Gorden Tallis’ set of six: C’mon Wayne, this is getting embarrassing
GORDEN TALLIS: I’ve been left confused by Wayne Bennett this week. One day he’s saying Anthony Milford has to “grow up” to meet his potential. The next he won’t let him go to the Queensland camp.
Opinion
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1 I HAVE been left confused by Wayne Bennett this week.
On Thursday morning I pick up my paper and the Broncos coach is on the back saying that his playmaker Anthony Milford has to “grow up” to meet his potential in the game.
Then, 24 hours later, I pick up my paper again to read that Wayne won’t let Milford go into the Queensland camp unless he is picked in the 17.
To go into an Origin camp is a real opportunity for Milford to learn and “grow up”.
He can spend time with Cooper Cronk, whose kicking game is second to none, not to mention Cameron Smith, Johnathan Thurston, Billy Slater and Nate Myles.
These are blokes who have played at that level for 10 years.
When Milford hasn’t reached the hype that surrounds him, then he should work under Kevin Walters again, even if it’s for a week.
Wayne picked a 20-man squad for England to give guys experience. But now, when it doesn’t suit Wayne, he changes the rules.
Wayne has set such a high standard in the game and everybody listens to him. But I thought he was named Queensland’s Coach of the Century – shouldn’t he know what this would mean for Milford?
Kevvy should be allowed to have the side he wants. Wayne has to stop undermining people and let everyone else around him do their job. It’s getting embarrassing because everyone knows what he’s doing.
2 EVERYBODY has picked their Origin sides and had their say on who should be in and who should be out.
But no matter who Kevvy Walters names on Monday, we all need to support him.
The 17 he chooses will be the 17 men who can go out for Queensland and do a job.
Whoever he picks, I know they will all make Queensland proud
3 THE best thing that will happen to the Tigers this year is when they can finally move some guys on and find real leaders.
The problem with Wests at the moment is all the guys in their leadership group have not been leaders.
It was evident against the Broncos on Friday night.
Robbie Farah put himself before the club when he was there and since he left, no one else has stood up wanting to lead.
The quicker those guys get out, the better. The Tigers must let them go before their attitude rubs off on the younger players.
4 THAT win for the Broncos on Friday would have been a lot harder for them than people realised.
It was a hard game to prepare for against a side that has everything going wrong.
It was a really good win given the conditions.
They’re ticking along nicely now ahead of the Origin period.
I give them an “A” for everything except their kicking game. That’s a “D”.
It’s the one thing they have to get right from now on. Otherwise they’ll end up without any prizes.
5 NATHAN Brown is a coach under more pressure than anybody in the game.
Despite this, he was prepared to make a tough decision on player behaviour. Nathan Ross has been dropped for a week for talking about how he is unhappy with his contract.
I think it’s brilliant. No one is above the club and the team. It also sends a clear message to not blame the club, but to go look at your own manager.
Ross’ contract is nothing but poor management.
He should be talking to his manager and asking, “why did you sign me to this?”.
Players need to sit in on their negotiations and make sure they’re getting the right information.
If they trust their managers, they’re kidding themselves.
6 THE game has come so far. There is so much that’s good about it but people are still unhappy.
A few years ago, we had David Gallop in charge, who everyone liked yet our game didn’t move forward.
Then we had David Smith. Everyone disliked him but the revenue tripled.
Now everyone likes Todd Greenberg but no one likes John Grant. Yet, John is the one making better decisions for the game moving forward. That’s why he’s under so much pressure.
In my opinion, it’s Todd who needs to do more. With him at the moment, I’m just seeing lip service.
I’d like to see John saved and more from Todd.
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Originally published as Gorden Tallis’ set of six: C’mon Wayne, this is getting embarrassing
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