December 11, 2009
As a close friend of Anthony I know how devastated he is by the expulsion from the state team.

Surely before being expelled he could have been, at the very least, afforded a hearing from the selection panel.

Can't the selectors see how fragile the egos of some of the members of the squad are that they continually report back about indiscretions of other squad members to save their own positions.

Do these selectors even know that Anthony was "set up" by other squad members to make sure he was continually topped up with free alcohol so that he performed less than his best on a pennant day thus making themselves look good in front of the selectors.

They should care more about the morals that someone would do this just to save their own position? Its common knowledge around the bowling clubs so how come the selectors haven't heard about this????

What is wrong with fielding the best team possible ??? - I know for a fact - that if you had Anthony in the team he would play his heart out for the state , and would proudly wear the Black & Gold while away with the team and would undoubtedly contribute to the team finishing higher than they have recently.
That's more than can be said for some of the players that represented WA last year.

There is also no question that Anthony would have behaved in a responsible manner while away with the team, as he has shown in the past when playing away in Australian Opens and Burnside Invitational Pairs series in New Zealand and also earlier this year when playing for WA against SA in the test matches. His behaviour has never been an issue in these situations.

Anthony is the best player in the state by a mile , but being under a microscope 24/7 puts strain on anyone - no matter who you are. He is continually at the mercy of the Tall Poppy Syndrome - people find any way they can to knock him down.

Yes he makes bad choices sometimes - even the Ant would admit to this BUT this could have been handled so much better. A meeting at Bowls WA with selectors and executive could have pointed out that he needed to make better choices - AND if you had given him a chance , he would have been WA's shining light at the Side Series.


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