Thanks Nat - as I said he would need to work on more subtlety in his diving technique to score really well.
Nat
Roar Guru
Funny and true. I suppose Billy, being the perfectionist that he is, would be the top qualifier out of the NRL divers as Gallen, Maloney and DCE hit the deck like they've been shot - arms and legs flaying everywhere. That kind of form would not score well with the judges.
Penrith Punter
Roar Guru
It is a fair point Duncan but it seems as if Slater's dives are not even necessary for gaining penalties anymore which makes them even worse. Last night in the Cronulla v Dragons game, a similar thing happened where Josh Dugan was slightly infringed by Cameron McInnes taking a quick tap. Dugan didn't fall over spectacularly like Slater did yet he still gained the penalty and sin bin. I do agree though that there are even more subtle ways that players manipulate the rules.
Penrith Punter
Roar Guru
Melbourne fan I assume?
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
If we're going to talk about diving, which is deliberately going out of your way to gain a penalty, what about the Knights dummy half who passed the ball downwards into a Storm defender on the ground who was not impeding play? He could easily have just passed the ball and play gone on, but he went out of his way to throw it into the Storm defender. This too is milking / diving. What about deliberately running at a retreating defender not back the 10m? It's a fine line between trying to gain an advantage and what Slater did. Having said that, I don't like what Slater did against Cronulla, which did seem like a dive, but last night's wasn't that bad. But it pales against Benny Elias pretending Mario Fenech bit him in the scrum to get Fenech sent off back in the 80s.
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
Ruben, you're mentally ill. A comment in pretty poor taste, which only makes you yourself look bad.
kk
Guest
Enjoy your clarity, Albo. You know Albo, I've had this dream since I was a kid to watch a game of Rugby League at the highest level without referees or linesmen. Like we did at the local park and selection started with a chinese toss. The milk would soon be sorted. I reckon that would fill ANZ.
Ando
Guest
What absoute drivel. Not sure if this is an attempt at satire but you've missed the mark by a long way.
souvalis
Guest
Wasn’t Madge Maguire brought in to clue the refs into these kinds of sly milking? In another instance Storm defending their line,give up their mandatory 5th consecutive penalty,Knights want to tap and run quickly..ref calls captain Smith over and tells him to address his players....you saw what he did....all penalty advantage lost...
Ruben
Guest
Fair call, apologies, broken leg then
Ruben
Guest
Fair enough; Apologies for offending. You dislike him - I hate him. He’ll get broken during origin.
Albo
Guest
Yep ! As predicted, the refs crackdown with penalties & sin binning was always going to lead to this problem of milking of penalties and sin binnings. The usual suspects like Slater just have another open invitation to milk away ! With this new refs game plan, he is fast overtaking " thrash around" Jason Nightingale as the best "milker" in the game ! There is a simple solution to ending this blight developing around these quick taps. The refs should mark the spot where the tap is to be taken from. This would still give the attacking side enough time to keep the play moving and the defensive side enough time to get outside the 10 metres. As it stands today players like Slater are just tapping the ball from anywhere when a penalty is blown , running straight into the nearest opposition player and falling over looking for the bin call !
Penrith Punter
Roar Guru
It is a hard one given that dives happen all the time with obstructions. In last night's Cronulla v Dragons game Josh Dugan got McInnes sin-binned for interfering with a quick tap but didn't have to dive to so, so perhaps Slater will learn from that although I doubt it.
Penrith Punter
Roar Guru
Okay he definitely does not deserve what happened to Alex McKinnon, let's not go that far.