Fair call chaps, I read the team wrong.

Apologies :)

Tigerrish,

I'm probably going with Stuart on this one, Gasnier has played right centre all year with Nightingale outside him, on top of that Gasnier was not selected in the test side. From memory Inglis was at left centre (went off injured and was replaced by Idris), and Hodges was at right centre.

You might need to have another look at the tapes...

Its seems as though Ricky should have written down what he was going to say at the press conference last week. He really has made himself look like he hasnt really watched all the NRL matches with a wider lens than he should have.

He claims he has selected players who are specialist in their positions and wouldnt consider anyone playing out of their normal spot.

To quote Stuart......

"I think Mark Gasnier's in better form than Jamal as right centre," Stuart said.

"I could have picked Jarryd and Jamal in positions that they haven't played a lot of football in.

"I don't think that would be right in regards to the preparation for the team. I don't think it would be the right balance.

"When you're playing against a football team with the quality of the Queensland team, to put a player in a position that he is not a specialist in I think would be foolish in game one."

Ummm Ricky, Gasnier hasnt play a single game at right centre for the Dragons all year. He plays left centre with Morris beside him. The only time Gasnier played right centre was in the test match and only because Inglis was first choice at left. Wayne Bennett thinks Gasnier is a left centre, but you dont?

Gasnier has played all his football this year, besides the test, at left centre. Wayne Bennett thinks he's a left player and his combination with Morris is lethal. But here's poor Ricky stating incorrect facts to back up what would appear to be a totally clueless reason why Idris isnt playing. But he's also broken up the /Gasnier/Morris combination.......why would you do that unless you were forced to like Sheens was?

If these two were picked in their rightful positions then Idris would be playing and he would also facing off with Tonga, the bigger of the two Qld centres.

Sorry Ricky, but I'd take the ideas on player positions from someone like Wayne Bennett over you.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/badnews-stuart-after-the-hard-calls-the-hard-phone-calls-20110516-1epyv.html

WHEN NSW coach Ricky Stuart phoned the star players who missed out on selection for Origin I he had little choice but to be honest and up front with them about the reasons for their omissions.

Under the new Blues structure, Stuart is not only coach but the sole NSW selector.

He could not use the age-old gambit when he spoke to Robbie Farah, Tom Learoyd-Lahrs, Luke Lewis and Jarrod Mullen about wanting them in the side but the selectors preferring someone else.

Fair enough Insom. I accept your point.

I think his positional play has improved as well but it needed to.

cheers
Moley

"Idris? LOL. He has absolutely no idea in defense and should not be considered for rep football on that basis alone. The biggest myth in the game at the moment."

Insom,
In the first three rounds of this season Idris had racked up 7 ineffective tackles and 10 missed tackles. They are bad numbers however you want to look at them. But in his last six games he has been considerably better – only 2 ineffective tackles and 10 missed tackles. His defence is improving all the time. He missed one tackle against the Dragons on the weekend and one tackle against the Broncos in the game prior to that.

But now for the other side of the coin – Michael Jennings is the man keeping him out of the centres for NSW. In his last six games he’s had 5 ineffective tackles and missed 12. And I’m not just cherry-picking figures to suit my argument here – Jennings missed 7 tackles in round one.

cheers
Moley

Some interesting stats. Of course they don't tell the full story but it shows Tolman is a good bet if you want your props going forward.


SNOWDEN TOLMAN KING
Games: 8 8 7
Mins played: 457 482 306
Try: 0 1 0
Runs: 114 153 84
Metres: 985 1229 658
Tackle Busts: 16 3 5
Linebreaks: 5 1 0
Try Assists: 2 0 0
Offloads: 10 5 8
Handling Err: 4 0 1
Penalties: 7 3 2
Tackles: 218 281 149
Tackles Miss: 36 12 10

Fulton? Obviously Stuart consulted with him but this side is Stuart's, noone elses. He has said as much, as has Gould.

Oh dear,

It's that time of year again-
hype, cliches, BS, hype.

where's the mute button.

NSW never seem to get this right.

Hayne has always stepped up for NSW - he's played on the wing previously and been close to best on ground when he has.

As for the specialist argument...maybe for some roles, but I'm quite happy to have Darius Boyd playing on a wing for us.

Idris and Hayne need to be picked and you need to stick with them...and I know Learoyd-Lahrs is going like a busted with the Raiders but I would have stuck with him as well.

Closer...but no cigar

6-0

I'm not a St George fan, but they definitely deserve to have several players in the NSW team (I might disagree with two of them though). They have been the standout NRL team for the last two years and they show a SOO type attitude every week.

I am amazed though that there was no place in the 17 for Hayne, Idris, Lewis and Tolman.

Queensland will be shaking in their boots with belly laughter rippling all the way down. What a feckless selection.

Zappy,

I think you hit on something regarding the coaches ego, his press conference smacked of that and his reasons for not selecting certain players were borderline laughable.

"I want players who are specialist in their positions"

So he not only leaves out Idris, a starting test centre last week because Gasnier plays the same position, he doesn even give him a spot on the bench. This is a 100kg plus centre who can play in the back row.

He spends a couple of minutes rapping Hayne and his brilliance, he even said after watching him yesterday that he plays his position like an extra 5/8. But he cant fit a player like that in, not only the run on side, but he cant fit him on the bench.

Farrar and Watmough, both in the original test squad, they miss out as well. Had Hayne not been suspended, he might well have played in the test match too. So we have 4 players deemed good enough to be in the top 20 as far as internationals go, but they arent in the top 17 for their own state?

That would make sense if NSW were the dominant SOO team over the past few season. But they arent, they havent even been close. And picking almost the entire Dragons team is not going to win you a SOO series. Stuart even went to great lengths to point out that SOO football was totally different to club footy, so why does he think pick St George team as his squad is going to win him anything?

But the most laughable comment Stuart made was when he said "We didnt select a team to play like Qld, we want a team to play like NSW"

Hello Ricky, thats what you've been doing the last few years and it aint working. When in Rome, do as the Romans, in this case, do as Qld do.

Thank god I dont support NSW, but I would like to see them actually look like having a chance. But you leave out players who might actually stick it to Qld at certain times during a game isnt helping your cause.