Mal off to the Kangaroos

[Battler]

How many NSWelshmen will even make the Aus side (assuming it's picked without bias)? Gallen is past it, so Klemmer, Woods (yuck), Tamou (maybe), Morris? You could throw Jennings/ Ferguson in there if Chambers or GI goes down with injury I guess.

 

[tommy]

I remember a time when the only NSW players who SHOULD have been picked were Gallen and Hayne but somehow they still managed to make up about %50 of the team .

 

[Big Pete]

How many NSWelshmen will even make the Aus side (assuming it's picked without bias)? Gallen is past it, so Klemmer, Woods (yuck), Tamou (maybe), Morris? You could throw Jennings/ Ferguson in there if Chambers or GI goes down with injury I guess.

This is the incumbent side...

1. Greg Inglis
2. Josh Dugan
3. Will Chambers
4. Michael Jennings
5. Alex Johnston
6. Johnathan Thurston
7. Cooper Cronk
8. Matt Scott
9. Cameron Smith
10. Aaron Woods
11. Greg Bird
12. Sam Thaiday
13. Corey Parker

14. Luke Lewis
15. Trent Merrin
16. Nate Myles
17. James Tamou

Of course looking at that line-up again, I'm reminded of how much of a joke Hodges' omission was. It would have been his final test in front of his home stadium yet the selectors come up with this cockamamie 'youth policy' rhetoric which just came across as hypocritical. Look at some of the ages in that side. Bird (31), Thaiday (30), Lewis (32), Myles (30) weren't exactly spring chickens and while nobody disputed their selections JT (32), Cronk (32), Smith (32) and Parker (33) had enough experience between them to help the younger brigade.

I'll be very interested to see what sort of influence Mal has on selections. In his time at Queensland, Mal seemed very big on ownership and giving guys spots until they lost him. One of his first moves in fact was putting Lockyer, Civoniceiva and Price on notice ahead of Game II. Had they lost that game, all three would have lost their spots with Scott Prince/Cooper Cronk coming in for Locky and Mat Scott/David Shillington/Nate Myles/Sam Thaiday/Corey Parker/Ben Ross etc being groomed much earlier than they were for the Maroons.

So I wouldn't be surprised to see Mal go with the safest 17 imagineable, something along the lines of...

1. Billy Slater
2. Darius Boyd
3. Greg Inglis
4. Will Chambers
5. Brett Morris
6. Johnathan Thurston
7. Cooper Cronk
8. Matt Scott
9. Cameron Smith
10. Paul Gallen
11. Greg Bird
12. Sam Thaiday
13. Corey Parker

14. Michael Morgan
15. Aaron Woods
16. Luke Lewis
17. James Tamou

Something along those lines with Jennings, J. Morris, Cherry-Evans, Klemmer, Merrin, Papalii, Cordner etc. waiting in the wings.

At this stage, I'd be looking to go down another route and test out a few combinations ahead of the 2017 World Cup with guys like Ferguson, Roberts, Milford etc getting a look in but Mal has a different philosophy.

 

[tommy]

This is the incumbent side...

1. Greg Inglis
2. Josh Dugan
3. Will Chambers
4. Michael Jennings
5. Alex Johnston
6. Johnathan Thurston
7. Cooper Cronk
8. Matt Scott
9. Cameron Smith
10. Aaron Woods
11. Greg Bird
12. Sam Thaiday
13. Corey Parker

14. Luke Lewis
15. Trent Merrin
16. Nate Myles
17. James Tamou

Of course looking at that line-up again, I'm reminded of how much of a joke Hodges' omission was. It would have been his final test in front of his home stadium yet the selectors come up with this cockamamie 'youth policy' rhetoric which just came across as hypocritical. Look at some of the ages in that side. Bird (31), Thaiday (30), Lewis (32), Myles (30) weren't exactly spring chickens and while nobody disputed their selections JT (32), Cronk (32), Smith (32) and Parker (33) had enough experience between them to help the younger brigade.

I'll be very interested to see what sort of influence Mal has on selections. In his time at Queensland, Mal seemed very big on ownership and giving guys spots until they lost him. One of his first moves in fact was putting Lockyer, Civoniceiva and Price on notice ahead of Game II. Had they lost that game, all three would have lost their spots with Scott Prince/Cooper Cronk coming in for Locky and Mat Scott/David Shillington/Nate Myles/Sam Thaiday/Corey Parker/Ben Ross etc being groomed much earlier than they were for the Maroons.

So I wouldn't be surprised to see Mal go with the safest 17 imagineable, something along the lines of...

1. Billy Slater
2. Darius Boyd
3. Greg Inglis
4. Will Chambers
5. Brett Morris
6. Johnathan Thurston
7. Cooper Cronk
8. Matt Scott
9. Cameron Smith
10. Paul Gallen
11. Greg Bird
12. Sam Thaiday
13. Corey Parker

14. Michael Morgan
15. Aaron Woods
16. Luke Lewis
17. James Tamou

Something along those lines with Jennings, J. Morris, Cherry-Evans, Klemmer, Merrin, Papalii, Cordner etc. waiting in the wings.

You don't think Ben Hunt is ahead of DCE ?

 

[Big Pete]

I don't think the selectors do.

At least not anymore.

 

[Super Freak]

Mal has already named his squad for the next test match.

 

[Broncoman]

One of the big challenges for Mal presuming he stays long term will be the transition phase in the spine with the retirements of Slater/Cronk/Thurston/Smith. They are 33 and are approaching the end of their careers and the players coming through aren't bad but they are nowhere whatsoever in the same league as these guys, it's also one of the challenges for QLD in the future as well.