Orford was a good half. Not a great one. He had Brett and Glenn Stewart, Matai, Bell, Jamie Lyon, Kite, King, Watmough, Robertson, Williams, Ballin, Perry, Menzies in the 2008 side. He had a champion side around him. He was good because he ensured the stars got good ball. Now being in such a top side, and being in a top side when with the Storm, he should have easily got rep duties. What was his rep history? Three games with NSW City side.
DCE is a top tier half. For years since 2015 he has had a pedestrian backline with the only other rep player unavailable for long terms in Turbo. The forward line up has been adequate, but do they compare with the 2008 or 2011 side? No way. Yet DCE has often been in a side languishing in the bottom half of the comp, and has still been selected as Test and Queensland half, and is now Queensland captain in a winning side.. He's played 21 tests, 23 SOOS, 3 PM 13s, one Rookie of the Year 2011, half back of the year 2014, is one of only three players to have won the Clive Churchill Award in a losing Grand Final side 2013.
Of course you have the right to a personal perspective as we all have. But the figures, the opinions of the Manly, Queensland and Australian selectors, seem to see things quite differently. Orford was a good fit in a top tier side. A good safe player but not a great one. DCE has been playing in an average side as captain with a backline with only himself and often absent Turbo making an impact. He's a top tier player, and the information available seems very much to support that position. Is there factual or even conjectural material that I've missed?
It was such a gun side. Craig Field would have even looked good in that side. The Ox was a smart gutsy 7 but not in DCEs class.