By STEVE MASCORD
RICKY Stuart’s criticism of the decision to play Origin I in Melbourne is not surprising, nor is it new.
In fact, when the game was launched in the middle of the Melbourne CBD last year, Stuart said he wished it was in Sydney – although he said it with a smile. In case you missed it, on Triple M a few days ago, Stuart said: “It’s ridiculous that we’ve got to go to Melbourne to play. There’s no favour in going to Melbourne for us – that’ll be basically a crowd that supports (Queensland).
“I can tell you, if the shoe was on the other foot and Queensland were down six series, they’d change the decision, and that’s the attitude we’ve got to get too.”
Sure, if Ricky was a club coach he might have been a bit more diplomatic. Even after losing 50-12, Brian Smith was careful what he said about the Sydney Roosters’ decision to move a home game against North Queensland to Darwin. But as colleague Richard Hinds wrote, Stuart’s is not a “missionary position”.
Discord can’t put it any plainer than this: it is more important to the sport of rugby league for State of Origin to be played in Melbourne than it is for NSW to win. Rugby league will survive NSW losing but it needs a presence in Melbourne to guarantee its long-term survival.
So Ricky should continue to complain – and officials should continue to ignore him.
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IT’S difficult to have an informed opinion on the suspension of agents David Riolo, George Mimis and Isaac Moses – because there’s no information about exactly what they did.
Filed under: Discord Tagged: Ricky Stuart
