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Blues try to cage Manly's Lyon
HAVING players in a team who don't actually want to be there is always a dangerous game.
Commitment is a key element in any sport, and a reluctant participant will almost certainly turn out to be less committed than someone who wants to be there.
That can have a damaging effect on any side.
Look at the speed at which incoming Warrington coach Tony Smith shunted Martin Gleeson - who, according to the Wolves' version of events, had been agitating for a move for some time - out of the door at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
So why have New South Wales named Manly and former St Helens back Jamie Lyon in their initial 40-man squad for June's State of Origin opener when he had specifically asked to be overlooked?
The answer, of course, is that the blues are desperate to avoid another series loss at the hands of Mal Meninga's Queensland.
And that means they are apparently willing to force Lyon on to the field for the first game in Melbourne by threatening to block him playing for the Sea Eagles if he refuses.
If they went through with it, it would be a massive risk by any standards.
I can only think that coach Craig Bellamy reckons he has enough time left to talk Lyon round between now and June 3.
I SAW three games last weekend.
And they all had one thing in common: they were all average.
Gateshead against Sheffield on Thursday, Warrington and Bradford on the Friday night and then Fax against Doncaster on Sunday afternoon all lacked quality and intensity.
The latter two certainly had their moments, and the first one at least had a thrilling finish to compensate for the preceding 79 minutes of fumbling, but none of the six coaches involved will have gone home completely happy with their side's performance.
For my money, it's no coincidence that you get three matches like that the week after Easter.
The accountants love the two Bank Holidays, two games formula the sport has followed for so long.
The coaches - as Justin Morgan's outburst highlighted last weekend - don't.
Personally, I regard it as a unique challenge for coaches and players.
But the events of last weekend suggest that there is a price to pay in terms of entertainment the following weekend.
Will anyone give me odds on the Rugby Football League tinkering with the fixture list in the next couple of years?
STILL on Bradford, did anyone else notice how many times Sky's commentary team mentioned the acres of space on the Odsal terraces last Friday night?
I made it about five.
The Bulls still had 8,000-plus through the gate, but that is a pale imitation of the attendances they were getting a couple of years ago.
That, and their increasingly erratic on-field form, all give the impression of a club very much in the mire.
At this rate, the people of Northowram and Shelf will soon start gravitating back down the hill, eh?
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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