http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,23519190-23214,00.html
MATT Orford doesn't like talking about the criticism because it's not something he can control.
He doesn't know where it started or who started it. He doesn't even think it's warranted. But he knows it has legs and is not doing him any favours. The more it's spoken about, the more the mud seems to stick to the Manly half-back. So how does the Sea Eagles skipper handle this perception out there that he is a big-game failure?
"I try not to worry about it any more," he says. "I don't know where it's come from. The grand final, I didn't play that well in, but I had it a long time before then. "It's frustrating because I don't really think I have played in any big games where I've felt I've been really ordinary.
"I guess being a half-back, if you win you get some accolades because, more so than not, you are the focal point of your side's victory.
"But part and parcel of the position, I suppose, is you can attract some criticism if it doesn't all go well."
Bitter? Not even close. Orford simply rolls with the punches.
It's not as if he has been completely abandoned by the representative selectors. If there is a stigma there, it has been ignored on at least two occasions. Orford has twice been chosen to make his State of Origin debut for the Blues only to be forced to withdraw because of injury.
As fate would have it, his replacement in one of those games - Brett Finch - turned himself into an instant New South Wales hero by nailing a long-range field goal to sink Queensland. How did Orford feel when it happened?
"Mate, honestly, I was just really happy for Finchy that night because he's a good bloke and on a really limited preparation, he rose to the occasion and came up with one of those really special moments every player dreams of," he says."I was injured which is just one of those things. Good luck to him."
So Orford sits back and waits. He knows all he can do is keep playing well and control what he can control. Put himself in the picture and bide his time. Be patient. Thankfully for Orford, patience is one of his great virtues. It's something he has had plenty of practice at. Rewind to the start of his career at North Sydney and then at the Northern Eagles.
It took him five seasons to finally crack it for a first-grade spot.
He worked as a postie on the Central Coast to help make ends meet while he waited for his chance. And waited, and waited. Orford explains. "Jason Taylor was the halfback at both clubs and I sat behind him for a long, long time," he recalls.
"I was playing pretty good football and going OK in reserve grade and there was just that eagerness to get that taste of first grade but I couldn't actually get there. "(Taylor) was just one of those remarkable players who was very professional and never got injured. I suppose he had a lot of luck on his side as well.
"Even when he wasn't playing that well, I probably knew I wasn't going to get a look in because he was such an important member of the side. His goal-kicking was too vital. "But I guess what it did was it kept me very hungry and kept me working really hard on achieving my goals and not once did I give up and think 'this isn't for me and it's not going to work'.
"Five years in reserve grade back in those days is a fair while and I suppose I could easily have thrown in the towel or gone somewhere else.
"But I just stuck at it and Peter Sharp (Northern Eagles coach) actually gave me my first start so I owe him a little bit." Orford has since spent three seasons under Storm coach Craig Bellamy in Melbourne before linking with Manly on a big-money deal. He claims there are no lingering scars left from last year's heavy grand final defeat and he heads back to Olympic Park in a good frame of mind.
He knows just how open the race is for the NSW half-back job this season. Little more than a month out from the Origin series opener and there are still five or six serious contenders for the job. But he is not about to put any pressure on himself.
"I'll just be doing what I always do and go out and try to play my best but it's more a team thing than an individual thing," he said. As for the grand final rematch with the Storm, Orford is not putting much weight on that either.
"It will get pumped up as a rematch but it doesn't feel like that to me," he says. "We are four or five weeks into a new season and are still sorting out new combinations. "We haven't even looked like peaking yet but that's fine. We'll just see how we go."
OK, so there may only be two competition points up for grabs but deep down, Orford will know there is more at stake personally. Blues coach Bellamy will be watching from close quarters. So, too, the Blues selectors.
This
is a big game for the little No.7. A chance for him to wash off some of that mud.
