He will be there, no doubt.
He should've retired from SOO
Where were NSW's leaders?
The Devil went down to Queensland, he was looking for a soul to nix. He was in a bind, cos he was way behind, 52-6 ...
Bloody banjo hell! What was THAT all about? Look, I accept that the NSW performance in Origin III in July was not all their fault, that they were always going to be up against it from the moment that I used my evil powers as the Kiss of Death to anoint them as the likely winners, but that still doesn't explain an Historic Humiliation of those proportions. Various players and coach Laurie Daley himself maintained glibly the "stats were against us", as if the stats were an independent entity, like the wind blowing the wrong way ? instead of being simply the most accurate reflection of an outright appalling performance. But what I simply don't get was the lack of leadership. In a situation like that, when players are playing way below par on the biggest stage of all ? thank you, I know of that which I speak ? the first requirement is a captain, backed by senior players, laying down the law, and pointing out a few home truths. No less than 31 years later, my right ear still rings from something Simon Poidevin said to us when the Sydney team was losing to Swansea by a cricket score and we kicked into gear accordingly. We saw nothing of that from Paul Gallen, nor from any of them. No roar of rage from behind the tryline, no finger-pointing, no holding to account. On the field, there seemed just meek acceptance of their fate, while on the superbly-led, magnificent Queensland side, even when 40 points up, they just wanted more, more, more! Whether or not it was Gallen's last Origin game I know not, but it has to be his last game as captain. Not good enough.
(This, come to think of it, might have been one of the reasons Gallen himself approached me in the NRL box at the grand final, to ask me ? in the manner of a man who sincerely wanted to know ? why I wrote such negative stuff on him. "Sincerity," I replied, and I meant that ... sincerely.)
