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In reference to who's going to come on for Luke Bailey or Jason Ryles, both Steve Simpson and Andrew Ryan have played in the front row before. They will almost certainly be the replacements for the two Dragons boys.Constip8edSkunk said:lets not also forget kite, morrison, menzies(who absolutely deserved 18th man, edging out anasta), ben creagh, tupou, gallen,....
personally i'd have prefered waterhouse as he brings some flexibility to the bench, who's gonna sub for ryles or bailry when they come off? there would be 5 2nd rowers on the field.
Look at the second rowers in the starting line up:
Hindmarsh and Fitzgibbon are 80 minute players. They don't particularly need to be taken off, unless something drastically wrong is happening.
Ben Kennedy at lock can also play 80 minutes, but Watmough and Wing can both be used at lock.
If there had been other capable front rowers in the competition, Menzies probably would have been selected over Andrew Ryan based on form. However, the current state of front row stocks for NSW must be at some sort of all time low.
Who do we have? Ryles and Bailey are the two best by a huge distance. Ashton Sims and Justin Poore (also at the Dragons) are up and coming front rowers, and Sims in particular could well become a superstar up front. Joel Clinton reminds me too much of Phil Bailey -- a one-hit wonder. Ryan O'Hara got injured at the beginning of the season, and he was tipped for a big season this year. Brent Kite would have been selected, but since he went to Manly, he has trimmed down a bit. I think the selectors were worried that his slimmer figure would be absolutely thumped and dominated by the larger QLD pack.
On your point about possible second rowers... Morrison is probably one of the unluckiest second rowers ever. He is playing in an era where NSW seem to have a never-ending supply of quality second rowers. Don't forget that Willie Mason was injured for this whole series too. If this was ten years ago, or possibly in another ten years, Morrison would probably be an automatic selection.
Gallen can also consider himself desperately unlucky, for he is in career-best form.
Ben Creagh and Anthony Tupou are two players of the future for NSW. These two will get their turn soon, and they will not disappoint. Along with Sims, Poore, and (who's the young prop down in Canberra with huge wraps on him?), we have an able front row for the future. Creagh, Tupou, and Dean Young will provide a capable and very damaging second row. Michael and Ennis and Robbie Farah will battle for hooker (and an older Craig Wing will still be around). That looks like a very decent forward pack.
The future is good for NSW, and the present is also good.
Blues by 4 in SOOI up at Suncorp.