unlike most of you blokes i watch alot of souths matches.
they play a uniquely dull style of footy. 1 guy runs the ball up, no one follows. if you watch closely on the tv, you can only see 1 souths player in the shot each tackle. no one runs either side, no one trails.
they do this 5 times, Asotasi 1 pass off the ruck. Greenfield, sutton..hegarty will run from dummy half.
on the 5th they kick it straight to the fullback or winger. no turning around.
when they get field position...the backs never get quality ball because the fowards run 1 out and the halves give no direction. no one runs with anyone. Merritt never trails the likes of asotasi, widders etc. no one tries anything tricky. basically 1 guy runs, gets tackled. plays the ball very slowly..pass..tackled. on the 4th they put it through the hands.
a standard souths set near the line is 5 tackles for about 8 meters going side ways..then kick it into the feet of the opposition or over the dead ball line.
in defence, their line speed is the slowest by far in the comp. they basically stand there and wait for you to make 10-12 meters.
they also have a hole the size of redfern on the right hand side. Sutton never commits to anything. they had gordon on the right centre and he was useless. now they have moved talanoa and the same poor structure has shown up. this means that paulson has to come in every time..miss the tackle and a try is scored with a winger standing on his own with enough time to walk over to the try line.
Kidwell also tends to niggle in the ruck. hes lazy, puts his hands and feet in the play the ball and is penalised 2 times a game minimum.
thats how they play. simple. stupid footy.
our attack may be poor, but these guys have NO DIRECTION AT ALL.
if we cant beat them on monday........well f**k me a may have to hang myself off the flagpole at parliament house.
