I thought it was more of Sheens/Stuart dislike towards him and his attitude. He still has shown more heart in the blue jersey in one game than most players (i.e. Creagh, Scott, Cooper, Morris) throughout their entire origin career.
Yeah I don't know what effect he has on a player group, but without being to Manly bias, he was in the faces of QLD in defence in every game last year and if the had stuck with lewis for all 3 aswell we might have had a chance.
I hate that coaches have favourites. You pick your best and put personal clashes in the closet. They're meant to be professional and thats part of the definiton of professional.
John Howard and Peter Costello where not friends, but they put that behind them to run a country. You'd think a couple of meatheads could do the same.
His absolutely better then Creagh (but so are Hindmarsh, G.Stewart, Heighton) and I'll spew when they pick him.