Phil Buzz Rothfield vs Andrew Webster: Bring back Jarryd Hayne
Source: The Daily Telegraph
BRING back Jarryd Hayne. Sports Editor-at-Large Phil Rothfield argues the case for the return of the Eels superstar with Andrew Webster.
BUZZ: Ricky Stuart said after the game there wouldn't be any changes for Origin II. That's wrong. We can improve on the team.
WEBBY: Well, I was there in that press conference and he said he wouldn't "chop and change" and I agree. This is Year Zero for the Blues, and all the talk about picking a team to start building a culture would fly out the window if he made wholesale changes. Who do you think should come and go, Buzzy?
BUZZ: I'm a pick-and-stick man as much as Ricky but we have to make changes while we keep losing. NSW used to be just as loyal as Queensland. We always chose Stuart, Clyde, Daley, Lazarus and Roach. We could afford to be loyal in those days. I'd be getting rid of
Jason King,
Dean Young and
Brett Morris, who made the unforgivable error for Yow Yeh's try.
WEBBY: Yeah. You're rock solid. I agree we need to bring in Learoyd-Lahrs for King and if
Kurt Gidley is fit he is a must off the bench.
BUZZ: So you're finally agreeing with me. We need changes.
WEBBY: No, you dribbler. Those two blokes would've been in the side if fit. I heard last night around the traps that Ennis wouldn't have been in the side at all if Gidley was fit. But they have to stick with him now. He put so much pressure on the Maroons kickers in the first half when he came on that it helped turn it our way. A bit.
BUZZ: You need a crash course on rugby league. You agree we need changes but you haven't even mentioned
Jarryd Hayne. Puhlease. You were on the drink in Brisbane on Monday night and obviously missed his game against the Sharks. He has to be chosen on the wing for Morris. He's a championship player and we need him.
WEBBY: Not for the first time, your mail is horribly wrong. It was Tuesday night, not Monday night. Hayne played well, but Ricky made the tough decision to leave him out for game one because of his attitude and it would be a huge backflip if he brought him back.
BUZZ: Agree it was a tough call but it was the wrong call. This stuff about his attitude is rubbish. He's been taught a lesson by missing game one and he should be one of the first chosen for Homebush if we're fair dinkum about squaring the series.
WEBBY: Rubbish? You are obviously not talking to the people I'm talking to, who would know.
BUZZ: Who are you talking to ... Phil Gould?
WEBBY: I don't reveal sources, but he's not one of them. He fades in and out of games too often, and even did as much in that Monday night match. I think Jarryd is probably the most gifted player going around. But Ricky wanted to build a new culture from the ground up and rightly or wrongly cannot blink after just one match.
BUZZ: You don't build winning cultures by leaving out "the most gifted player going around". Ricky needs to pick him and then sort out the issues. That's the coach's job. I guarantee you one thing - he wouldn't have just stood there and watched Yow Yeh score on Wednesday night.
WEBBY: You're so out of touch, you old fossil. Let's sort this out at the Aurora. Bring your wallet and a doctor.
BUZZ: You're an A-grade goose. Seriously, all this talk that NSW has to be loyal because Queensland is loyal is nonsense. They're loyal because Smith, Lockyer, Thurston, Slater, Inglis and Boyd carry the entire team. They've got a great culture because they've got almost the entire Australian Test side.
WEBBY: I'm not saying they should keep the side because Queensland do it. I'm saying it because NSW for years chop and change and tinker and they don't have any time to form some decent combinations. Just bring in Learoyd-Lahrs and Gids and that's it.
BUZZ: Let's pick a winning team and then stop tinkering, chopping and changing.
