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Message: [QUOTE="Big Pete, post: 2626779, member: 1899"] Just on that point on City vs Country... Here's the back three for City across all the years when Merritt was a good chance of playing. 2006: 1. Brett Hodgson 2. David Simmons 5. Luke Rooney 2007: 1. Anthony Minichiello 2. Jarryd Hayne 5. Hazem El Masri 2008: 1. Brett Hodgson 2. Jarryd Hayne 5. Luke Rooney 2009: 1. Wade McKinnon 2. Jarryd Hayne 5. David Williams 2010: 1. Lachlan Coote 2. Anthony Minichiello 5. Michael Jennings (Beau Champion & Chris Lawrence were the centres) 2012: 1. Lachlan Coote 2. David Williams 5. Steve Turner Okay, so breaking this down... 2012 is the one that really stands out but in fairness to the selectors, Merritt had yet to play any football by that point, so that's easily the most justifiable of the lost. 2006 would have been Simmons v Merritt, 2007 is El Masri v Merritt and 2008 is Rooney v Merritt. Of those you could toss and turn on a few of them although I find the 2008 match-up a bit of a joke - Rooney had been struggling for years by that point and despite the odd good game here or there wasn't worth considering. In 2009 and 2010 it's a case of shuffling around the team. I can live with Hayne and Williams in the team even though Williams form was very indifferent to start that year but from memory, McKinnon was just another Warrior struggling to cope with the death of Sonny Fai and all the baggage of a tough season. Surely Hayne at fullback would have been the way to go, especially with NSW desperate to find a replacement for Stewart? I suppose the argument against that is that since Kidley was going to be captain, he was always going to be the first person in the team picked and that would have been as fullback so you have to select based on that. Still, a bit hard done by there I'd imagine. Meanwhile in 2010, there was a bit of friendly fire with Beau Champion forcing his way into the team and pushing Jennings to the centres. This may sound odd now, but Champion was probably in the form of his career and was always a bit of a prospect who just had a bad history of injuries. You could make the argument that they should have stuck with natural positions for each player but I could see the logic behind the move. So I'd say he was pretty unlucky on a few occasions namely 2006, 2008, 2009 & 2010 and in conjunction in one another, you can understand why he was so frustrated and why he lashed out at the selectors and played the race card. I don't think it was a racial issue, but rather playing for South Sydney that let him down. [/QUOTE]

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