2011 Souths Line-up

[Ttime]

But in the halves, the pool is pretty shallow. You just can't move Luke from hooker, as has been done in the past ... that's a double blow. Inglis and maybe Mundine arguably give the Bunnies more depth for 5/8 than they had in 2010, but the only possible replacement for Sandow at half would be an untested kid - Reynolds.
.

Hang on Ike... I think Reynolds would make the transition into 1st grade better than Mundine... and Mundine has never played 1st grade either... and is therefore untried as well.

I'm keen to see how Reynolds goes... and if worse came to worse, we still have Eddie Paea in the North Sydney bears don't we?

 

[BranVan3000]

double post

 

[BranVan3000]

Thats a very talented bunch. On paper.....and I stress on paper, that's undoubtedly a top 4 team.

How do you feel about NRL standard depth, which is so important, if injuries hit? I think you will struggle due to your reliance on idividuals, rather than a team like Melbourne or Saints, who play a style that relies on structures and roles. Injuries & rep absences can be covered by avergae players who now exactly what their role is.

If you have a good year injury wise, where do you see the weaknesses in your play with that 17? For me, its the same as above. Lack of discipline with the ball & lack of commitment to do the dirty work. The 1%ers that teams who win comps do. A reliance on individual brilliance.

I'm not trolling here, just interested to know. As a Saints man, and as I've said before, your roster just reminds me in so many ways of ours in 2004, 05 & 06. WE all know what happened with that galaxy of stars. We looked good at times and at times were downright brilliant, but we lacked a hard arsed approach to our footy and all the talent in the world couldn't get us into a GF against more disciplined teams.

Your thoughts?

I agree, but it also reminds me of Penrith's lineup in 2003.

I do agree that Lang doesn't seem like our long term solution, he hasn't given us the mindset we need when it comes to losing games, but we are much better than we were I guess. I just didn't see the discipline coming through at all last year, for example Sandow said multiple times that he was told to drop the shoulder charge but he never did.

You make a really, really good point about our structure and depth when it comes to injuries. It seemed like last year there was no preparation for it at all, so we fell apart as individual players went missing. Hopefully that's better this year, but our forward depth only seems slightly improved. Though I can't imagine losing so many forwards again.

Hang on Ike... I think Reynolds would make the transition into 1st grade better than Mundine... and Mundine has never played 1st grade either... and is therefore untried as well.

I'm keen to see how Reynolds goes... and if worse came to worse, we still have Eddie Paea in the North Sydney bears don't we?

We also have Malcolm Webster

 

[Ike E Bear]

Hang on Ike... I think Reynolds would make the transition into 1st grade better than Mundine... and Mundine has never played 1st grade either... and is therefore untried as well.

I'm keen to see how Reynolds goes... and if worse came to worse, we still have Eddie Paea in the North Sydney bears don't we?

Fair point.

I worry more about youngsters in the NRL when they are small fry on on top of everything else ... Mundine has a bit of size about him at least (some might say too much size).

I watched some South NYC matches and defence wasn't a big part of those games.

I really wonder if another young halfback would be any better than Sandow ... might even be worse defensively, which would take some work.

 

[PaulyTom]

If Lang doesnt make the top 4 this season or at least the semi he is gone. .

 

[JetRider]

If Lang doesnt make the top 4 this season or at least the semi he is gone. .

ha ha that is really funny considering he is retiring at the end of this year.

 

[Criswell]

The loss of Beau means that Greg is our only experinced centre. If anything i'd see Merritt moving to fullback if needed.

 

[Zigwaa]

The loss of Beau means that Greg is our only experinced centre. If anything i'd see Merritt moving to fullback if needed.

Talanoa played a lot of centre early on in his career, looked pretty good there too. We could move him back in there and bring McQueen, Corrigan or even Mansour/Morgan on to the wing if injuries hit hard and we need a more experienced person in there.

 

[mean_maori_mean]

Big fan of mansour.

I think he was one of the best backs in nyc.

Reminds me a lot of perrett and nightingale.
Not particularly flashy - just tough, determined and a good finisher.
Will do a good job when given a shot imo.

Morgan again - hes pretty small however again he pretty tenacious.
Suprised me in game two for Junior Kiwis.

 

[Zigwaa]

Big fan of mansour.

I think he was one of the best backs in nyc.

Reminds me a lot of perrett and nightingale.
Not particularly flashy - just tough, determined and a good finisher.
Will do a good job when given a shot imo.

Morgan again - hes pretty small however again he pretty tenacious.
Suprised me in game two for Junior Kiwis.

I agree, the NYC games I watched Mansour made a lot of yards and took on the big men up the middle and looked to have a lot of strength.

Morgan is a bit further away from first grade though. As you said a bit too small.

 

[Appin Rabbit]

Talanoa played a lot of centre early on in his career, looked pretty good there too. We could move him back in there and bring McQueen, Corrigan or even Mansour/Morgan on to the wing if injuries hit hard and we need a more experienced person in there.

Talanoa's defence is not good enough he misses to many tackles.He should be playing out of Bear Park and bring up either Simson,Corrigan,McQueen or Vai Vai for the wing spot.

 

[hardbaby]

I'm a Dragons supporter who marched to have the Rabbits back in the league. I think you were bloody unlucky with the injuries last year. You should have been there. 2011 just can't be that bad and Inglis, if motivated, is a huge bonus. The halves are your weakness but that's about it. I'd put my house on you making the finals and I reckon top 4 is a very realistic goal. From there, anything can happen. Serious contenders. Rabbits v Dragons grand final.

Oh, on another note, for all you Bunnies fans rabbiting on (pardon the pun) about St. Merge, get over it. It's happened. It's still the Dragons. It's still my team. Those comments just make you sound small.

Best of luck in 2011. Your team will shake a few trees.