Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="Big Pete, post: 2583227, member: 1899"] Not only did the NSW selectors blood him too young, they also did it in such a haphazard fashion. One of the best ideas Wayne Bennett ever came up with was the Emerging Origin camp. It gave players a taste of Origin, indoctrinated them in the team ethos and gave them the confidence that they were in line to wear the Maroon jersey if performances were willing. NSW had yet to come up with their own version of that concept and the closest thing at their disposal was City v Country. However, instead of using City v Country as an opportunity to see how a Mullen could handle the representative environment and the challenge of playing with virtual strangers in limited preparation they ended up selecting Kurt Gidley, Brett Kimmorley & Preston Campbell over him. The City side wasn't much better either, with both Anasta & Gower receiving the nod despite being in woeful form. Of course, nobody said this at the time, but in hindsight, it's amazing that Matt Orford didn't receive a shot at this time. He was a key member in Manly's ascension from celler dwellers yet a poor reputation basically made him selection repellant. Now I'm not saying that Mullen's Country snub was the sole issue at play. It was sadly one of many for him. Not only did the selectors think he wasn't good enough for City/Country there was also the fact he was... - 19 years old and only played 31 games of first grade, 9 of them as a halfback. - Being made to play in that halfback position - His outside partner was Anasta who was going to ensure that Mullen played a traditional halfback role since he was a traditional five eigth. There's also the fact that he was never that great. - He was going to have to make his debut at Suncorp Stadium, up against one of the best Queensland sides ever. etc. etc. And you know what? Despite all those factors at play, his worst crime was picking out Karmichael Hunt on the full one too many times. It was unfortunate too because at one point, it looked like Mullen had kicked a crucial 40/20, but the referees gave the feed to Queensland and he just folded from that point. After that, they dropped Mullen and went back to Kimmorley who could do a basic job, no more no less and Jarrod would end up with a season ending injury. From there, he's developed that Orford reputation and it's a shame because like Orford, he's clearly got talent. Just doesn't have the mental capacity it seems. I'd say the main problem is that the pendulum turned in the harshest of circumstances. Queensland put together one of their greatest ever line-ups where as NSW entered one of their leanest periods. Naturally that was always going to happen with the retirement of Johns but I don't think they expected the amount of fall-out they experienced. Just look at some of the players they lost for one reason or another Anthony Minichiello Matt King Mark Gasnier Trent Barrett Timana Tahu Brett Stewart Greg Bird Those were some key players and to lose a lot of them in a short space of time really hurt them. But on top of that, NSW really did a poor job of building a side. They had a winning team, three in a row, yet made a few changes like dropping Fitzgibbon, Ryles etc for the new flavours in Kite & O'Donnell. For me, that's been their biggest problem. Instead of building up their own guys, they're always made to be indispensable so a lot of players are there playing for them and not for each other. It got so bad, that they ended up naming Kidley, probably the least influential player in the side as captain and those years would be right up there as the worst for them. If nothing else, Sticky brought them stability and built up a folk hero in Gal who the fans down there adore. I believe they're on the right track and while I'm confident due to the two home games, I believe the Blues can make us fight for it if they pick and stick with a good side for Game 1. [/QUOTE]

Verification

Active Now

No members online now.

Total: 39 (members: 0, guests: 39)

Reply to thread

Log in

Active Now