Maroons great Gorden Tallis and veteran journalist Phil Rothfield have butted heads over whether Queensland coach Billy Slater should make changes to his side for Game III.
Speaking on Thursday night, on day after New South Wales’ comprehensive Game II victory, the pair fiercely disagreed over whether or not Slater made selection mistakes.
Following Slater’s post-game frostiness about the potential make up of his side in a few weeks at Suncorp Stadium, Tallis insisted the former Storm fullbacl will “make the decisions that will be right for Queensland.”
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Tallis conceded Queensland were bullied, believing the side need “to put themselves back together,” but resisted calling for mass changes to Slater’s side.
However, The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield was defiant that the Queensland coach made significant selection errors that cost his side in Game II.
Rothfield was adamant “if that was the New South Wales team on the receiving end of that last night, could you imagine the media reaction and the demand for changes?”
He shared a belief the Queensland media were soft in criticism of Slater, which kickstarted one of NRL 360’s more fiery recent debates.
“Our mate (Pete) Badel up at the Courier Mail said they just seem to go with the flow a little bit,” Rothfield said.
“Well he’s from New South Wales. Buzz, you guys (NSW) throw the baby out with the bath water all the time,” Tallis shot back.
“Billy needs to be called out about that team he’s picked as far as I’m concerned,” Rothfield said.
Coming under particular fire from the veteran journalist was Slater’s decision to select Warriors edge Kurt Capewell over David Fifita, arguably the most damaging ball runner in the NRL.
“Capewell was never going to offer you anything once you were behind on the scoreboard. You needed a bench forward who could blow any football side on the planet apart,” Rothfield said.
“David Fifita should have been in that side.”
Billy bristles at journo after follow-up | 00:43
However, Tallis was of the opinion no one could have saved Queensland from their performance last night.
“No one would offer anybody anything. No one offered anybody anything once we got behind,” he said.
Tallis did admit there were plenty of shortcomings to Queensland’s preparation for Game II, though did not single selection out as one of them.
“I’ll tell you what, they did not prepare for NSW to come out of the blocks like that and defend their try line. and they got outmuscled,” he said.
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“They did not prepare properly. You dont get ambushed in Origin, they just weren’t ready for what NSW threw at them.”
Rothfield was insistent Slater’s achievements meant he got a “gold pass” freeing him from criticism when he got it wrong, which caught the ire of the former Maroons captain.
“So you want us to sack Billy?” Tallis asked.
“Is that what you want?”
“I knew this loss was going to hurt you,” Rothfield quipped.
“Do you want us to sack Billy?” Tallis asked again.
“I’m calling him out for making a blunder, Gordie. He blundered.”