Broncoman
State of Origin Rep
- Oct 9, 2011
- 7,691
- 1,118
Read this morning that Daniel Tupuo is another Parramatta junior that the Eels let go. Jesus how many great juniors does that club ignore? I've lost count.
Roosters fans were idiots for wanting to get rid of him though. Friend had a lot of potential last year too and was still ahead of McCullough in my view.
I think the differing opinions of Friend in 2013 and pre-2013 shows the ridiculous extent to which people base their judgements of hookers on their dummy-half running. The Roosters didn't have a particularly strong pack for years so Friend didn't get much opportunity to scoot; instead he just tackled and passed most of the time. Then in 2013 the pack starts rolling and with that extra time and space and the quick play-the-balls, we get a better exhibit of Friend's running and creativity and suddenly everyone is slavering over his natural ability.
2013 was an exceptional year for him but he was a good player before that too. people just didn't bother to watch him carefully enough to notice
not the classiest or most intelligent thing to be saying
Yeah, I dunno what Roosters fans actually wanted him gone. Probably the ones who think Mini is a great player these days.
And it's hard to see it changing, as the speed of the modern game seems to move towards favouring hookers who can get the ball away quickly and are smart out of dummy half, not hookers who are trying to emulate Cameron Smith.
A question for the Queenslanders.
If you were a Queensland selector and an Origin game was to be played tomorrow and Cameron Smith just broke his leg and was unable to play and you had to pick Friend or Ballin to replace him who would it be?. I would pick Ballin because he has Origin experience and performed really well in his Origin game from memory.
The interpretations of rules seem to change every week, I honestly don't even know what the correct ruling on the Lyon try should be. Maybe that's how they are trying to grind us down into submission.