Gordie’s set of six: Adam Blair puts dent in Brisbane’s title hopes
GORDEN TALLIS: I have always had an issue with Adam Blair hitting people late. Now it has come back to bite him ... and the Broncos.
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1 I HAVE always had an issue with Adam Blair hitting people late.
I have seen him do it time and time again. I have watched him twist Sam Thaiday’s arm while playing at the international level. I have spoken about his tactics before. But now the footy gods have come back to punish him for it.
On Friday, he was trying to put a cheap shot on Michael Jennings when he accidentally injured teammate Andrew McCullough.
The way he comes in on opposition players has now backfired on Brisbane. McCullough has been in great form this season.
Even if he’s only out for two weeks, it’s fair to say he won’t be able to reach the heights he could have reached this year.
Adam Blair has put a real dent in Brisbane’s premiership campaign.
2 THE buzz word in rugby league for the past week has been “concussion”.
Everyone has an opinion on it, everyone is on to solutions on how to avoid it.
It is really sad what happened to Billy Slater and I agree it’s not something we want to see in the game.
But when you sign up to play rugby league, it’s because you love the sport for what it is. It is combative and it’s not for everybody but that’s how it is played. Along with that comes a great lifestyle.
When I played the game, I knew that every time I went out on the field there was a chance I could get injured.
It might have been a black eye, a torn hamstring or a dislocated finger. But I got rewarded and paid well for it. It would be hypocritical of me now to sue the game because of this or that.
3 ONE solution that I heard this week that could help the game is to have a match review committee member in The Bunker. I like it.
For the Billy Slater tackle for example, Iosia Soliola could have gone to the sin bin for 10 minutes while the match review committee person can look at what he’s done.
Everybody who saw that knew Soliola was going to be suspended for several weeks.
But if someone from the MRC is in The Bunker and can see it is deserving of a punishment, they can determine whether or not to just eliminate that player from the game that is ongoing.
4 FOR all the bad criticism the referees have copped this week, I do have to say it is good to see them starting to clamp down on the play-the-ball.
It is cleaning the ruck up. I think we really saw it on Friday night between the Eels and Broncos.
I really liked the concerted effort to make the Brisbane and Parramatta players play the ball with the foot. It may have slowed things down but it is a good step for the game.
5 ONE thing I have loved watching in the lead-up to the finals is how everyone’s attacking game is developing. Parramatta especially showed that on Friday.
The awareness the likes of Mitchell Moses and Corey Norman have is amazing to watch. As an opponent, you can’t have a weakness anywhere. I am excited to see more of this attack.
6 IT is not often that I get caught up in the politics of rugby league. There’s not a political bone in my body.
But I have to say I find it strange that the Bulldogs called a meeting this week when they had already made the decision to re-sign Des Hasler earlier this year.
I think the board called a meeting to save their own jobs.
That decision to keep Dessie on board was made way too early and now they are feeling the heat of that. I think they’ve made a very poor decision.
Originally published as Gordie’s set of six: Adam Blair puts dent in Brisbane’s title hopes