Laurie Daley has come out in defence of Billy Slater being awarded the Wally Lewis Medal following last night’s Maroons win over New South Wales.
We are not sure what criteria Laurie, Wally Lewis, Darren Lockyer and Mal Meninga used to select the player of the series. Whatever that criteria was, it should be sent to the sin bin and never returned.
“One thing I do know, and Mal Meninga knows, and Darren Lockyer knows — don’t ever question my integrity, don’t ever question (why) I’m voting because of whatever reason,” Daley told a Sydney radio station this morning.
Maybe Laurie doesn’t understand the major backlash from both sides of the border.
Is he bitter about losing the gig as New South Wales coach? It appears he is, on the surface.
If it was an encouragement award, the type of one you get as a kid after a footy game – yes, maybe Billy would have won that. Best player? Pfft!
In game one, the baby Blues had two outstanding players in Damien Cook and James Tedesco.
Go back to game 1 and Cook jumped out of the blocks with a dynamic performance, which I’m sure the Blues’ former coach noticed. While being well contained in game 2, last night he made some good ground through the mid-field at different stages for the series winners. His involvement in defence was impressive, the Blues top tackler in all three games.
Tedesco was electrifying in the Melbourne game as New South Wales set up the series with an excellent ten point win. In the second he backed it up with a second consecutive performance with the most run metres for the Blues. Last night with limited opportunities in attack, Teddy was on the end of a key play that gave the visitors a lead going into half-time with only twelve men on the field after James Maloney’s sin binning.
If there was one Queenslander who should be disappointed it would be Val Holmes. He was by far the Maroons best in the series. In game 1 his contribution was a try and two goals with 222 run metres. At ANZ Stadium he scored another try and was the game leading run metre eater with 224. Last night two tries, three goals with 14 of the 18 points in victory. What more could he do to stamp his claims as one of the best during the series?
This player of the series award needs an overhaul.
Why can’t we, the fans with all the modern mobile phone technology, have a say in the winner (eg. NRL mobile app)?
Out of this hopefully something positive will fix this award-winning farce and we can talk up the game.
https://nothingbutleague.com/2017/07/13/who-under-performed-and-who-improved-the-most-in-the-2017-origin-series/
