watatank said:
Brenton Bowen cannot defend. Specialist wingers are overrated anyway, why would you pick Bowen if you can pick someone like Slater, Wesser, even Tate is ahead of him? I'd even pick Israel Falou from before Bowen.
Ryles is in great form, and especially from the back end of last year, and has got better this year. He dominated the Broncos pack last time they met the Dragons as well. But I suppose as a Broncos supporter you choose to ignore that. He may have a tendency at times to give away a penalty or so but he's worked really hard on that aspect and he isn't enough of a liability to be ignored.
O'meley isn't nearly as good as people think IMO. He's good for a decent run every now and then but most of the time goes missing and can't really be relied upon when the shit hits the fan. That's not to say he is terrible but he's not that good either IMO.
I justified my choice of Hornby at five eighth. Lyon? What is that based on? You mean the first twenty minutes he played in round one before he was switched to the centres, and the myth going around that he starred in england at five eighth? (he played a couple of games there or something and he hardly starred, he starred at centre though). He's had a grand total of about three games there. Wouldn't suprise me if he was picked there though, they did that with Gasnier last year, but then again that was a total disaster.
If Buderus is fit he will play. Farah will get a shot eventually but not this year barring injury
Tate will get picked because he is highly rated by those who matter.
I also expect Orford to make his debut this year, if he can show his form warrants it when comes back from injury. I just have doubts over his ability in rep football now but i hope to be proved wrong.
Israel Falou? Didn't know the kid was eligible for Queensland let alone whether or not he is eligible for State of Origin. I wouldn't pick Slater on the wing, he has been put there before and has failed miserably as has Wesser who even managed to choke at his favoured position. Though Tate is highly regarded, his atrocious form is suggesting otherwise because he had been in-form during the Origin period. This time around is very much different in so many ways than one.
Though I do agree that Ryles can be very dynamic when he 'wants to be' but all I'm saying is that there are plenty of front rowers out there who are playing far better than him and are much more dynamic than him. I'm not ignorant of the fact that he dominated the game against the Broncos because I remember that clearly because of the fact I was expecting him to have a shocker against a pack that should've played far better than the Dragons but you cannot pass judgement based on one game even though you're probably not.
The fact of the matter is, I don't think Ryles' running style is fit for Origin and that has been proven time and time again when he has been picked. The man is neither aware of this or hasn't bothered to change his running style, he practically runs upright and being the good large size he is, he leaves his abdominal area clearly open to be struck and on a stage like SoO, you are going to get punished both on the statistics as well as physically. He needs to fix that up not to mention several other parts of his game before playing himself back into contention because IMO Bailey and O'Meley seem the better candidates on the starting line up. You're hard pressed with a NSW forward pack like that.
I think Lyon will be picked at five eighth and selectors have shown in the past that they're willing to play players out of position even if they've had limited game time with it both in SoO as well as club level. Examples:
Thurston to Halfback.
Mason to Prop.
Slater on the Wing.
Minichiello at Fullback.
Lockyer at Five Eighth.
Webcke in the Front Row. (He was previously a second rower)
Wing at Hooker.
Gasnier at Five Eighth.
O'Donnell at Lock.
Bowen at Hooker.
And so forth...
Both successes and failures but that is enough to suggest that you have a 50/50 chance of it working out and Lyon is a proven representative player so why the hell not? I can't see many other good, established choices out there. Perhaps some rookie youngster but with the competitiveness of Origin, selectors won't be willing unless he is somewhat amazing like Hayne and Inglis in their debut year.
Orford will make his debut considering they have space for Hornby on the bench otherwise I think Hornby would be my tip to play halfback. He is a genuine ball-playing, support-playing half. I rate him highly.
And finally, I'd be spewing if Tate is on the team. He has done absolutely nothing to deserve it, much like Tahu who has not proven a thing in club level footy for a very long time to deserve a spot on the team.
