Tommy Smith said:
..... Its a sad situation of affairs but a generation of stat freaks are developing. F@ck the stats, .......
Funny, the two biggest stat freaks in the game are your (Roosters) two coaches (The 2004 and 2005 NSW coaches). If you had half an idea of how much they play on stats you wouldnt have said that.
Anyway i agree with just about everyone here.
a) If Thompson had been given a chance at State level ( i know he has had untimley injuries in a couple of seasons), then he would have made a bird of state of Origin, no question.
b) Fitzy deserves his spot in sky blue also. he is a worker, he does flop and get away with it, but then so do other players with good reputations such as Shane Webcke and Steve Price. All 3 do plenty of good work, but they are also guilty of putting in anywhere from 5-8 flops in a game. Where as players like Priddis, Nutley, Morris etc get blown up straight away because the refs are watching for them to do something wrong.
c) Hindmarsh is a FREAK. After his first stint in rep footy in 02 i questioned whether he was up to it because he was such a 'play with your heart' sort of player. But having seen his games this year for NSW and his effort on saturday morning for Aus, there is no reason why Thompson a similar sort of player, wouldnt be up to playing rep footy. He (Hindmarsh) i believe has taken the mantle as the premier second rower in Australia now. (that 78th minute charge down, and the chase to dive on the loose ball which set up the winning set of six, Gold!)