Listened to AOB’s presser. Didn’t find too much to disagree with, effort was there, looked like some of what they work on in training came onto the field with them for once.
He explained the selection of Keeley + Croker playing back row all afternoon as the team being out of fit back rowers, and Keeley got promoted into the game day 18 as a reward for ripping in at training.
The “out of fit back rowers” thing is absolutely a fib, both Momoisea and Johns played reserves earlier in the day, and I don’t think they ever came into calculations for the first grade squad. But we can’t complain that much I think. We get the ****s on here about certain players dogging it, about the club not having standards, continually giving jerseys to guys who aren’t desperate for them while young players in our system get no shot. I think what we see here without it being said is that Jirah and Jack are, like Best, Tuala, Ponga and Mann, players who’ve been falling short on standards recently (or maybe over an extended period). Possibly Hymel Hunt too given he also played reserves while Mapapalangi was promoted directly to firsts this week.
The smart short term move, given Frizell has been busted for weeks now, would have been holding Johns or Momoisea as 18th or 19th man. But the better long term move, if those guys just aren’t doing enough to earn the jersey, is to reward the guys who are.
