The Selected Team

NZ Truth, 7 June 1924, Page 11

The Selected Team

GENERAL SATISFACTION EXPRESSED. "A Coupje of Mistakes." When the All Black selectors an- 1 nounced the sixteen certainties on: Saturday night last there were very few disgruntled enthusiasts, but on Tuesday night when the final thirteen to complete the , twenty-nine were made public there were a lot of dissentients. '. ... • ; -It is only natural . that the seven selectors would not see eye to eye with all those \vitriessing- the trials, but "Tackier" is of the opinion that m one oi two instances they have erred. From the outset I have contended it was not a seven-man job, for with such a number engaged m the delicate task of sorting Out New Zealand's best it was only to be expected that a lot of juggling would be m evidence^ At this stage let me, say that I do not for one moment think that the seven men have not been honest— l know them too well to accuse them of being .one-eyed. Look at it m any way you like and you will only come to the decision that a one-man selector would have been far more satisfactory. When he made an error you could pin it down on him, but with, seven having a finger m the pie it Is Impossible to sheet the blame home.

Taking the twenty :-nlne through, it is not a bad team. There are several things hard to understand. Take West, for instance. To all who follow the game closely It is evident that West is not the man he was last year. He has not shown up m the games he has participated m to any great extent. Undoubtedly his best showing was on Tuesday last, but Vthen. it dwarfs into insignificance ranged up alongside; game-xthaj: Knight yplayed/, .;■:-: i, -: > : Knight was the best of the' Auckland pack against Hawkes Bay, was a solid man m the Possibles-Probables- at

Wellington, and on Tuesday was next to Cupples as the best forward on the gr \Veßt is now thirty, and that is not the age when a" man can be looked to to show any Improvement In fact, it enn bo expected to find him losing hi* hold on the ladder. Knight Ih vnunc--23-ivnd has all the best of his nlkv m front of him. He should have rernlved tho place that went to West. The inclusion of Paewal was also a bit of a surprise. Ho Is not a comhlninc five-eighths and he takes 100 much following. ho starts off. nine times out of ten he throws tho whole back line m disorder. He Jinks m *md out and loses his supports. Hunter did the same; ho had the moat disconcerting corkscrew run In tho world but he had outside of him a man who could go with him— -Mynott. Paewal la lucky to be m. and had perry struck form he would have been n. moral. Still, ho didn't, and Paewal benefits. There will bo a big upcry about the exclusion of Ginger Nlcholls, but r will not bo one to say it is incorrect. On Tuesday's game Dalley earned tho plaeo. The point I do wish to stress is the way Wright, of Auckland, was treated. In his match at Auckland he outplayed Mill. And just bear ih mind that Wright was behind the beaten pack. Again, at Wellington, he was superior to Mil), and once again ho was behind the boalcn pack.

After that he was dropped and Mill was gone on with. "Tackier" says that Wright has not had a fair deal, and if he had been given another trial j he would have been the second half. Masters can consider himself lucky to get m ahead of Williams. The lat- ; ter has had to play through all games with a bad knee, which has prevented his reproducing the form he showed us last year. The picking of only one full-back would appear to be a mistake. In a series of thirty matches it is only to be expected that Nepia will suffer some minor injury, and if he shouldn't he will have to be spelled at intervals. Who is to fill his ; place the selectors, most likely know, but there is not a' real full-back m the team outside the man chosen for the position.