2014 State of Origin

And without the collar he actually gets right on the outisde of Tallis (after already beating two others) and streaks down the field.

<iframe width="640" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/J_f5Rr93v_Q?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I agree that there's nothing intrinsically wrong with being a small fullback. Bowen was never a particularly good Origin player but it's not because he was small; it's actually largely because there were a couple of better fullbacks ahead of him during his prime and he got used mainly out of position when he played. I'm not a big Barba fan but you can't just strike a line through his name because he's small.

 

Nah Hoffman has definitely been shit enough to get dropped. Pull your head in. He'd be an absolutely despicable bench player too.

 

He wasn't terrible, no, but he was in the first two games. I think it kind of exemplified why he'll never be much chop at Origin level - for some reason we insisted on giving him the first hit-up of every set that was on his side of the field, even from taps, and he got absolutely belted. When he made the sort of break he often does at club level to score on the left he got brought down by the more aggressive and alert defence you find at this level.

He really had a dig last night. He tried his heart out. And he still wasn't good enough. If we want a second rower willing to take lots of tight hitups (for some reason) then Bird will be much more effective at it than Hoffman, and we want someone to be a threat in left side backline sweeps with lead running (which is really the only reason you would pick Hoffman) then he's basically failed at the task even when really putting in.

 

Gasnier's less than a year older than Hodges and actually signed a contract with the Dragons that didn't expire until 2015.

And yet he had a go at Lyon - who he is only 6 months older than - on air about not playing this year.

Why weren't you playing, Gaz?