Axed NSW winger Blake Ferguson has expressed his disappointment at not receiving a phone call from Brad Fittler to inform him that he’d been dropped.
Ferguson on Sunday shook off the his State of Origin snubbing to lead the Sydney Roosters to a thrilling 16-14 win over the Wests Tigers at Allianz Stadium.
After a shaky first-half in which he produced a slew of fundamental errors, Ferguson was enormous for the Roosters in the clutch.
He set up Daniel Tupou’s game-winning try before stopping a flying Mahe Fonua with the last play of the match.
Ferguson couldn’t hide his disappointment at being overlooked by Fittler, who has made 11 changes to his side for next week’s Origin I.
“What can you say? A little bit disappointed. What can you do? Just keep playing footy,” Ferguson told Triple M NRL.
“It’s all you can do – play footy and enjoy yourself.”
Asked if Fittler had informed him he’d been overlooked for the left-wing spot in favour of Melbourne’s Josh Addo-Carr, Ferguson said: “No phone call mate.
“I’m pretty disappointed about that one.
“It’s the way it is and he chose to go another way.
“I wish them all the best and it’s very disappointing, I thought I’d been playing pretty good this year.”
Ferguson had several big moments against the Tigers including knocking on the first bomb of the game, kicking dead from a re-start and booting a sideline conversion on halftime.
However his biggest impact came on the last play when he put his body on the line to stop Fonua, who looked set to score.
Filling in at fullback for James Tedsco, Ferguson ran for 209 metres but still found the energy to make the game-saving tackle.
“Just put your body on the line,” Ferguson said of the tackle.
“Try and stop the play. He’s a big boy. I’m glad we got the win.”