The team for Origin 2 was selected late Tuesday afternoon and there were 2 changes and one big surprise. Ben Hannant in for the injured Petero Civoneciva and Cam Smith back for Matt Ballin. Ballin can consider himself slightly unlucky but it was always on the cards.
The biggest issue to come out of the selection was the naming of recent code defector, Israel Folau. In case you've been under a rock, Izzy signed one of the biggest contracts in Australian domestic Sport. Ross Livermore from the QRL was quite vocal about not picking Israel and only picking 'committed' players. I disagree wholeheartedly with the comments made by Ross and it is a tad of a shock to see Izzy selected on the wing. Just the other day I was discussing the topic of QLD backs and the lack of established wingers available. For mine, Lote Tuqiri would be next in line but you'd have to think Livermore wouldn't want that considering his past defection to the lesser game. To me, the only wingers within cooee of a shot on the QLD side are Joseph Tomane, William Zillman or Jharal Yow Yeh. The issue with those three however is that they are not fully developed footballers - they have a way to go yet in terms of making mature decisions on the football field. Look at Yow Yeh in recent weeks - he's made a few blunders that just cannot happen in the Origin arena. Their time will come - with another year or two of experience these three guys should all be in contention for an outside back spot.
I'd like to take the rest of my rant to have a crack at old footballers; namely, Artie Beetson. For those of you who may be new to league, he was the inaugural QLD Origin captain back in 1980. Artie now is part of a seemingly large contingent of ex-sports people who don't work in the media but feel they have the right to impart their misguided and archaic wisdom to the sports loving public. Another former athlete that falls into this category is Jeff Thompson. His rants about what is wrong with the cricket world are enough to drive me crazy. Last time I checked the world had changed a lot since their day. An example of Beetson's ancient logic can be viewed in this article - what right does he think he has to demand to know what a total stranger is doing with their life decisions?
It isn't an issue of lack of respect - Artie and Thommo paved the way for the athletes of today and their performances were of the highest standard. My issue is that essentially these two sit on the front porch like 2 elderly men complaining about the youth of today and that back in their day, a bottle of milk cost a threepence. I hate to say it but for better or for worse, we live in a modern world and their archaic opinions about the state of the game are horribly irritating. Everyone is entitled to their opinion however out-dated views are annoying and quite frankly a pain to endure.
Until next time,
Waldo.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
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I think Big Artie is talking about what has made Qld great in Origin & who deserves to play for Qld. The team is built on loyalty, mateship, desire to win for your state & giving all you have even if you are down for the count. He can't be denigrated for having an opinion as he's been there done that as player, captain & coach for the maroons.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt that he's been there and done that - as far as accolades go, he pretty much has them all.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a case of not being able to have an opinion - freedom of speech allows that and I'm all for it (especially given Jim and I run a blogging site!). My issue lies with his archaic theories and uncalled for intrusion - case in point was his demand to know what Folau was going to do.