Selection Farce # 1026: Mark O'Meley

[Broncodroid]

Members

I am sorry, I came home in a pretty good mood today which was all but removed when reading the non selection of Canterbury's Mark O'Meley a guy with whom I have a massive amount of time for as a player and genuine knock about bloke.

Mark O'Meley answered every damn question asked of him in 2004 and this is still not good enough for selectors who failed to even get him in the 18 if we include Timmins, a player not considered good enough when the original squad was named.

As per usual, I will back my post up with stats you cannot argue with, on form, Mark O'Meley with Steve Price are the 2 bests props running around for Australia. The injury to Price saved Webcke's bacon I had thought, but never did I entertain the though Mark O'Meley's name would not be read out in the 17 man team to play NZ.

Stats that matter when comparing O'Meley, Webck and Ryles:

Mark O'Meley

23 appearances - 5 tries

483 tackles @ 21.0 p/g
53 offloads @ 2.3 p/g
6 line-breaks @ 0.3 p/g
448 hitups @ 19.5 p/g
3873 metres @ 168.4 p.g
16 errors @ 0.7 p/g
46 missed tckl @ 2.0 p/g

Shane Webcke

18 appearances - 1 try

479 tackles @ 26.6 p/g
35 offloads @ 1.9 p/g
2 line-breaks @ 0.1 p/g
272 hitups @ 15.1 p/g
2224 metres @ 123.6 p.g
13 errors @ 0.7 p/g
33 missed tckl @ 1.8 p/g

Jason Ryles

14 Appearances - 0 tries

303 tackles @ 21.6 p/g
46 offloads @ 3.3 p/g
0 line-breaks @ 0.0 p/g
222 hitups @ 15.9 p/g
1852 metres @ 132.3 p.g
10 errors @ 0.7 p/g
48 missed tckl @ 1..3 p/g

Your prop is there to make metres, Mark does this as good as just about anyone in the game. The tackles stat Mark actually comes 3rd in to my surprise, but given Webcke is the master of the last man in committing the 'flop', he would be credited with a lot of tackles IMO I would not credit to him. How many times is Webcke consistently at marker ?

Add to the above the Origin series Mark had, the true measure of one's standing amongst his peers, this is borderline comical.

I read BS comments like "O'Meley is too small and skinny"...give me a break children, this guy week in week out took to every forward in this competition. The guy has a atheletic physique, hell, shoot him as he is not the towering Harragon type or the nuggety brick with eyes! Truth is, Mark is a prop forward vying for the title of the "World's Best" yet he cannot make the 17!

I feel better for venting here...I personally type this disappointed Wayne Bennett did not call for the team to be name on form. I will argue some players, greats of the game, can earn a free pass on past performances, Webcke did in this team, but Ryles as good as he is when healthy, does not deserve a jumper before the guy known as "Shrek".

'Head down, ass up' will be Mark's motto for the rest of the tour, he won't say boo about this farce...I hope he gets the opportunity to wear the green and gold to shove this right up the ass of whoever helped not select him...

 

[Matt23]

He's injured.

 

[Broncodroid]

O'Meley has a leg injury?

I did not get this impression when reading the above in another thread.

I have source www.smh.com as well as www.nrl.com and the only player mentioned as not being considered due to injury was Fitzgibbon.

This from the SMH on why Ryles was selected:

Bennett said the mobility of Dragons prop Jason Ryles had won him a place in the side ahead of Petero Civoniceva - who was named with Ryan, Craig Wing and Ben Kennedy on the interchange bench - and Mark O'Meley.

"He brings a point of difference to what Shane [Webcke] and Petero offer. They just work extremely hard and are great hit-up forwards but Jason has got an offload in him ... he can get around the park, defend really well and has got good footwork for a big man," he said.

I will await confirmation if you don't mind...until then, my p#ssed of demeanor intended in my post is warranted.

 

[the kirwan kid]

Firstly let me state that I'm a QLDer through and through! That said, even I was amazed at how Mark O'Meley was not the first prop picked. On form he has to be the number 1 guy. Webcke would get the 2nd prop spot purely on reputation and past heroics but Civioneciva has been playing much better in recent times.
The inclusion of Berrign and Tonga over Tate, Cooper etc was a bit of a surprise too. The Carroll and Ryan selctions, on the other hand, were on the money!

 

[thuganomics]

Not sure about Carroll, but Ryan was spot on.

 

[[furrycat]]

O'Meley is not injured

 

[stubbsie]

Mark O'Meley with Steve Price are the 2 bests props running around for Australia.

I totaly agree with you there. Webke is past his prime and Ryles is overated like a lot of the dragon players.

 

[RB30DETT]

Webke is talking about retirement from Internationals, so I think he will be playing in most of Australias games.

 

[ozboy]

O'Meley definately should have been in the 17, but not at the expense of Webcke and Ryles. Webcke has been the best in the business for quite a few years now and deserves the right to make these teams if in decent form. Ryles for me is our best front rower, ability wise, its just that he always seems to get injured, but he diid come back towards the end of the season and play some good football, and O'Meley would come off the bench simply for his form where he was one of the top 3 front rowers in the competition. Though i can see the reasoning behind his non selection as Bennett loves his forwards to be big and have a presence physically about them. When talking about props O'Meley is one of the smallest and was physically dominated at times by the bigger Roosters forwards in the GF, which might be playing on Bennetts mind as they are now playing a better and bigger pack being NZ, though O'Meley is one of the best in the game when it comes to toughness and work rate.

 

[RB30DETT]

How do you get dominated but still make 180 metres???

 

[ozboy]

How do you get dominated but still make 180 metres???

As i said, at times was dominated by the Roosters pack. O'Meleys toughness and never say die attitude is what got him all those meters.

 

[aqua_duck]

How do you get dominated but still make 180 metres???

With sheer tenacity. O'Meley doesn't make as many metres per hit up as many other forwards because quite often he does get dominated in the tackle because he's not that big but he just comes back for more and more work. The guy is like a terminator, you can smash him, drive him back 5 metres and rest assured he'll still run at you 2 tackles later.

I think Ryles deserves to be there, I thought he was NSW's best forward in game 3 of origin and he's got as much ability as anyone. He's a bloke who can really offload at will, as he showed in origin 3.