With all due respect, the Ben Creagh injury had everything to do with Luke Lewis not coming on till the 46th minute. The interchange that Stuart would have used to get Lewis on the field was instead used to get Creagh off and get Tamou back on.

I’m not turning a blind eye to Ricky’s use of the bench this year. I believe he could’ve made better use of his bench this year. Obviously in hindsight it was a mistake to select Jamie Buhrer in game 1. But can you really blame Ricky for not having complete faith in Robbie Farah given his past performances at Origin level? I also disagree with Ricky’s decision to replace Glenn Stewart with Beau Scott, who offers nothing in attack and who hasn’t been in any kind of decent form for the Dragons this year. It’s also puzzling because Beau Scott’s inclusion ultimately came at the expense of teammate Trent Merrin, who has been by far the Dragons’ best and most consistent player this year. While I would have started Luke Lewis in game 3 and kept Trent Merrin in the 17, I can understand the logic behind Beau Scott’s inclusion as he is a specialist right-edge player, not to mention that Lewis’s best Origin performances have been from the bench.

In terms of possible halves combinations, Gidley and Mullen I believe are way down the list. Gidley is a bench utility at rep level (the best in the game) and I think that Mullen simply doesn’t offer anything that Pearce and Carney don’t offer. It’s hard to say at this stage whether or not changes need to be made for next year. I think if changes are to be made then Soward has to come in for Pearce. I think Soward’s kicking game and his ability to direct a team would take a lot of pressure off both Carney and Farah, allowing them to create try-scoring opportunities.

One last thing. You mentioned Wade Graham as a possible candidate for the bench utility role next year. Obviously Kurt Gidley would ordinarily be a candidate as well. But with Robbie Farah’s ability to play 80 minutes of Origin footy (not just be on the field for 80 minutes, but actually give his all for 80 minutes), do NSW really need a bench utility? NSW have an incredibly versatile team. I mean Paul Gallen and Ben Creagh can both cover any front row injuries. Luke Lewis made his Origin debut on the wing and spent a season at halfback for the Panthers. I’m sure he could also play center, five-eighth and hooker at a pinch. Greg Bird can also play five-eighth (he won his first Origin man of the match at five-eighth) and hooker. Hayne and Brett Morris can both play fullback and T-Rex can also play wing and center (and if you saw his effort against the Roosters in his comeback game, he can probably also cover at five-eighth). Obviously with Michael Ennis at hooker, Kurt Gidley’s role as a utility was absolutely vital. But with Farah there, having Gidley in the team would be a waste of a bench spot (and just so we’re clear, I’m not one of the many Gidley haters out there). As such, I think Gidley has quite possibly played his last Origin.

You say you want unbiased reporting? Is that what you call unbiased reporting? You clearly have some kind of agenda against Ricky. Otherwise why would you put an * next to all his victories with Joey in the team? You can’t discount a State of Origin victory just because there was an absolute superstar in the team. If you did, Fatty Vautin’s 1995 no-names would be the only team to ever win an Origin Series. You want to talk about the ‘cold, hard facts’? How about the fact that Ricky inherited a team that had no captain (Trent Barrett had retired), and that had lost 5 series in a row, including a 3-0 whitewash the year before in 2010. Now think about how far that team has come. Last year we came within 1 game of winning, and this year we almost overcame the GI Joke in game 1 and the Hodges try in game 3, and came within 1 point of winning. And btw, that Hodges try was ridiculous. I know it’s already been discussed above (someone pointed out the ‘cold hard facts’ that you love so much and you just chose to ignore them because it was convenient for your argument) but I’ll bring it up again. The Maroons run this play all the time, where Hodges runs the openside and passes to Thurston. Naturally, Ricky Stuart noticed this and prepared his players well for it. You don’t think they were prepared for it? Then why did Todd Carney rush up on Thurston, forcing Hodges to run behind Ben Hannant. Also, why are you blaming Ricky for the fact that Luke Lewis wasn’t used until the 45th minute? Were you too busy being a “student of the game” to notice that when Ben Creagh got injured Ricky had to reshuffle his whole interchange plan for the game, and bring James Tamou on to replace Creagh. One of the forwards was always going to get less game time because Ricky had one less interchange at his disposal, and it wasn’t going to be Beau Scott because he was already on the field.

I agree with you on one point though: the halves aren’t up to scratch. But let me ask you this. Who is Ricky going to pick instead? Wallace? Soward? Mullen? Maloney? Please! When replacing a player in such a key position as halfback or five-eighth, you must be at least 90% sure that the replacement will do a better job than the incumbent. These 4 guys have shown nothing at club level. on a consistent basis, which indicates that they would do a better job than Pearce and Carney. Obviously Wallace’s form leading up to City v Country was the best he’s ever played, but he was unfortunately injured, and since returning from injury he hasn’t been anywhere close to his best. Soward has also been good in patches for the Dragons. In his last 4 games for the Dragons, his kicking game as been exquisite. I believe there are 2 things he needs to do to earn a recall. Firstly, run the ball more often. He’s one of the best ball running five-eighths in the NRL when he wants to be. Secondly, he needs to stamp his authority on the Dragons side, and become the dominant half that they need him to be. However, with Hornby as his halves partner, that’s much easier said than done. I believe making Kyle Stanley Soward’s halves partner at club level (doesn’t really matter which one plays 6 and which one plays 7 because St George predominantly play left side, right side rather than halfback and five eighth) will allow Soward come into his own, which will greatly help his Origin chances (as well as the Dragons’ premiership chances). Maloney, while solid, has been well below his best this year. And Jarrod Mullen has just been plain bad this year in a side which has also been plain bad this year.

Apart from those 4 guys, the only halves options that come to mind are the two Reynolds’s, both of whom are too young for Origin at the present time. Both are in great form, and both will represent the Blues in the future. But I wouldn’t even consider them for Blues selection ahead of Pearce or Carney at the moment.

I’m not saying that there’s a conspiracy against NSW. But QLD have had the rub of the green with the refs all year. This series has highlighted a blatant lack of consistency in terms of refereeing standards. This lack of consistency – be it on purpose or by accident – has worked massively in QLD’s favour. I could write for ages about how ridiculous the Jennings sin-binning was. It was a complete overreaction on Matt Cecchin’s part – a penalty was sufficient punishment (especially in Origin). And given that Thaiday runs in like that all the time in Origin (only difference is that Jennings connected with his punch), and the fact that the referees didn’t even address Brent Tate’s punch to a defenseless Greg Bird in game 3, it demonstrates a huge lack of consistency with all the more lenient rulings that we’ve grown accustom to in Origin footy (as opposed to club footy). What about the penalty against Greg Bird for a perfect textbook tackle in game 1. What about the sinbinning of Cooper Cronk in game 2 when a penalty try clearly should have been awarded. Sure, the Blues scored 2 tries while he was off, but what if Cronk had done the exact same thing when NSW trailed by 6 right on full time. His sinbinning and 2 points for a penalty would not have been sufficient punishment.

There are 2 incidents that I want to bring to your attention, both of which highlight how a lack of consistent refereeing has cost NSW dearly in this year’s series. The first occurred in game 3. I want to compare 2 very similar tackles. One was penalized, one wasn’t. Both deserved to be penalized. Let’s call them tackle A and tackle B. Now in tackle A, a man of average height (Hodges) sticks his arm out and makes contact with the head of one of the tallest blokes on the field (T-Rex) who was running basically upright. This goes unnoticed and unpenalized by the referees. In tackle B, one of the tallest blokes on the field (T-Rex) makes contact with the head of one of the shortest blokes on the field (Cronk), while he’s already falling to the ground. Williams is penalized and QLD get 2 points. I’m not disputing the penalty against Williams. But let me ask you what’s worse. A tall guy hitting a short guy high while he’s falling, or an average guy hitting a tall guy high while he’s upright? Hodges’ shot on Williams definitely warranted a penalty. Looking back on a game where the winning margin was just 1 point, the decision not to penalize Hodges proved costly for the Blues.

The other incident is the two ‘tries’ which were controversially awarded by the video referee: the Inglis ‘try’ in game 1, and the Hodges ‘try’ in game 3. These two video referee decisions proved costly for the Blues this year. In its own context, I can cop the Hodges try being awarded. I personally have my doubts over its legitimacy as a try, but obstruction is undoubtedly the biggest grey area in the game, so I could cop either decision. However, given the ridiculous ‘letter of the law’ ruling which saw Sean Hamstead award Greg Inglis the most controversial try in Origin history, I believe that Steve Clarke had to disallow the Hodges try, purely on the basis that it was not a try to the letter of the law. As much as I hate to admit it, the Inglis try probably is a try under the letter of the law. The law is flawed, and it needs to be changed asap. But the damage has been done. Hamstead, on the basis that he was following the laws of the game ‘to the letter’, correctly awarded the Inglis try. The law relevant to the Hodges try states “The runner cannot run behind his own team and gain an advantage.” There’s no doubting that Hodges ran behind Ben Hannant, and if scoring a try isn’t “gaining an advantage” then I don’t know what is. Under the letter of the law, the Hodges try should have been disallowed. The bottom line is that if the referees were consistent in this year’s series, then one of these tries would have been disallowed. They obviously weren’t consistent, and whether the refs conspired against NSW or not (and I don’t think that they did), Queensland was definitely the major benefactor of inconsistent refereeing in this year’s series. The Blues have every right to feel hard done by.

If you read my comment you’d know that I obviously don’t agree…

“And whats more all these NSW/QLDers that you think are the salvation of RL in the west were probably not attending NRL matches in their home state, so why should they go to one in Perth”.

I know that it’s none of my business and this is between you and CC, but isn’t it a bit hypocritical to bag CC for providing “3 spin pieces by RL journos” when you base your whole argument (that Perth RL will end in tears) on all the NSW and QLD expats ‘probably’ not being RL fans? Or on the Pommy and Kiwi expats ‘probably’ being union fans? If anything that works against what you’re trying to say. It means that there must have been plenty of Perth locals attending the games that Souths took to Perth in the last 2 years.

In 1995 they averaged around 13500, in 1996 they averaged just under 10000 and 1997 was about 7000. Considering that the Superleague War destroyed every team’s crowd figures, I’m just going to look at 1995 and 1996. Those are decent crowd figures for a team playing in a city that was dominated by AFL (Perth also had far less QLD, NSW and Kiwi expats at that time). It’s fair enough to say that the Reds were not a success. But they never got the chance to succeed. They were culled as a result of the Superleague War after only existing for 3 years. 3 years is not a lot of time for a team to make significant inroads into a city which is dominated by a rival code. So while the Reds weren’t technically a successful football club (on or off the field) they were by no means a failure. Fast forward to present day, where the Perth economy is booming and there are plenty of QLD, NSW, Kiwi and Pommy expats, I’d say the Perth Pirates (or whatever they’re called) may well become a successful team if given the chance.

Well Toowoomba or Cairns may be too small to support their own NRL team. But QLD does need more NRL teams, and not just in South East QLD (Broncos, Titans and probably Ipswich come 2015). There is currently nothing between Brisbane and Townsville. I think that’s disgraceful (and that’s coming from a proud NSWelshman). There are plenty of places in Aus and NZ (even PNG) that deserve a team more than Adelaide.

Those are some good points you make about the lack of exposure that rugby league has received in Melbourne on FTA TV. I too think the Melbourne Storm will be ok in the long run, especially given that Channel 9 now have to show games outside of QLD and NSW on GEM. But that doesn’t change the fact that the Storm will still be bleeding money for the foreseeable future. I believe a Perth team will also be successful in the long run, but the ARLC must prepare for the possibility that a Perth team may well struggle to break even in its first few years (especially if they don’t succeed on the field). The NRL should only start thinking about Adelaide once the Storm and the Perth team can stand on their own two feet.

Why does Adelaide get priority over the Central Coast? The people of the Central Coast have been calling for their own team for years, and the Bears have finally answered the call. Adelaide on the other hand haven’t even submitted an expansion bid. One place wants a team. One place doesn’t. Seems like a simple choice to me.

Why is there this obsession with Adelaide? They don’t want a team. The people of the Shire love their Sharks. Where is the logic in taking the Sharks away from the people who want them, and then giving them to a bunch of people who couldn’t care less about them? When Adelaide decide they want a team, they’ll let us know. Perth did, and now they’re the front runners for 2015 expansion. In 2008, when Sonny Bill left the Dogs, David Gallop was being interviewed about the state of the game and where the game was headed. An article about expansion into Perth and Adelaide was brought up by Steve Mascord (who was doing the interviewing) and Gallop effectively ruled out expansion into these two cities. His exact quote was “calls to put teams in Perth and Adelaide are misguided; we don’t have the following there to sustain NRL franchises.” Since Gallop made that comment, the WARL have worked extremely hard to promote rugby league, grow the game at a grass roots level and get clubs to bring games to Perth. If Adelaide wanted a team, the SARL would have followed the WARL’s lead. However, as it stands, the SARL haven’t even submitted an expansion bid for 2015. They clearly do not want a team.

Expanding into cities based purely on the fact that they are major cities with big populations is the wrong approach to take. Yes, Perth is a no-brainer. You won’t find too many people who disagree with that. But it is a no-brainer because of all the growth RL has experienced at a grassroots level in WA, and because of the large amount of expats from NSW, QLD, England and NZ. The fact that Perth is a major city and is experiencing a mining boom at the moment is an added bonus, but it is not a reason on its own to put a team in Perth. Adelaide is a long, long, long way from regaining entry into the NRL. As far as I’m aware, Adelaide hasn’t even put together a bid for this current round of expansion. We have a team in Melbourne right now that bleeds money on a yearly basis, despite having been arguably the most dominant team of the past 10 years. Yes, they cheated, but it’s not like their crowd and membership numbers were massive before people found out. Prior to the events of 2010, the Storm had won 3 minor premierships, 3 premierships and played in 5 grand finals. You’d think a team with that much success would have a huge following. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Melbournians would not recognize Cameron Smith, Billy Slater or Cooper Cronk. Even now, the Storm are well on their way to winning their second minor premiership in a row and quite possibly the 2012 premiership, with a legal playing roster (as far as we know), and they still don’t get big crowds. You think the situation is bad in Melbourne? It’d be even worse in Adelaide. Most people over there know very little about either rugby code. You could have the Adelaide Rams beat St George’s record and win 12 premierships in a row – still no one would recognize them in the streets. Why chuck a team in Adelaide, where no one wants them, when the rugby league-mad Central Coast is begging the NRL for its own team? We need to learn from the mistakes of the Super League War: expansion for expansion’s sake doesn’t work.

Everyone else has pretty much covered all the Perth born NRL players, but off the top of my head, I know Joel Reddy, Justin Poore and Sam McKendry were all born in Perth. Not sure about how much (if any) junior rugby league they played in WA though. I think that there are also a few genuine Perth rl juniors, who played SG Ball for WA Reds, in the Toyota Cup. I can’t remember where I read that though.

You clearly have very little understanding of the sporting landscape of Western Sydney if you think the appeal of the Eels is limited to the suburb of Parramatta, or the appeal of the Panthers is limited to the suburb of Penrith. The people of Parramatta and Penrith and the surrounding areas (St Marys, Blacktown, Mt Druitt, Michunbury, Greystanes etc) don’t identify with the term ‘Greater Western Sydney’. That term is only used by people who live in other parts of Sydney.

Let me see if I understand what you’re saying. The way for the NRL to expand, become truly national, maximize the next TV deal and take its rightful place as Australia’s leading winter football code is to add more Sydney teams? Let me ask you, what purpose would a team in Blacktown serve? What would a Blacktown team add to the NRL? How would expanding into Blacktown benefit the NRL in any way, shape or form? Do you really think the people of Blacktown feel slighted by the NRL because they don’t have a team which directly represents their suburb? Blacktown is a rugby league stronghold. It is full of Eels and Panthers supporters. I mean, would you put a team in Coogee or Maroubra because the people in those areas “don’t identify” with the Roosters in Bondi or the Bunnies in Redfern? Of course not! And for the record, Blacktown is actually a significant part of Penrith’s massive junior rugby league nursery.

I think eventually the NRL can sustain 20 teams. It seems clear as day to me that the two front runners for expansion are Perth (WARL bid) and Brisbane 2 (Ipswich). It would be stupid not to include these two teams in the NRL in 2015. And I don’t think we will see many lopsided results either when we expand to 18 teams, and that is because of the salary cap. The standard may drop slightly at first, but that’s to be expected because the talent pool won’t increase overnight. We certainly won’t see Perth and Ipswich getting flogged every week like the Suns and Giants in the AFL, because the NRL salary cap allows for teams to be competitive right from the get go. Look at the Melbourne Storm. They won their first/only premiership (depends who you talk to) in 1999 and they entered the comp in 1998. The Titans missed out on the Minor Premiership because of for and against in 2010 – their 4th season.

In terms of future expansion (post 2015), the answer is not as clear. 20 teams should definitely be a goal. That way we could change the structure of the season and have everyone play each other once. This would solve the problems associated with mid-season rep fixtures as there would now be time to have a 4-6 week mid-season break from NRL for rep footy. We could also open a transfer window during this period for players who want to change clubs mid-season, and make it that all mid-season transfers must occur during this time period (only for players going from one NRL club to another – June 30 rule still applies to clubs signing unsigned players, SuperLeague players and rugby players).

The NRL must not take the “dots on the map” approach to expansion. Expansion is not about putting the ‘N’ in the NRL. In an ideal world, one would want an even spread of teams throughout Australia and NZ. But we don’t live in an ideal world. Calls to put teams into Perth and Adelaide simply because it would make the NRL truly national are misguided. Putting an NRL team in Perth is the right move because the economy is booming out there, there has been significant grass roots development in WA since about 2006 (which is a huge credit to the WARL), it would add significant value to the TV deal due to the new time-slot, and there is a large population of NSW, QLD and NZ expats in Perth who would form the initial core of the supporter base (along with some Perth locals who follow rugby league). The fact that including a Perth team makes the NRL more national is merely an added bonus.

At this point, I’d say the Central Coast Bears and a second NZ team (not sure where in NZ though) should enter the NRL sometime between 2015-2020. By adding the Bears, we are able to consolidate our heartland by finally giving the rugby league-mad Central Coast their own team, and we are able to bring back a foundation club with 100+ years of history. And no one can question the merit of a second NZ team. I can point to the fact that the Warriors/Auckland Vulcans played in all 3 grand finals in 2011, as an indicator of the depth that NZ has. I can also point to the fact that the NZ national team has never in its history had as much depth as it has now, and it will only keep on growing. Traditionally, the Kiwis would always have a mix of NRL and Super League players in their team. Over the past 10 years, the presence of Super League players has decreased dramatically, and with Thomas Leuluai returning to the Warriors in 2013, I think we have seen the last of English-based players representing the Kiwis. The depth that NZ rugby league has is huge. But because there is only one NRL team in NZ, many aspiring league players take up offers from Aussie clubs due to greater opportunities to make it in the NRL. If you bring in another NZ team, you get twice as many kids staying in NZ rather than moving to Aus. This would go a long way to preventing future James Tamou and Sam Kasiano situations.

It’s a good side. I’m surprised Uate was dropped though. Not because Uate deserved to keep his spot, but because Ricky came out this week and publicly supported him. Brett Morris deserves it. He has also made his fair share of errors at Origin level (just ask Yow Yeh), but at least Morris’s errors come when he’s trying to do something positive. Uate can be forgiven for contesting a bomb and dropping it, but to not even contest a bomb is unforgivable. Morris has been pretty much error free under the high ball this year for the Dragons. He’s actually been the Dragons’ most consistent player this year (along with Trent Merrin and Nightingale).

I reckon the Morris boys should both shave their heads, or both get buzz cuts the same length for Game 3, seeing as the only way to tell them apart at the moment is to look at their hair. I reckon having two blokes in a team who look exactly alike (hair included) playing right next to each other is exactly the sort of thing that could put opposition defenders off, even just for a split second. After all, with the speed that both these guys have, a split second’s hesitation is all they need to beat defenders.

Josh Hoffman’s mum is Kiwi, Jason Nightingale’s parents are both Kiwi, while I’m not sure of Kenny-Dowall’s heritage he moved to NZ at a very young age and only came back to Australia as a 16 year old, Frank Pritchard has Kiwi parents and Gerard Beale has Kiwi parents. All these guys have dual eligibility and they have every right to play for NZ over Australia. Nathan Fien is the only current player that the Kiwis have stolen.

You’re an idiot Oikee. Firstly, Joey didn’t take drugs every week of his career. If you watch this interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF6wpyu4Vq4 and part 2 which is linked to that first video, you’ll see he mainly took drugs in the off-season. He did it occasionally during the season proper, but it was mostly in the off-season. Secondly, it’s easy to criticize Joey for his behavior, but I’d like to see you cope with the pressure he was under. And thirdly, if you knew anything about the Immortals, you’d know that what happens off the field is completely irrelevant. Joey could have been a murderer, a terrorist, a people smuggler, whatever. The Immortals is entirely about recognizing the most consistent and the best on-field performance.

Yes I’m aware that McGuire has played for Samoa. It’s less than ideal, but Samoa is a minnow nation. They have no regular test schedule and I personally can’t begrudge players for using minnow nations as stepping stones to greater representative honors (I wouldn’t do it myself, but I can’t blame others for doing it). That being said, NZ is clearly not a minnow nation. I believe it’s good for the international game if we are somewhat flexible with the eligibility rules for minnow nations. But there should be no chopping and changing between Aus, NZ and England.

100% spot on. As a proud Blue, I hate the fact that Tamou and Uate take the places of the likes of Aaron Woods and Brett Morris. I’d also hate it if QLD replaced Dave Taylor with Kasiano instead of Josh McGuire. Regardless of his nationality, I actually think McGuire deserves the spot more than Kasiano, and I’d hate for Kasiano to be picked just so he can never play for NZ in the future. I’m sure if Big Artie was still with us he’d be less than impressed if Kasiano was selected over a fair dinkum QLDer like McGuire.

It’s beyond a joke. How many times does something like this have to happen before something is done about it? I don’t have a problem with people born outside Australia playing for Australia. As a second generation Australian, I understand how quickly migrants become attached to their new homelands, especially when they move to such a great country like Australia. I know that my Grandma considers herself to be Aussie, despite having a foreign accent and being born and raised in a foreign place. If someone truly feels that they are Australian, then can cop them wearing the green and gold (in whatever sport they play). What I refuse to cop is James Tamou and Sam Kasiano (and Akuila Uate as well for that matter) choosing to represent my country and my state because it’s a “sound business decision” (Tamou’s words, not Kasiano’s, but big Sam is clearly also motivated by $$$$). As a proud Aussie and NSWelshman, it disgusts me that these two blokes want to play Origin and for Australia because they get paid well to do it. Not because of the rich history that the Blue, Maroon and Green and Gold jerseys hold. Not because of all the great players they admired as kids who wore those jerseys. But because it’s good business. It’s a disgrace.

Who do you reckon was more excited when Mark Coyne scored THAT try: Sam Kasiano or Josh McGuire? And who do you reckon is more likely to have cried themselves to sleep the night that Noddy Kimmorley threw that fateful pass to Matty Bowen in 2005: James Tamou or Aaron Woods? It’s a disgrace that Woods and McGuire should have their rightful spots in their respective state teams stolen from them by Kiwis. And if I were Brett Morris, I’d be filthy that a Fijian was preventing me from combining with my twin brother on the right wing.

The current rules don’t allow Inglis to play for QLD. Neither did the former rules. Inglis cheated the system by falsely claiming to have played his first senior footy for Norths Devils U18s, when in fact he had played his first senior footy for Newcastle Hunter. Dunno what Inglis has to do with it though.

You’ve completely missed the point though. It’s State of Origin. Not State of Residence for the Past 5 Years. State of Origin is not about Kiwis, or Poms or Ethiopians. I don’t want to see Sam Kasiano taking that all important first hit up in Origin 3, nor do I want to see him get smashed by James Tamou. Give me Tim Grant smashing Petero Civoniceva any day of the week (and yes I’m aware Petero is originally Fijian, but seeing as he’s spent 35 of his 36 years living in Australia, I’d say he more than qualifies to play for QLD).

“The NRL will be the best rugby league comp on the planet bar none.”

The NRL already is the best rugby league comp on the planet, bar none …..

All the Aussie born players in the NZ team have Kiwi parents (except Nathan Fien). Tamou and Kasiano don’t have Aussie parents. They weren’t born here, they’ve both spent the majority of their years in NZ and they both talk like Kiwis. What was it that Nathan Brown said about Rangi Chase being selected for England? “If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck”. That also applies to Kasiano and Tamou.