I emailed Flanno today and actually asked him the two questions everyone's been asking. Firstly why is Beale taking up a bench spot and what has happened to JSL?
Refreshingly and something that may surprise you all, he responded within a few hours with his answers.
He told me that Beale is a quality player and when fit is probably our best centre. He picked up a hamstring injury in the Nines (something I think we all knew about) and carried that into the trial against the Tigers. It was decided for Round 1 that in the heat up in NQ he was a little underdone and they decided not to risk him.
He's been given some game time since and while it's not the ideal option the coaching staff have decided the bench is the best option and they are confident the 3 forward bench can do the job.
Flanno said Beale will get his chance sooner rather than later but in the meantime Ricky has done nothing to warrant getting dropped.
He also said this sort of competition is good for the side with players having to fight for their positions.
In regards to JSL he is working hard on some areas of his game that the coaching staff feel he needs to work on. He then added it would be hard at this point to put JSL ahead of the Fifita boys, Taga, Prior, Gal or Heigno. Had to agree with him there.
I thought it was very decent of him to reply, he really didn't need to but all credit to him.
