slater is one of the best fullbacks, but so is hayne. And hayne happened to be the BEST player in the comp this year. as for who is better in the long-run, time will tell. but if hayne continues his form from 09, he beats slater any day of the week. Slater has never had the impact hayne had in 09. Hayne can do so many more things than slater (e.g. kicking game, tackling, play making). No, slater is not better than hayne.And a dally m medal proves that point. if his form continues, hayne wins hands down.
if anyone were to read your threads, then you could only conclude that you think hayne was a crap player. truth is, if he was playing in blue and white, you'd be praising him no end.
Slater stuffd up massively on sunday morning. tell me why he should retain his spot after that effort. Hayne's involvement was minimal, but that can happen when you're playing on the wing - and his least preferred wing at that cos Morris was playing on his preferred left side. But he never stuffed up like billy did. remember he did win the ball from the restart that eventually led to smith's try. he's a quality player and thoroughly deserves to be playing for Australia.
As for the panthers, they have more reps than we do. losing petero was a severe loss for them. they have recruited well in the off season with kingston and luarie. they will be a force if they can keep their side healthy. I never changed my tune, injuries went against penrith. for them its simply a matter of staying healthy and getting the formula right. with a pack containing petero, laurie, lewis, pritchard, puletua, waterhouse and co, they still have plenty of potential. they are starting to look like the 2003 side. as for us, we've lost Eastwood and haven't really replaced him. plus if anything happens to noddy, it could go very badly for us in 2010.
