Roar Rookie
Joined May 2014
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Biggest Judge is yourself
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Open your eyes Laurie Daley. Don't listen to your heart or individuals such as power brokers and immortals. Yes, try to listen to everyone's…
Sorry Ryan but I have to disagree with your team for a number of reasons commencing with your selection of captain.
The hardest selection for me was where to best place Hayne & Hopoate and finding a prop forward who can at least contain Matt Scott. So here goes and along with it a few surprises:
1 – Brett Morris – Like ET did at Cronulla he has played FB before for the Dragons and is fine under the high ball.
2.- (LW) Hayne – best NSW performances have been on the LH wing and I prefer him playing against Tate (rather than Boyd or Inglis).
3 – (LC) Michael Jennings – hasn’t done much wrong.
4 – (RC) Josh Morris – has done well marking on Inglis in previous outings in SOO so why fix/change?
5 – (RW) Will Hopoate – has performed in Origin before (LW) but has to be in the backline for me. Solid and less mistake prone than all the other three quarters which a team needs.
6 – Wade Graham – yeap another surprise but I didn’t have the confidence to place Sutton in this pivotal role. Graham has to be in the team and has played 5/8 before and on the LH side of the field.
7 – Adam Reynolds – should have been in the team at least last year. No surprise Souths lost the PF in 2012 when he pulled his hamstring.
8 – Paul Gallen (c)- Poor options available – No one else can combat Matt Scott or have a similar build matched with Blue pride.
9 – Ryan Hinchcliffe – Has to be. Robbie Farrah is on the bench (coming back from injury) & better served attacking tired players.
10 – Willie Mason – Hard nut and I haven’t been impressed with Kiwi Tamou & Aaron Woods SOO games.
11 – Shaun Fensom – Tackling machine therefore makes sense to start as opposed to a bench position.
12- Greg Bird
13 – John Sutton – deserves his spot but as a lock as opposed to 5/8 which Graham should better handle.
Reserves: Robbie Farah, Luke Lewis, Trent Merrin & James Tamou.
Emergency Player if Greg Bird gets suspended = Anthony Watmough
My NSW Blues team for State of Origin I
Neither team IMHO. For me the team of 1986 are the best. Absolutely smashed the KIwis then carried on to be undefeated on the Kangaroo tour. Players like Kenny and Lewis and Jack were in their prime. The best indicator of how good a team is the quality of their opponents and this is why IMHO the 1986 team are the best. Just like IMHO the Queensland Origin team of 1987-1989 remain better then the current crop who have won 8 series in a row.
Which Australian rugby league side is better?
ET nailed a breakaway Martin Offiah twice in the first half. He had done it also in the sevens earlier in that year when Cronulla played Wigan. Thus it was not surprising to see Chariots Offiah all smiles when he scored off a forward Schofield pass in the second test in Melbourne and thus running around ET to just score in the corner. I miss seeing two classy wingers like ET & Offiah. Most players are like second rowers.
Will you attend tonight's Anzac Test?
Firstly, I am definitely not a Kearney fan. I was so mad at the selection decisions of the mot recent World Cup Final Team that I wasn’t surprised they were smashed in the final. Kearney’s poor decisions were part of the reason obviously such as RTS being selected and injured early (after being injured in the SF) with Kearney compounding it by playing Alex Glenn in the centres as opposed to a past performer in Mannering. Nightingale should of been selected instead of RTS at that time.
Anyone that has viewed JWH performances against Australia would easy agree with Kearney’s current decisions. Not having JWH and Alex Glenn for instance are the best things going for this Kiwi team. Of course the Aussies are disappointed, bit like QLD being disappointed if Mitchell Pearce & Ben Creagh were not selected for the Blues.
I do like having Eastwood, Nightingale, and Blair back in the team and Issac John at 5/8 maybe a welcome surprise.
Pity this team wasn’t picked due to many reasons as it would of been very competitive against Australia;
Josh Hoffman, RogerTuivasa-Sheck, Matai, Mannering, Nightingale, Kieran Foran, Johnson, Jeremy Smith, Blair, Pritchard, McKendry, Luke, Moa. (Res) Taumalolo, Eastwood, Leuluai, Matalino.
Steve Kearney has denigrated the sacred nature of Test footy
What is wrong with Brett Morris at FB? (ET as a centre for Cronulla played FB for NSW back in 1990 at a time difficult decisions had to be made by NSW and remembering then that the then all conquering QLD team had won the previous 2 series 3-0). Morris has played the position before at club level and performed fine. Is Hayne a better club player than Morris at FB – yes he is. But let me say this, over Hayne’s SOO career which position has he exceled for NSW – its left wing and not RW or FB. In terms of Graham QLD would firstly not expect it, but also he can handle Thaiday and would make life difficult for Cooper Cronk in defence. Hinchcliffe is selected purely as he is a mistake free type of footballer and less of a “wild child” who would likely either drop the ball at a wrong occasion (to milk a penalty) or give away a silly penalty such as a Jared Warea-Hargraves. Hinchcliffe also should know all the about the Storm tactics (Slater/Inglis/Cronk/Smith) considering he has been a part of that team for a while now. Lastly it makes sense that Farrah would be more devastating on a more tired team than a completely fresh one. By the way tim & willy d where are your teams with analysis to back up your selections? I mentioned in earlier posts prior to Merritt’s SOO appearance last year that he was going to be a scrapgoat and it happened. At a time when Qld needed to win and at Suncorp he was selected on his non preferred RH edge and based on Laurie Daley’s instructions his night and NSW night was a disaster. Had he been selected on his preferred LW against the less threat of Tate and had Adam Reynolds in I doubt he would have had a worse game than the one that night.
My NSW Blues team for State of Origin I