I listened to how this unfolded on Radio Sport last night. There was no grand announcement by NZF or Hudson that Ingham had been sent home, it was an interview answer to a question put by [Michael Burgess, I think] "We notice Dane Ingham isn't out there, why not?" Hudson then went on to say why and answer more probing questions behind his decision. Most of the critics of this move are established dislikers of Hudson and their opinion on this issue seems to reflect more on that than on what the actual circumstances are.
That changes the perspective someone from my note I wrote earlier...
So is this more a case that the media have taken something and blown it up large then?
The way it unfolded doesn't necessarily mean that the sending home thing was handled properly I suppose. If they sent him home, they couldn't expect no one would notice and ask about it. The most amazing thing for me is that our media actually did notice and asked the hard questions.
It was Darcy and Goran on Radio Sport and they sounded like they supported the decision, they interviewed Burgess too and while he didn't come outright and say it, you could tell e wasn't totally behind the decision.
Some people have said they should of kept him in camp training and not played him but there are a couple of things to take into account on why you might not do that.
1.[and Hudson said this in the interview] What else could he do, he told them all they had to report in shape, he's already dropped 2 from the squad for fitness and along comes another one turning up in the same shape - what choice did he have if he was to remain consistent and what message does it send to the others?
2. Having a player in camp isn't cheap either, you have to pay him, pay for his food and shelter etc - if you're not going to use him, why pay for him?
3. This should be a right royal boot up the bum for Ingham, his reaction to this will show if he is up to the task of playing for our national team.
Quite honestly, putting aside people's [some] hatred of Hudson, this is the hard nosed attitude I want from my national coach [in fact any coach]. To say he is just doing this to head off critism when we lose to the Solomons is laughable. We are unlikely to lose to them for a start and no one in their wildest dreams is going to think Ingham would make any difference to the outcome at all. We've all spent our time slagging him off for being not ready for international football.