he is a useless tit who has peaked, but he's established and can "handle" week to week NRL football, so to speak. we don't have a wealth of blokes in the squad that fit that description at the moment up front. he would be there at the moment as much because he's been there, done that... as much (or should i say moreso) than any other reason.
it doesn't make him less shit, it just means that we're pretty shallow on experienced front row depth. that's basically it in a nutshell. Taufua is on the way out, hits and runs harder but has f**k all petrol in the tank... Filipo is a centre that can play backrow... and who do we have any deeper than that? Tetevano should get a run by the end of the year...
Ciraldo is the only genuine mystery for selections week on week. i can make perfect sense of Mr Unlimited's selection, but young blokes really do seem a better option than Ciraldo. he offers less than nothing.
as Serc touched on, we've blooded a lot of youngsters this year very successfully. it's not often you have a year like this year where so many kids step up and look good in a pretty mediocre side. Stone has to be credited (although he won't be by titheads like Nuffy and co, who like to get the daggers out after we lose - and only after we lose, lol soft as shit) with bringing these kids through properly and well. i don't know why people would doubt his selection methods to the extent they do when they have produced solid results, both tangible on the ladder and intangible in our playing group. i can't explain Ciraldos selection week after week, but i'm willing to give Stone the benefit of the doubt on it.
if Stig does well against Manly, i don't think Stone will make the same mistake again with Gids in the halves. in fact, he may play Stig even if he doesn't go that well against Manly... but i'm betting the real problem with keeping Stig starting in firsts is going to be his defence.
