2014 State of Origin

No. I'd probably still pick Slater. If I did move Inglis though there's no way I'd be picking Slater on the wing.

 

It should've been called back for passing off the ground anyway afaic. He was sitting on his arse by the time he threw that.

 

I just don't get how Fifita can overall make good metres in these games, yet be so abysmal in terms of hit-ups. I mean I thought 6.4m in the last game was bad but he outdid that last night with 9 hit-ups for 53m at 5.8m per charge.

 

No. That is a dreadful misconception that Ray Warren and other commentators keep reinforcing in people's minds. There was a particularly stark case of it in the 2011 Four Nations. It was blatantly clear that the English winger was on the ground with a hand on him, but because the ball or the arm carrying the ball hadn't touched the ground, they thought he wasn't held i.e. play on to reach out and score the try. When it was disallowed the totally befuddled English commentators, in their typical biased fashion, claimed England had been robbed.

You can set your watch by Ray Warren chiming in to remind us when one of these incidents occurs of how he still hasn't read the rule book; and he really should given his status and job and years of experience.

If you're on the ground and there is a hand on you you're held. By Warren's standard you could pass whilst lying on your back or side with three blokes on top of you because the ball or the arm carrying may not have touched the ground.

Now there is some ambiguity because the last entry in the relevant sub-section of the rules says "if a player is lying....." Now Fifita, and as you'll see in many other cases, was not lying. He was sitting. But this is, I think, a remnant from the original rules that go back a long way when RL was not so far removed from RU, in which as you probably know it is perfectly legal to pass from the ground. The fact is 99 times out of 100, if you are sitting on the ground with defenders on you, and you pass, it will be penalised. And rightly so. I don't have a problem with being on your knees, that's play on, but not sitting on your backside. That is Union shit and the rule needs to be updated and clarified to match the modern interpretation.

 

Momentum has absolutely nothing to do with anything. It doesn't come into the equation of the completion of a tackle with regard to passing. He wasn't advancing the ball to score. He was on his arse with hands all over him and passed. Passing from the ground for your life.

 

I think he'd get found out in defence. Would much rather keep things the way they are and just bring in Justin O'Neill.

 

Yep. Would never pick Barba to play Origin. Even as a bench player unless you're going to defend him at fullback; which involves unnecessary reshuffling. He's deadly, but he just can't tackle in the front line. Would never play him on the wing.