Are South Sydney the real deal?

[Danish]

1) only ONE team has really thrashed Souths this year .The Warriors and Souths will not be meeting them again this year.

What do you consider a "thrashing"?

I'd say a 3 try loss would be a trashing, and Souths have had a few of them this year.

2) Manly showed real class in the last game , however the game was NOT a blowout and Souths had NO GI. That result can be reversed

5 tries to 1 isn't a blow out? 8 linebreaks to 1 isn't a blow out?

Manly absolutely raped you. They made 300m more than you, they complete destroyed your edge defence, and if Lyon had kicked as his usual percentages they'd had spanked you by even more.

You'd need a miracle to reverse that result.

3) Bulldogs won the last game , however a foot into touch was the difference between winning and losing.I hope Souths meet Bulldogs in first finals game, they are there for the taking in my view.
4) Brisbane won both games , however they were good tussles, however unlikely Souths will meet Brisbane in finals.
5) Storm was a good game and the difference was Souths winger Talonoa did not dive into the corner for a try and Billy Slater did minutes later. Talonoa has not played NRL since.
6) Sharks , well that was Souths worst attacking performance this year , yet Souths were leading 7-6 with 12 minutes to go.Easily reversed.

And how many of souths wins this year could have been easily overturned with 1-2 things going differently?

they don't let you progress come september for almost winning

In short , Souths have WON the same number of games as Manly and Storm (with game in hand). Souths have beaten the Bulldogs once this year already .
As for the rest of the final 8 , they have won LESS games then Souths.
Anyway , happy to go back under the radar , however could not resist responding to the me too statement.

I agree that souths have a better chance half the teams in the top 8. I'm actually not that sold on the Storm either really as they've been playing pretty poorly for a while now but would still rank them above souths based purely around big game experience.

Bulldogs and Manly though are light years ahead of everyone and I just can't see those 2 teams not contesting the grand final. Only chance someone else has of making it is if the draw works out that they have to meet in the prelim.

Still, we've had the Warriors, Roosters and the Eels before them all make dream runs to the grand final in the last few seasons so no one can rule out Souths (or any team in the 8 really) from doing the same thing

 

[Galeforce]

Ah Galey,

Are you to simple to realise that your comments are 'if only' comments, despite the fact you didnt actually write 'if only' ?

I'll spell it out for you so you can understand.

'however a foot into touch was the difference between winning and losing' directly implies that, If only that foot hadn't gone into touch we would have won.

No Snappy Tom, you are too simple.
I am focusing on the DIFFERENCE between winning and losing and not talking about why we should have won that game.
The difference was insignificant in that game . So folks like you to say that Souths could not beat Bulldogs in a new game , based on that game is simple stupidity. get it

 

[Galeforce]

Danish,
thank you for your analysis and response.
A couple of comments
1) I did qualify that Manly were real class on our last meeting.They did controll where the game was played.
The score was 23 - 6 , with two Manly tries in the 71st and 80 minute.
I do not call that a thrashing , however certainly Manly were too good for us that day. Souths would have learnt more from that game to prepare us for a new meeting in the finals.
When Manly have been hot like that they have scored 30+ in first half alone against other teams.
So given we were without GI and our kicking game was off , yes i think Souths can take Manly.
2) as for close wins , sure we lost some and won some on key turning points .I am not debating this point, the point is folks are saying we cannot beat some of top teams in the finals because we have not beaten a top team for a while.This is where i make the point that some of those losses were close , so irrelevant , when considering a Finals game.

 

[BranVan3000]

We simply didn't play to our standards against Manly. The team looked tired and not willing to play to the intensity that Manly was. I'd argue Manly was out to prove a point that night and we weren't, and it showed. I don't think we will show up to a finals match with that same sort of attitude. Just as all the other finals contenders won't, despite having had performances in the last month that you can put a question mark on

 

[Snappy]

The difference was insignificant in that game . So folks like you to say that Souths could not beat Bulldogs in a new game , based on that game is simple stupidity. get it

You can go on and on all you like, but we could all see what you were actually getting at. Every team has examples of those type of things throughout the season.

Also please show me a quote where I have made any type of comment which you suggest above.

 

[BranVan3000]

Gale force certainly likes breaking things down into numbers

 

[innerwestrabbit]

The form team over the last 4 weeks has been Manly and Daylight second. The question should be how much better can Manly get versus the others. Bulldogs have been below there best for a month and finally got done by the raiders. Souths have been below there best , we played much better against Parra, but far from our best.

Of the top 4 teams 6 weeks ago, i would have said that storm would have been a team I would not like to have faced. Now I think I would love to play them in week 1. The team I would least like to face in week 1 is Manly. Happy to play the Dogs, we played well against them, won well in round 1 and the second game could have gone our way.

Souths are still in it.

 

[BranVan3000]

I'd still pick Brisbane as the team I don't want to face in the finals, if they make it. Hoping they don't and the Tigers do.

If there are two teams im confident against, it would be the Cowboys and the Tigers

 

[Galeforce]

First Finals game.
Storm in Melbourne gives me most concern , especially after their game against Sharks. They could not play that bad again at home for the first 75 minutes.
Bulldogs at the Stadium is my big wish!!!

 

[Noa]

First Finals game.
Storm in Melbourne gives me most concern , especially after their game against Sharks. They could not play that bad again at home for the first 75 minutes.
Bulldogs at the Stadium is my big wish!!!

:? We've had 1 good performance in 10 weeks.