Billy Slater proved last night that like an old wine, he just gets better with age.
What is it with players like Billy and Benji Marshall that “Age does not weary them”? I can’t wait to see Storm -v- Tigers again, however we’ll all have to wait until September.
Their first two encounters were dour efforts from both teams as neither had, at that stage, found their groove – another reason to slam the programming of the draw for this year.
Both players scored amazing doubles in the last seven days and both were spectacular. I want to discuss Billy’s “drop kick” try at length:
Firstly, let me say that if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck then it’s probably…
Billy’s a genius and his quick thinking won out, even if he later said he dropped the ball. You can’t blame the refs. Even in slow motion, it looked like a dropkick due to Billy’s lightning reflexes. Some people make things happen. Others wonder what happened.
Secondly, many have commented today that this decision will open up a Pandora’s box in future when players drop the ball and try to kick it. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Even though Wayne Bennett, Craig Bellamy and even Billy said they didn’t know the rule, Billy’s first intention was to kick the ball – albeit a grubber kick. When that didn’t come off, his lightning reflexes switched to Plan B all in the one motion.
I can’t imagine perennial ball droppers like Andrew Fifita, Akuila Uate and co being able to emulate Billy’s brilliance.
If that try was individually brilliant, his second about ten minutes later was team magnificent. Following a Josh Addo-Carr burst down the left touchline, he somehow got a skewed kick in field which bounced into the arms of Billy, backing up like the great fullback that he is.
When the highlight reel for best tries of 2018 is released on Dally M night, I want to save all four tries for posterity – Billy and Benji magic.
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