Firstly i have nothing against michael gordon, from the games ive seen he is a solid player and a great goal kicker. The idea that he got picked ahead of merritt cause his goal kicking ability is complete and utter sh*t.
NSW cant score any trys, they havent been losing by 2 points they've been losing by 20 its a joke.
I agree with others, Kevin Gordon is much better choice then michael gordon, but its a disgrace that merritt didnt get a run.
Im not going to bother posting the stats, you already know merritt is the most consistent try scorer, he is up the top every year, from a side that constantly misses out thats pretty damn good.
All this crap about merritt not putting in effort and workload. thats all it is... crap. Meritt, isaac Luke and luke stuart every single game put in 100%. When souths were behind the 8 ball last year against tigers, merritt was the one who showed the urgency to get the ball charged down in field goal attempt, then a play later he kicked the winning goal.
"his too small, he needs to be bigger" is another crap statement. HE IS A WINGER FFS. everytime ive seen inglis run at him when souths vs melbourne, merritt has always brought him down every time. over the try line he gets under and holds the ball up, and when inglis has palmed him off merritt has chopped him at the legs, which is what every other winger and centre in NSW origin has failed to do before, Merritt backs up all the time. he was fullback last year and scored something like 19 tries, he is a winger this year and already has 13.
and what is with people posting Hit-ups stats, mate you're off your head. They are wingers, wingers need to be quick and have a freakish ability to score tries, thats just what a winger is. Thats what merritt is.
Im not going to be blind, merritt did have a pretty dud game last weekend against storm, he had a blunder with wesser at the back with neither of them showing urgency to get the ball. both had pointed the finger at each other (however the fullback should be there, thats his job).
he narrowly missed a try which he semi blundered. He took one defender out who passed to it may have been inglis on the inside who scored, merritt took his man but thats all he could do he had no support.
The only thing you could blame him for in that game is maybe the missed try and the thign with him and wesser at the back.
Last weekend they said if merritt has a good game this w.e he'll definatly get picked, unfortunatly for him he had a off game, i think the pressure got to him, it was a very unusual game for merritt, i havent seen him have a game like that at all. ever. If the sides playing bad, merritts always playing good.
But to end this rant, im shattered for merritt that he didnt get picked, he deserved it over everyone else, obvisouly you dont get picked on form and ability, i dont know what they look for, but its obviosuly not working.
Dont know why beau scott is still there, jennings is a good selection.
I'm happy merritt didnt get picked, because now he will just be worrying about souths, and everyone will see at the end of this year when he tops the try scoring list that NSW made a mistake once again.