2023 Charity Shield - Dragons vs Rabbitohs: Saturday 18th February 3:30pm @Glenn Willow Oval

[Rabbits20]

 

[Rabbits20]

 

[callmack1]

Five Takeaways From the 2023 Charity Shield: https://www.rabbitohs.com.au/news/2023/02/18/five-takeaways-from-the-2023-charity-shield/

Now that I've watched the replay, I'll give my standouts and disappointments (not that there were many).

Cooky gets man of the match for mine. He was blistering all game!!! Set up the opening try with that slicing run, showed some incredibly crafty work to put Trell over, and then had a hand in Moale's try as he showed some of the best deception you'll see from a dummy half. Just great to see his running game back and looking potent, more of that this year please. His defence was great, as was his service and he punched through some decent minutes.

Our center pairing. Damn I was impressed with both of them. Tassy just looked so comfortable and a threat every single time he touched the ball and his defence was just as good, I hope he's in for a huge year. Stretch, well, what do you say about him? Just incredible as always. Although, for some reason he looks stronger this year. Just look at the way he man-handled some of those Dragons players.

I thought both halves were really good. Obviously, Cody stole the show as he seems to have picked off where he left in 2022. Some pure class plays from him that not many others could do. But I liked Lachy's performance too. Aside from one slip up, his defence was on song as he constantly had bigger guys running at him but handled it well. His ball playing looked sharp, especially that inside ball. No complaints from me about his kicking game too.

I'm gonna put the entire starting forward pack under the one banner here as they were all exceptional. You'd think the heat would have deterred them but no, they looked just as fresh and fit as ever. Junior and Tom laid a great foundation with Tom in particular having a massive day. Cam did what Cam always does, he was just in everything and was all class. Helped set up two tries. Hosty was the only one who looked kind of rusty.

Shaq and Davvy also impressive.

A couple of guys who didn't really impress me,

I've mentioned Hosty already but he wasn't great yesterday. Just looked a bit out of sorts which I guess is to be expected. Karapani and Kalo Kalo didn't do much and I expected more on that stage.

I'm just so, so impressed with that first half, possibly the best I've seen Souths perform in a trial ever. Yes, the Dragons were poor but you can only play what's in front of you and we put them to the sword. That's us, that's South Sydney. Keep that up and we'll be very hard to beat. Just getting started too.

Unlike last year, we can now enter Round 1 confident and ready to go.

 

[BotanyBorn&Bred]

Well i got home late from work last night and I had to stay up to watch that back and boy did I enjoy it. The boys looked more conditioned and more fit compared to this time last year. We can not get carried away though as we were not playing much the Dragons were absolutely woeful I do feel for Griffin as they just don’t have the roster. The boys looked really slick in attack which was most impressive and I thought we defended pretty well but still we let them offload too much so that’s an area to work on as well as giving some cheap penalties and 6 agains away. I was quite happy with the ball security for a trial and in such heat.

Trell looks really fit which is great, Campbell looks like he’s bulked up a bit more, Tass impressed loved his pass to put AJ away and then of course Cody was there as he always is. I hope Thompson is ok he looked very good I liked what I saw. In the halves I wanted to see Ilias do some more of the kicking but it looks like JD still wants him to share it with Cody 50/50. My concern is against tough teams do we have that long 60 metre kick in us to get us out of trouble that remains to be seen. Lachy was good defensively overall and I loved his inside pass to Murray to put him away. Cody was sublime he was in absolutely everything. Up front big Tom looks fit and made massive metres expecting another big year from him we can’t afford him to get injured he’s so important. Junior was very good he’s gonna be in for a big year. Keaon I liked what I saw overall. Hosty was solid but a bit rusty but that’s to be expected. Murray well what can you say the bloke is brilliant an absolute machine just doesn’t stop! Leads through his actions. Jai I loved what he brought in 45mins in the middle off the bench he was a terrier in defence and made good metres so important to us as well.

Karipani I see talent there but he’s not ready yet needs half a season in NSW Cup. Moale has bulked up and looks strong he needs to be in our best 17. Shaq did us proud I felt and will be a handy depth option this year looks better than last year and fitter made good post contact metres. I thought Cheeks was solid when he came on. Mamozelos also solid in that last 20. Ta’affe played halfback for 21mins has a better kicking game than Lachy for me but the issue remains his defence it’s not first grade standard. He had that nice try assist though and will be the 14 for us this year no doubt.

Second half the boys fell away a bit but that’s expected in such heat and with giving some younger guys a go.

All in all positive signs but still things to work on. Glad the Charity Shield is back where it belongs. Now for the boys to ramp it up at training into round 1 for a bumper start to the season we have a very tough start but I feel the boys know we have to start well.

Glory Glory to South Sydney GO YOU GOOD THINGS!

P.S. the ref Peter Gough made a couple of errors but I thought was fair overall much better than Todd Smith

Yep, pretty much agree with all of this.

 

[Rabbits20]

 

[Rabbits20]