Slide rule, iron shark et all.....
no one doubts Gallen's commitment to the club. We all know he has sacrificed a lot, including real cash, to be with us. I can only speak for my own feelings about this (not others). I dont blame Gal for being injured. He needs to get over his injury and then play. No question about that. I, for one, do not beleive he should have played over the weekend given his injury.
What is very, very, very disappointing is the whole situation. Gal played injured in the second and third origin games. So much so that he wiped himself out of the sharks 2012 season. He wanted to captain an origin victory. That was the commitment he showed. He did not let NSW down and played 80 minutes (literanlly on one leg by the end). In his worst nightmares he would not have thought that it was, potentially, the last time he plays this season. But the simple fact is that it may have been. Just like I do not want him to play injured for us, he should not have played injured for NSW. He should have known better but his competitiveness and the bull-dust around SOO got the better of him. I would be surprised if, given a similar situation next year, he would make the same mistake.
This is not an issue of laying blame on one person (and both he, our club and the SOO coaching staff are to blame). The fact is, especially after the weekend, we are all very, very frustrated and disappointed. That is all.
I have followed our club for many years. There have been many disappointements and mistakes along the way. This is just another one. The Gallen-SOO scenario was a manageble problem. A professional group would have managed it differently. If you would have spoken to Flanno two weeks ago (and we were already at desperate stages then), he would have told you the same.