Greg Bird’s injury is a blessing for the NSW selectors for Origin III.
They can safely avoid the original plan to stick with Bird (relying on the modern management skill never admitting a mistake no matter how obvious) and pick Anasta. The trouble with Bird at 5/8 is that he is fine when the team is going well. But when a team is in trouble he doesn’t have the skills to produce something brilliant.
Of course, Anasta has his critics who point to his past Origin games as being nothing special. And they have a point. But Anasta has been in good from for the Roosters this year (much better than the previous times when he was picked for Origin) and deserves a recall. Still a sub par performance by Anasta may kill his chances of Origin for next year.
The same goes for some of the forwards. Especially Willie Mason. At club level, can be dominate but he is a bit of a flat track bully. He should be one of the greatest Origin forwards but Mason does have a tendency to hide when things are not going well. Given that Mason has stated that the will turn in the performance of his life, give him the chance. If he fails, then he give him the boot. A few of the other forwards are in the same boat. Hoffman needs to step up this game as well.
There is still some injury concerns clouding the selection of Wallace. I’ll be tempted to go for Mitchell Pearce if a new halfback is needed. He copped a hammering against the Knights but kept on going. That is a good sign for Origin and his partnership with Anasta would be beneficial to the blues.
And Hayne for Turner. No discussion needed here.
Origin III will be a beauty of a game. It will be a telling game for some of the NSW players. They will either make their Origin career or find the bitter realization that they couldn’t make it at the highest level.
7 responses so far ↓
Stephen Hill // Jun 24, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Good for the Bulldogs too (who need all the help they can get) facing the Sydney City Rorters without six Origin players.
Bismark O'Measles // Jun 24, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Braith can’t possibly do a worse job than Bird – injured or otherwise.
Probably won’t get himself arrested afterward as well.
Shaun // Jun 24, 2008 at 9:44 pm
If the Bulldogs lose this weekend then they really have hit rock bottom.
Stephen Hill // Jun 30, 2008 at 8:24 pm
“Rock bottom”
Yes that’s a very accurate description, it will be the Dantean inferno down-below if we lose the Wooden Spoon Deathmatch against the Rabbitohs.
The only consolation is there are half a dozen players in the Toyota Cup that will be in first grade in a year or two. But what we need at the member is a prop, “our kingdom for a prop.” And not a park player like Fred Briggs, can the Broncos lets us have Hennant a couple of weeks early, otherwise we’ll continue to get creamed – the Bulldogs currently have the go-forward of an asthmatic ant lifting a fifty tonne load.
BTW, the only prop I rate at the club is Justin Tsoulos, and I’ve heard a rumour that due to consistent injuries he is going to retire. (Mind you in the juniors John Kite is one player with a big future, apparently this giant of a prop made a 70m run from the kick-off against the Roosters in the Toyota Cup)
Also, I wonder if Ben Roberts can succeed in kicking the ball backwards in a third successive match?
Shaun // Jun 30, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Parra fans rated Tsoulos when he was at the club but he had the same problem with injuries. Probably a reason why he was let go.
If he does retire it is a loss to the game as he had the potential to be a great prop.
Stephen Hill // Jul 3, 2008 at 5:57 pm
You have to feel sorry for Tsoulos if it true, training hard for five/seven years, and then having to start a new career in your later twenties cannot be easy. He certainly had talent, he was providing the Dogs with a lot of go-forward was tall and could give a good off-load. I hope the rumour of his retirement is true as I think there is another talent that even with the risk of further injury I’d keep him at the club.
The other worry is Luke Patten, I hope he doesn’t go the way of Minichello.
Club Troppo » Missing Link Daily // Jul 22, 2008 at 9:11 am
[...] is acting very Queenslanderish in offering the NSW Origin forwards another chance to step up, and by ‘offering’ we mean indulging in ‘if I was a [...]