No one will ever admit to 2007. Its like Terry Lamb taking out Ellery Hanley in 1988. Neither Lamb nor Phil Gould will ever admit he was taken out deliberately.
Snake was always a better player than Slater, its just that Slater has the representative runs on the board, especially being an integral part of that Qld "Dynasty".
Although Snake got taken out during the 2007 GF, he still got picked ahead of Slater for the Wellington test, which somehow and tragically turned out to be his only game for Australia. For some reason Slater got picked ahead of him for the Centenary Test at the SCG and other than apparently being picked as the No.1 fullback for the 2008 World Cup before having to withdraw through injury, he never truly got another look in.
Snake did get picked for the 2011 Four Nations squad after our GF win, and with Slater's shoulder injury during that tournament he could have grabbed his chance. But ironically as it turned out, he had to withdraw before the tournament with....a shoulder injury.