Thank you for your perspective Locky Jr.
There were 6 broncos in the 2017 game 1 team..... 3 in game 2 with the 2016 player of the series who was a bronco dropped the following year, andthe best QLD game 1 player dropped (a bronco again)... If you play for the broncos you get dropped if the TEAM loses, other nrl team players don't get dropped due to "loyalty"..
Justin O'Neil, Nate Myles, Aidan Guerra and Jacob Lillyman were all dropped ahead of Game II. Oates was hard done by, but are you really going to argue he was better than Valentine Holmes or Dane Gagai?
Outside of Oates, the other Broncos who were dropped were Anthony Milford and Sam Thaiday. Anthony Milford was a late call-up for Johnathan Thurston who assumed his spot in the second Game. By the third game, Anthony Milford had suffered a dislocated shoulder and was unavailable for selection. I can't blame Walters there.
Thaiday was lucky to still be apart of the Maroons system and after the Maroons suffered their worst ever defeat at home, a change was necessary.
Ofa and oates not being in the origin team somewhere is ridiculous, especially after the pitiful performances of Wallace and Chambers in games 1 and 2 last year.
Before this series, Chambers had easily been among the Maroons most consistent players and his form at club level was undeniably the best of all the three-quarter options. Likewise, Wallace played well in his initial series and was shown some latitude. In some ways he was lucky, but there wasn't much in regards to alternatives. Ofahengaue's form was improving, but it was only last year he was suiting up for the Magpies and there were real question marks over his future.
Gavin Cooper being played when players like thaiday and boyd were dropped in view of the future.
Unlike Thaiday and Boyd, Cooper benefited from a lack of viable alternatives. With Gillett injured and Papalii transitioning to the middle, the only option was Guerra who had failed.
Ben hunt all of a sudden getting a golden run after announcing he is signing for the dragons.
It wasn't sudden, Ben Hunt was drafted in after Michael Morgan was promoted to the centres. If anything it demonstrates the opposite as Daly Cherry-Evans was the favourite, but Walters believed in Hunt after working with him at the Broncos.
But I'm sure our players were horrendously out of form compared to those players and did not deserve loyalty like the great QLD stalwarts such as Cooper, Wallace, Chambers and Hess...
Unfortunately for Queensland, most of those were unquestionably the best option. Maybe Wallace and Hess can be considered lucky, but it wasn't like their alternates were banging down the door demanding selection. At best, they may have been playing slightly better football.
I still fail to see the media's role in this. When it comes to Origin, the Sydney media aren't exactly filling out their own 17s for the Maroons and who they should pick. At most they'll state the bleeding obvious about Billy Slater and Kalyn Ponga.
