Your 4Nations teams

Did you just use the Dally M awards to justify his selection in the Test side? And, "almost won Dally M player of the year"? He didn't finish in the top 10 ffs.

I didn't say his club form shouldn't be taken into consideration. Merely that it should be secondary. After all, we're not picking a club side. We're picking a representative side so it only makes sense to place higher importance on performances most analogous to that, which are obviously his past rep performances for Australia and NSW.

I could go into a detailed analysis of why I think Glenn Stewart's attack-based game is not suited to what Australia need given we already have a ball-playing backrower in Bird but it's rather incidental IMO.

 

What was so good about it?

 

And my point is, club form is incidental when picking a Test side and using Dally M points is absurd. I mean is Matty Bowen deserving of a Test jersey because of where he finished?

Nah it really isn't. Compared to Bird's it's garbage.

But you're right, I mean why pick a rep team based on past rep performances. Makes so much more sense to pick one based on 8 weeks of club footy.

No shit, because you're a Manly supporter.

 

How was he better than Bird?

Here are Glenn Stewart's touches.

6.10 - Simple hit-up from his own end.
29.00 - Simple hit-up two passes wide from his own end.
38.50 - No look, flick pass offload on 2nd tackle from his own 20m line which is knocked up in the air by QLD and luckily regained by Minichiello. Only good fortune stopped QLD from getting yet another set in NSW's 20m zone with 90 seconds before HT. Idiotic play.
39.19 - Catch and pass out the back to Minichiello. Gasnier as decoy.
39.37 - Receives Gidley offload, just hits it up after running across field.
41.05 - Starts on a straight hit-up but then veers across field, gets a good ball away to Lewis and out to Morris for a good gain.
48.18 - Cuts back in on an angle from Soward. Hits the line and then runs sideways and backwards and is tackled.
54.14 - Picks up loose ball from a Thurston error and is quickly set upon and tackled.
55.25 - Again runs and inside line off Soward and is well tackled down low by Cronk.
55.55 - Makes a good 15m run.
73.33 - Simple hit-up from a tap.
74.10 - Tries to beat Inglis on the outside but is tackled.
77.08 - Cleans up a Lockyer kick on his own goal line.
79.29 - Takes a hit-up and once again runs sideways before being tackled.

What on earth is so special about that performance? How was it any better than Watmough's?

Bird's single piece of footwork to beat Hodges and send Morris away was better than anything Stewart did. And if I went through the whole match there'd be little doubt who the better attacker was and is. Bird ran straighter, harder and still produced better ball work than Stewart.

 

Yeah and Bird made 37, plus more metres from fewer runs, and did it with 26 minutes less playing time.