Australia: Test chance for Cronk

[Titanium_BD1103]

Agreed there Deegan, here's hoping 2007 is a lot better for all our sakes in terms of Prince....

I reckon the list has to go like this ATM

Orford- Will have finals game time to play around with and is a decent option for the team, question of his big game attitude is a worry, but he will most probably be picked if he can prove himself in the finals.

Cronk- Great option, underdone a bit with only one season at halfback so far, but he has shown his stripes and deserves to be in the running, could give Orford a real run for his money.

Thurston- Best Halfback in the game and if not injured would be first choice, however like with Hunt, and I agree this with all players, you need more than a few games back in a season after injury before being shoved into rep duty.... and worse yet unlike Hunt, Thurston will have none if he gets fit, can't be chosen on that reason alone IMO...

[unknown]

yeh agreed with above, orford has proven to be consistent and shud get a chance
prince has been **** this year bar a couple of games

[Chaos]

Is that bias there for Prince?

All our opinions are bias Super Cronk...that's what makes them opinions.
Prince has strong qualities, in what I believe makes a great half back.

Deegan,
As far as 2006 is concerned...have a look at the poor quality backs playing outside Prince at the moment...Tigers have nearly lost there whole back line.
He played well in the games I saw the Tigers play but his outside backs failed to put points on the scoreboard.

Don't confuse the half backs job to create opportunity with the outside backs job to score tries

Tigers were strong last year becuase of the Hooker-half-5/8-fullback combination.
Farrah, Hodgson and Marshall have all been injured lately and Prince has been mixing his responsibilities around the field.

I think it is a harsh to be dissapointed in Prince's performance in 2006.
I think the Tigers poor results have come from there unfortunate injury list.

[DeeGan]

Deegan,
As far as 2006 is concerned...have a look at the poor quality backs playing outside Prince at the moment...Tigers have nearly lost there whole back line.
He played well in the games I saw the Tigers play but his outside backs failed to put points on the scoreboard.

Don't confuse the half backs job to create opportunity with the outside backs job to score tries

Excuses are like ... wait ... I won't finish that one on this forum.

Chaos, I am fully aware of what the job of a halfback is and in 2006 Prince barring a game or two here or there has not performed anywhere near the level he is capable of. This is why he is not worthy of such a high ranking in 2006. To suggest he is only behind Johns is absurd IMO if we are looking at the season overall.

I will quote the man himself from the RLW:

"I made the decision to join the Titans and I have no regrets. I don't think it affected the team, and as for me, I've had an up-and-down season, I have to admit"

Scott Prince when in form and when the pieces to the puzzle are in place can dominate football games, no doubt about it, though this season through circumstance he has not been able too consistently and his form again is not worthy of such a ranking.

Chaos you're a Prince fan, the regulars here know that, though bias is preventing you from making impartial opinion on the player here.

Is there anything wrong with that? Hell no.

[Hoppy2007Dragons]

gotta be Orford, he deserves a crack and has shown good form this season.

[Chaos]

Excuses are like ... wait ... I won't finish that one on this forum.

Chaos, I am fully aware of what the job of a halfback is and in 2006 Prince barring a game or two here or there has not performed anywhere near the level he is capable of. This is why he is not worthy of such a high ranking in 2006. To suggest he is only behind Johns is absurd IMO if we are looking at the season overall.

I will quote the man himself from the RLW:

"I made the decision to join the Titans and I have no regrets. I don't think it affected the team, and as for me, I've had an up-and-down season, I have to admit"

Scott Prince when in form and when the pieces to the puzzle are in place can dominate football games, no doubt about it, though this season through circumstance he has not been able too consistently and his form again is not worthy of such a ranking.

Chaos you're a Prince fan, the regulars here know that, though bias is preventing you from making impartial opinion on the player here.

Is there anything wrong with that? Hell no.

Firstly, I can understand others not ranking him highly as I do...I am bias because I believe Prince will best serve Australia in a test...I don't believe the player with the last 5 good games should get the spot.

DeeGan,
Prince's satement above is mature in not blaming Tigers or anyone else for the Tigers poor form...he takes responsibilty and it was a mistake to drop him from the captaincy role.
Tiger fans will now blame him for the poor season as he is the one leaving next year.


I remember debating this before and it will always go back to the criteria for the Australian team selection.
Does the inform player get the spot?
Does in form mean the last 5 games...this season...since last test...this year and previous year...last five years.
Is it pick on a player that suits the rest of the team?
or the player with the most potential to beat the opposition?

BTW, Orford had a great game against the Bulldogs last night

[DeeGan]

Firstly, I can understand others not ranking him highly as I do...I am bias because I believe Prince will best serve Australia in a test...I don't believe the player with the last 5 good games should get the spot.

DeeGan,
Prince's satement above is mature in not blaming Tigers or anyone else for the Tigers poor form...he takes responsibilty and it was a mistake to drop him from the captaincy role.
Tiger fans will now blame him for the poor season as he is the one leaving next year.


I remember debating this before and it will always go back to the criteria for the Australian team selection.
Does the inform player get the spot?
Does in form mean the last 5 games...this season...since last test...this year and previous year...last five years.
Is it pick on a player that suits the rest of the team?
or the player with the most potential to beat the opposition?

BTW, Orford had a great game against the Bulldogs last night

Well we are not going to get anywhere here, I will leave it there. Prince is not deserving of getting anywhere near a green and gold jersey after his 2006 season. Good news for the Titans as he will report to pre-season training fresh and ready to make a run at Thurston's Queensland jumper.

Answer this, do you think Scott Prince will make the tri-nations squad and if so do you think he deserves to be Australian halfback ahead of Matt Orford?

[TITANS007]

You could look at it this way also. Prince was in outstanding form last year, and yet he still wasn't the first choice half back. They gave the deciding game's jumper to Gower, who absolutely did not deserve it. And it was prooved in Gower having a crap game(Among others), and they lost the series. They didn't have faith in Prince when he was at his best, so I doubt they'll have faith in him when he's had an up and down season.

I agree with Chaos in his statement on why he's had an up and down season too:
"As far as 2006 is concerned...have a look at the poor quality backs playing outside Prince at the moment...Tigers have nearly lost there whole back line.
He played well in the games I saw the Tigers play but his outside backs failed to put points on the scoreboard.

Don't confuse the half backs job to create opportunity with the outside backs job to score tries

Tigers were strong last year becuase of the Hooker-half-5/8-fullback combination.
Farrah, Hodgson and Marshall have all been injured lately and Prince has been mixing his responsibilities around the field.

I think it is a harsh to be dissapointed in Prince's performance in 2006.
I think the Tigers poor results have come from there unfortunate injury list."


Thurston should never have gotten the QLD jersey over Prince in 2005. Prince has always been, and IMO will always be better than Thurston in the no. 7 jersey. Thurston is a 6, not a 7. I think he is totally overrated and he should not be considered over Prince for this series, especially considering he has been out injured for some time. But selectors are notoriously pathetic in their decisions, so I won't be holding my breath.

On the bright side, at least Prince will be healthy and refreshed to start the season with us!!

[Chaos]

Answer this, do you think Scott Prince will make the tri-nations squad and if so do you think he deserves to be Australian halfback ahead of Matt Orford?

He'll probably not make the side because as Titans007 said "Prince was in outstanding form last year, and yet he still wasn't the first choice half back"

Answer this, do you think Gower deserved the halfback spot last year in front of Prince?

[Hoppy2007Dragons]

titans 007 gower is the nsw halfback

prince is the queensland halfback, he was overlooked by johanton thurston who at the time of origin was in good form and so was his club.

[Darren Lockyer]

turston or orford for me. Gower hasn't had a very good season personally

[TITANS007]

titans 007 gower is the nsw halfback

prince is the queensland halfback, he was overlooked by johanton thurston who at the time of origin was in good form and so was his club.

Yeh, I know that....I was talking about for the tri-nations spot last year.

[DeeGan]

Answer this, do you think Gower deserved the halfback spot last year in front of Prince?

Let's make it clear first off, Prince got his chance before Craig Gower did in last year's tri-nations series. Johns played the first two games, once he was ruled out of the UK leg of the tour, in came Prince and he struggled initially.

To answer your question, yes, Gower deserved and needed to come in to the Test side at halfback.

Prince made his debut versus Great Britain in the fourth test in rain soaked conditions. He was average and was not given ample chance to show his wears at halfback. It was not a debut to write home about.

Great Britain and New Zealand played the fifth test in which Bennett paired Gower with Prince in the halves (7. Gower, 6. Prince) where we defeated France 44-12. Gower starred as captain having a hand in three tries and scoring one himself. Prince was good notching up 16pts at five-eight.

The sixth test pitted us again Great Britain who had upset New Zealand giving them a chance to play the final versus the Kiwis if they were able to defeat us with a significant points differential to boot. Bennett made the smart decision of going with the more experienced Gower who was in better form than Prince on tour. Gower played awesome despite injurying himself in the warm up.

Gower earnt his spot in the tri-nations final with Barrett outside him and as we know, the team stunk. No need to go further. Would Prince of made a difference? No.

We aren't going to agree Chaos unfortunately.

Scott Prince is a fine player and I am over the moon to have a world class halfback at the Gold Coast Titans though he is no where near being the second best halfback in the competition. Whilst we are all entitled to an opinion, think otherwise is what I call "head in the sand" stuff.

[JoeMomma]

As much as i'd love it to be Cronk, the Storm would have to win the premiership for him to even make the squad.

As DeeGan rightly said, the Australian selectors are a conservative bunch who would choose Gower (out of form in a poor side at Penrith) over players like Sherwin, Cronk and Orford - all of whom have been in great form.

Smith, King, Inglis and possibly Hoffman are the only Storm chances for the Australian squad this year.

Just look at the tigers last year, dominated the comp for 3 months, best F/A for a team in finals history ( 140 For 40 against) and only got 1 player in the squad.

Don't expect much, you'll be dissapointed.

[Steelers]

Just look at the tigers last year, dominated the comp for 3 months, best F/A for a team in finals history ( 140 For 40 against) and only got 1 player in the squad.

Don't expect much, you'll be dissapointed.

The difference is, the Storm have current rep players in there team, whereas last year the Tigers had no players with rep experience. Having a competition winning side with rep players in it is a selectors dream