saintbob wrote:Why Luke Ball is still critised on here amazes me, we all know it was RL who ended his career with us as well as costing us a flag by refusing to put Luke back on the ground in the '09 grand final when he'd been one of our if not the best in the first half.
Any player worth his salt would've wanted out after that!!!
Saying that , do we want him back the answer is a resounding NO!
"we all now it was RL who .... cost us a flag by refusing to put Luke back on the ground in the '09 grand final".
One of the biggest myths in football. RL didn't put Ball back on because he was cooked - why would he refuse to put him back on and "cost us a flag" if he was playing well and good to go? RL only said it was his stuff-up to not play Ball more to avoid telling the truth, which is that he took an underdone player into a Grand Final. Ball's groin was stuffed. Everyone knew this, including Ross and Ball. Ross took a risk with him because it was wet. If it was dry he wouldn't have played him because his inability to run would've been exposed. Ross just didn't want to admit this publicly so took the hit for not playing him more.