Stone wants players to put rep snubs out of mind
04 May, 2010 04:00 AM
KNIGHTS coach Rick Stone does not want any lingering disappointment at missing representative selection to blur the focus of his players on the job of beating in-form Gold Coast at EnergyAustralia Stadium on Sunday.
Australian bench utility Kurt Gidley and New Zealand pair Junior Sa'u and Zeb Taia will fly the club flag in the Trans-Tasman Test at Melbourne's AAMI Park on Friday, but Knights players were overlooked for the City-Country game at Port Macquarie the same night.
Winger Aku Uate would have been selected for Country but he was ruled ineligible because he represented Fiji in the Pacific Cup last October.
Playmaker Jarrod Mullen and forwards Cory Paterson and Ben Cross were considered Newcastle's next best chances of wearing Country's maroon-and-gold colours against the City slickers.
"I don't know if they'll be using that [as motivation]. They'd probably be disappointed, but I think most of our blokes are focused on us and our team, at this point in time, and it probably needs to be," Stone said.
"Because of the nature of our season so far, the last thing we need is blokes thinking outside the square for whatever reason and not totally focused on where we're heading.
"I'm pretty confident those three will be disappointed to miss selection but definitely be up for doing a good job for the Knights on Sunday."
Stone believed their omission reflected Newcastle's erratic form in the first eight rounds. The Knights followed a first-up win with four straight losses and have since won two of their past three to be 11th and one of four teams on six points.
"I can see where the selectors are coming from," Stone said.
"I thought Pato and Mullo in particular had big games on Friday night. Pato played 80 minutes and I thought he played really tough. He got whacked a few times, got up, and kept running the sort of lines you want your back-rowers to run."
The Titans, who have beaten Melbourne, Manly and Penrith in the past month, have five-eighth Greg Bird, back-rowers Anthony Laffranchi and Mark Minichiello, and coach John Cartwright involved in the City-Country game.
Paterson (knee) and winger Cooper Vuna (ankle) will be on light duties this week after sustaining minor injuries in Newcastle's 30-22 victory over Brisbane last Friday. Stone said pack leader Steve Simpson would probably return against the Titans after missing the Brisbane game with a recurrence of a collarbone injury, but Adam MacDougall (thumb), Wes Naiqama (back) and James McManus (foot) were unlikely to play again until next month.
