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Round 19 v Cowboys

DiegoNT

First Grade
Messages
9,378
Murray was actually alright for his 20 minute cameo. Hopefully he is retained for next week
 

southsport

First Grade
Messages
9,556
Any of older players that are coming off contract and at least one of the twins should not be re-signed for next year i think.
 

souths_reborn

Juniors
Messages
470
I am absolutely speechless after that performance. In a must win game it was really disappointing that we were once again so lackluster. The problem with our team at the moment is that we are all out of sync when we have the footy and no one is on the same wavelength. What summed this up is that kick that Farah put deep into the Cowboys in-goal area and some how Kyle Feldt was able to get out of there as there were no chasers. More crucially, I don't think our team knows the style of footy that is required and when it is required; it seems that half the team is hellbent on playing the ad-lib stuff while the other half sticks to structured stuff. For example, there was a period in the second half, when we were still in the game, where we were trying to force ridiculous offloads when working the ball away from the Cowboys goal line. That is absolute madness! Moreover, as I hinted last week, there are players in our team who just aren't suited to ad-lib football and that is why our error rate was so high.

Last tackle options were again a major problem for us today as they have been all season. I thought Adam Reynolds had an alright game, its just that he gave away a few seven tackle sets from kicks that were a bit over hit. I actually thought he should have continued to run the ball more after the opening try because teams tend to stand off, especially on the last tackle, as they expect him to kick. He should have continued to use that to his advantage. I also think Sutton is starting to become a bit of a liability at five-eight simply because he always looks for the safe option. I think this is mainly a product of him not being a genuine half and being unable to ask more questions of opposition defences.

What was most irritating however was that the tries we conceded were all horrendously soft; the Cowboys were there for the taking and we pretty much beat ourselves. For instance, the Taumalolo and Coen Hess tries were simply a matter of wrapping the ball carrier up. The Coen Hess try was particularly annoying because he had three tacklers around him, two of which were forwards! Its not as if he was running at Alex Johnston! Similarly, the Jake Granville try was simply a product of not having adequate numbers on that side of the field to plug the gap. That is rugby league 101!

In terms our best performers, I thought Robbie Farah had a really strong game and was behind most of the good things we did today as was Cody Walker. Sam Burgess also tried his guts out! Many people are going to point to his handling errors but a couple of the mistakes he made were from good tackles. God only knows where we would be without him! Angus Crichton was again really good and I actually thought Robert Jennings put in a decent shift.

Overall, I think our season is pretty much over. I personally think we are just too far behind and have too many deficiencies within our team to pose a threat to the other teams. I find the predicament we are in to be almost unbelievable because on paper we look a pretty formidable team. What worries me most is that this was a must win game against a team that hardly played well and gave us plenty of opportunities and we laid a glove on them. If we can't perform in these sorts of games then there is no point us even playing finals footy.
 

foreverinourshadow

First Grade
Messages
9,400
oi dont knowers does souths have a shiiit team before rd1 ring a bell yet i know it takes for ever to sink in if its possible? but but but we will be on 14th position once the dogs collect their bye points this weekend . but but but lets keep turner and clark and tyrrell and gosiewski and greinke and britt and talakai and burns and jennings and cherro and co and she will be sweet for 2018 hey dont knowers...Shadow...
 

English Rose

Juniors
Messages
560
The problem is the halves. The attack is so predictable.

Time for Sutton to go as he is just too slow and past it and Reynolds was known for his good kicking game and even that has gone terrible now. Souths have to have the worse halves in the league.

And on the Farah/Cook debate I think Farah is much better. All you fans asking for Cook to start isn't the answer he is too erratic! I don't get the hype about him myself.

Tyrell, Clark, Sutton, Burgess twins all not up to it.
 

rabbitohs95

Bench
Messages
4,711
I'd really be considering running Cook at Five-Eighth. Sutton just isn't good enough anymore and is slow. I hope we don't re-sign him. Love the bloke but he is finished.
 

callmack1

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
11,609
I would've posted earlier but just needed some time to calm down otherwise I would've just posted a full on rant. I'm so deflated after that game and I am quite lost for words. We started so well and we were just starting to get on top of them when Cody scored that awesome try. Then it all came undone through that bloody error from Tom. From there it was massively downhill and I mean massively. Back to the same old same old. Really, really poor errors which but us under so much pressure. Many of these errors were off stupid plays aswell. The amount of penalties we conceded was outrages and we just let them out of their own end all the time! The attack was so clunky once again and we hardly looked like scoring the whole game. There was just no cohesion and no one looked on the same page. We didn't struggle to make metres when we actually held the friggin ball but we couldn't do anything with it close to the line. Don't even get me started on the defence, it was shocking. Three really soft tries, I was in absoulute disbelief when Granville scored. With the season on the line I expected far better.

Walker: I thought he was good, one of our best. Looked dangerous when he touched the ball and scored that beautiful try off some great support play. He was peppered with bombs all day but managed to hold his own and took some brilliant takes to save us. One of the few players that played like the season was on the line.

Johnston: A bit quiet I must say. The ball hardly came down that left edge though. He did come in for some hit ups and had a few good runs but I still don't think he did enough work. Got caught out from kicks position wise a few times too. He wasn't bad, just quiet.

Goodwin: Similar to AJ, quiet. He did have some nice runs and cleaned up a few loose balls but his work rate just wasn't as high as we expect from Bryson.

Jennings: I thought he was one of our best backs. Didn't really get tested defending the line but when the Cowboys did target him a few times, he held his own. Looked dangerous in attack too, he managed to get on the outside of defenders a fair bit and make some good runs. There was that instance where he threw the ball to no one but that was more Burns fault which I'll elaborate on next. He certainly created the opportunity though.

Burns: It was a quiet day for most of the backs, Burns was unfortunetly no different. He did score that nice try but like most of the other backs, didn't really do much more. Could've sparked a real comback if he didn't cut back inside when Jennings threw that pass, the space was there! He should have stayed on his wing and who knows what would've happened.

Sutton: Average. I don't know why Madge is sticking with him at 5/8, it has not worked at all. He's a great ball runner, which he did show a few times today, but he doesn't offer much creatively. That's part of the reason we look so clunky in attack. He made some really dumb plays today and got caught out at marker a few times. Put Cody back there and put Sutto on the banch where he can provide some impact instead of floundering at 5/8.

Reynolds: I don't actually think he played that badly. Apart from a few of his kicks (which were very poor) he looked alright. He created some opportunities with some nice touches like when we scored both of our tries. It was great to see him run the ball for our first try. Kicking game still needs work though. Some of them he pulled off today were just not acceptable. We know how good he can be, we just need to see that. Defending the line he was shaky too, rushed up by himself a few times by himself which left big holes. I had no idea what him and Gus were doing when Granville scored, that was awful and kind of summed up our whole performance.

T.Burgess: Had an awesome start to the game but then he bought all our good work undone with that friggin error! I was fuming after that because that gave them the momentum and we never recovered. Tom still had an okay game with some nice runs that looked like the Tom of old but I'm just fuming at him for that error.

Farah: I know he's copped a lot of flack over this game but I thought we was good. One of our only guys that really tried. He put in 100%, maybe a little too hard at times and those led to some poor plays but I think he took some great options today and looked dangerous at times.

Tyrrell: I love him but he's so friggin past it. Barely noticed him tbh.

Fuimaono: Got less minutes today due to our bench rotation and I have to be honest, he was a bit quiet too. Don't get me wrong, he had some powerful runs but just didn't provide as much as he has in previous game.

Crichton: Considering the way the rest of the side went, he was good. Poked his nose though on most runs and tried hard. Really poor from him when Granville scored though like I said before, no idea what him and Reyno were doing. I was in disbelief over that.

S.Burgess: That's two average games from Sam in a row now. The effort just didn't seem to be where it usually is for him again today. The poor errors crept back in as well. He was still better than some other forwards but I expect more from him. Needs to lift in the next game.

Clark: Tbh, offered little impact off the bench. He'd been good the last few weeks but I was dissapointed in him today.

Murray: Had a good little stint and provided some good impact. He carried defenders with him a fair way on every run. I like what I saw.

Musgrove: Wasn't bad. He came out and actually gave it his best shot. Every run was at full tit and his aggression was good. Good impact which is what we need from him.

G.Burgess: Was good also. Apart from that one bad error at the end, he really packed a punch. He's starting to bring back that trademark gallop which is good to see. Made a barnstorming run which wound the clock back. Still need more but it is good progess form George.

I'm just really dissapointed tbh. I mean the defence was just in-excusable and another play I forgot to mention was when Feldt got out of the in-goal of Robbie's kick, where the hell were our chasers. The whole squad talks about the belief they have all week and than they go out and play like that when it was a must win! Especially after the way we started. It's really dissapointing. Our season is now officially over and that's heartbreaking but it's been a long time coming. I'm pissed off and really gutted. Some questions need to be asked and some soul searching needs to be done.

Move Cody back to 5/8, Sutto to the bench. Maybe AJ back to fullback. We need to look to next season now.

I also think Madge has done his dash.

We can still string some results together like we did at the back end of last year but work needs to be done and players need to lift.

I'm not usually this negative but I don't know what else to say tbh.

Souths are just in a rut atm. We've been through much worse and we'll get out of it, just have to ride through it. The lows make the high's that much better.
 

Souths Till I Die

First Grade
Messages
5,927
Souths NEED to make sure they keep the younger guys even if it comes at the expense of premiership veterans Tyrell, Sutton etc..

I do worry for madge's job security. As the coach you're supposed to get the players pumped up. They weren't in it from the whistle.
 

souths_reborn

Juniors
Messages
470
The problem is the halves. The attack is so predictable.

Time for Sutton to go as he is just too slow and past it and Reynolds was known for his good kicking game and even that has gone terrible now. Souths have to have the worse halves in the league.

And on the Farah/Cook debate I think Farah is much better. All you fans asking for Cook to start isn't the answer he is too erratic! I don't get the hype about him myself.

Tyrell, Clark, Sutton, Burgess twins all not up to it.
Predictable is not the right word I would use to describe it. I would say that its more uncertain and ambiguous than anything. I just don't think the halves know what to do, especially now that we've started offloading. In saying that, its just not the halves; its the entire team. Like I said in my post above, we just look all out of sync and there were numerous examples today that illustrated this. Adam Reynolds did some good things today but unfortunately he also put a few kicks dead. With this new seven tackle set rule you just cannot afford to do that. However, I do agree with you that we need more from our five-eight that what Sutton is offering.
 

BUNNY POWER

Juniors
Messages
61
Cody should definitely be at five eighth, and Sutto back to the second row. AJ to fullback. I think Fuimaono should play in the centres until we get an outside back or 2 back from injury.

1. AJ
2. Goodwin
3. Burns
4. Fui
5. Jennings
6. Walker
7. Ren
 

Souths Till I Die

First Grade
Messages
5,927
I've come understand that there's some of you in here that have openly stated they have depression but I don't really understand the bullying of people. I'm not an expert on the matter and I don't claim to me but I would think if you actually did suffer depression you would refrain from trying to hurt people over the internet.
 

CAFPOW

Juniors
Messages
1,145
Sam makes a half break, offloads to Tyrrell. It's gotta be the
f**k........

What a f**king rabble......

They ought to be ashamed of themselves......

Oi CAFPOW the Cows are down to 14 with 3 AWOL off the bench....

They could take another 2 out..........

We got no hope even if they have 11 on the field....

I watched the game with the Benny Hill theme on at the background. I finished the game with a smile on my face. :)
 

Itsamansgame

Juniors
Messages
1,201
The problem I see with this team is that they have had their natural abilities coached out of them.
There's a lot of talent in this team and individual brilliance but they have been coached to play a structured game that was fine back in 2014 but they haven't evolved to what is required along the way.
We are so predictable and hesitation is killing us,we hesitate with the ball and in defence it's like the natural ability is there but we better stick to Madge's game plan and that doubt leads us to where we are today,a absolute shambles.
To start to get our house in order I suggest Madge has had his day!
 

doyen

Bench
Messages
3,603
The problem I see with this team is that they have had their natural abilities coached out of them.
There's a lot of talent in this team and individual brilliance but they have been coached to play a structured game that was fine back in 2014 but they haven't evolved to what is required along the way.
We are so predictable and hesitation is killing us,we hesitate with the ball and in defence it's like the natural ability is there but we better stick to Madge's game plan and that doubt leads us to where we are today,a absolute shambles.
To start to get our house in order I suggest Madge has had his day!

This situation, as you describe, is absolutely spot-on & has been going on for far too long---long enough in my opinion to damage the player's heads--their confidence.

I am NOT a fan of Madge--never have been really---I like to enjoy watching RL but it's very,very hard to watch the predictable crap we've had to endure over the past 2 or 3 seasons!!
 
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callmack1

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
11,609
The thing that really concerns me about Madge, and I think it's why the time has come to let him go, is that he's in denial. He's so in denial that what he is doing and the game plan he has is correct. It's been clear now for the last two and a half seasons that it's not but yet, nothing changes! Same old style, same old questionable selections and the same old talk in the media every week.
 

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