“Oh, haven’t you heard?” NSWRL chief executive Dave Trodden asked the SMH’s Andrew Webster. “We’re giving it to Billy Slater.”
That’s right[1], the over rewarding of Billy Slater’s Origin performance is set to continue with the retiring star set to win the Brad Fittler Medal for NSW’s best player too. Taking their lead from Mal Meninga, Darren Lockyer and Laurie Daley who awarded Slater with man of the match in Origin 3 despite being Queensland’s second or third best player and player of the series despite not even playing Game One, the Fittler Medal judges have decided to overlook the fact that Slater isnt eligible to name him the Blues best.
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“After the 2009 and 2017 Clive Churchil Medals we should have known but we didn’t actually know that we could just ignore reason and give Billy awards,” an unnamed NSW official told The Pinch Hitters. “Then when we saw Mal, Laurie and Locky give him Man of the Match and Series for being a good bloke, we thought we needed to get in on the act too.”
The Blues official had a comeback too for anybody who felt that Slater was ineligible. “Not eligible? I’ll give you not eligible. What part of Queensland is Greg Inglis from?”
While there will be many who disagree with the decison one supporting voice is that of Mal Meninga. “Great move Blues,” the future Rugby League Immortal said. “Definitelty better than any move they made to beat the Queensland teams I coached.”
Slater himself was unavailable for comment with his manager suggesting he was in line for another surprising award. “Sorry guys Bill’s unavailable,” his manager said when contacted by The Pinch Hitters. “He’s actually on his way to the US forThe Espys Awards. I can’t say any more but keep an eye out for The Best Male Athlete presentation.”
[1] Editor’s note – No it’s not right, it is nothing more than a big joke. Except for the Slater winning the Origin Player of the Series, that bit is surprisingly still true.