Graham Lowe: Bluey another victim of the hospital pass

I'll lay a wager that even the Kiwis' most ardent supporters wouldn't have heard of Rusty Shackles. Nor would coach Brian McClennan have had him anywhere on the lengthy list of personnel he was forced to dip into during this week's ill-advised whistlestop visit by the Kiwis to the United Kingdom.

Shackles was never going to come off the bench. Nor would he have provided the Kiwis with the motivation they were so obviously lacking in their one-off test against Great Britain on Wednesday.

Yet I wouldn't have been at all surprised if McClennan had said a silent prayer for the intervention of Shackles as the Kiwis were belted 46-14 by a clearly superior side at St Helens.

I'm not talking about Shackles, a fiery red-haired second rower, or Shackles a nippy little halfback who has somehow managed to slip under everyone's radar.

I'm referring to the two rusty shackles that broke in the Otahuhu substation, triggering Auckland's day-long power blackout two weeks ago.

How McClennan must have wished they'd delayed their failure just a couple of weeks to ensure images of New Zealand's performance could not have reached the nation's television screens at breakfast time on Wednesday.

Because this was another humiliating loss for a Kiwi side which, just nine months ago, was sitting on top of the league world after its crushing Tri-Nations final win over Australia.

It's hard to point the finger at McClennan for the situation which now finds the formerly high-flying Kiwis a distant third in world. However, he knew what he was getting into and should have used the game in a very different way. This one-off encounter mid-season was a recipe for disaster which began unravelling from the moment the New Zealand Rugby League threw McClennan the all-too-familiar hospital pass of taking on the league world with a squad whose availability was entirely at the whims of the Australian NRL clubs.

Why didn't they just put a blindfold on Bluey and walk him down a plank somewhere?

The continuing gutlessness of the New Zealand Rugby League in not facing up to its so-called peers of the game in Australia and Great Britain enrages me and many other league supporters.

NZRL boss Sel Bennett should be praised for organising the game because we need it - but then the NZRL managed to shoot itself in both feet by allowing it to have test status without being able to field our best players or ensuring the team could be properly prepared.

I've heard all the excuses about loyalty to clubs and the need to ensure players are not injured and stale. But what about State of Origin?

Who are we sending to argue these issues with the rest of the league world, and particularly the Australians? Why are we prepared to back down and crawl away when they tell us that's different.

McClennan described this test as a development exercise. Turn it up, Bluey. From where I'm sitting, players like Henry Faafili, Willie Talau, Robbie Paul, Alex Chan and Monty Betham do not fit this criteria. Where were the two or three young hopefuls from the Bartercard Cup?

In fact a few of the best players from New Zealand's NJC under-18 Cup from the previous year should be included in future games of this type in the UK. If these young players playing their guts out here are not given a go, what is the game all about in this country?

This game should have been a pure development exercise and not one that ensured an easy test victory to our rivals and embarrassment to us. Let's establish, and enforce, some principles.

When State of Origin is on, we want ALL our eligible players made available, barring injury. If we haven't got the courage to insist upon that and walk away from international football until we get it, we're headed for a series of nightmare re-runs of what transpired this week. This wasn't deserving of being called a Kiwi side. This was an embarrassment to New Zealand league and should never be allowed to happen again.

* There was much to admire in the Warriors' clinical dismantling of the Rabbitohs last weekend. The unflappable Ivan Cleary seems to have found the right button to push for the side to pace itself, and stay in its games for as long as it takes to get dominance.

Sure South Sydney were poor. But it's easy in a game with such a lop-sided scoreline, to lose shape, concentration and commitment. I liked the way the Warriors put the Bunnies into a corner, and refused to let them escape. Some of the tries were ridiculously easy, but they were well-engineered, with plenty of bodies in motion and players running into holes.

There's no reason to doubt that the Warriors can make it four in a row on Saturday night. Let's hope, at last, winning is becoming a habit.

* The second round of the Lion Red Fox Memorial starts tomorrow and the clash between Mangere East and Papakura at Walter Massey Park should be a beauty.

The Mangere East inside back combination has been terrific lately and with in-form winger Tony Taula, who scored a hat-trick last week, the Hawks should be too good for the Sea Eagles.

I am tipping Northcote to beat East Coast Bays at home, and in away games, Mt Albert to beat Te Atatu and Otahuhu to be too strong for Marist.