From the Blindside column: Opinions vary on Kite's performance in SOO; Foran sought by the Roosters and is a Kiwi at heart; and the misery of ANZ Stadium for fans.

Kite’s detractors growing
BLUES coach Craig Bellamy is kidding, only giving Clive Churchill Medal winner Brent Kite just over 20 minutes in Wednesday night’s Origin.

We are not suggesting NSW would have won with Kite playing more minutes, but surely the Manly and Australian prop deserves more of a shot.

Bellamy obviously doesn’t think so, neither does ex-Blues tough guy Mark Geyer who believes Kite’s position is now under threat as a result of NSW’s series defeat.

“(The selectors) have to look to the future and replace the guys that haven’t made much impact with some young guys,” Geyer told us.

“For me Kitey’s been very disappointing.

“Some players are great at club level but just can’t seem to reproduce that in Origin.”

Roosters swoop?
WE hear the Roosters haven’t given up hope of one day having both Foran brothers in their squad.

With Liam currently playing with Roosters’ feeder club Newtown, and Manly five-eighth Kieran already having expressed a desire to play alongside his bro in the NRL, don’t be surprised to see the Bondi Junction club poach another young Eagle.

“It’s something we could look at down the track,” a Roosters’ insider told us.

Kiwi to the core
STILL on Foran, and after just one impressive game in the NRL there are already some fans checking out for which state the teenager would be eligible in State of Origin.

Foran did play his junior football in NSW but the classy five-eighth said his allegiance is with his country of birth, New Zealand.

“Home is where the heart is,” the Auckland-born youngster told us.

“I’d love to play for New Zealand one day.”

Cold comfort for fans
THE thousands of league fans who forked out a small fortune to sit in the far-far-away top sections of ANZ Stadium for Wednesday night’s Origin II were left out in the cold in more ways than one.

For those sitting up where the players look the size of ants, the stadium management didn’t even bother to turn on the big screen at the top end of the ground so at least they could have watched the game, the replays etc.

The screen displayed nothing but advertising signs all night. A pretty poor effort considering the gross take from the gate was in the millions.

No wonder the joint has got an ordinary reputation.

Fluffy said the following on Fri Jun 26 19:17 2009

I would be gutted to seem him waste his career at the rorters. We really should be trying to poach Liam if possible, Hodgkinson doesnt seem to be improving so he can have a run up there A shame he feels that way for NZ but i guess benji has played No7 a bit lately so maybe they can fit them both in.

Join the Discussion