Round 2 - Storm vs Rabbitohs: Thursday 17th March 8:05pm @AAMI Park

[southsport]

H

He isn’t ready yet either

What I meant by Tass not being ready is that he's recently back from injury.
.

 

[handyman2190]

H

He isn’t ready yet either

I cant see why not,in times of need you use what youve got,rorters used walker at 19, parra are tying up that 20year old centre we maybe should have poached last year, cowboys using young winger etc karapani hasnt had much game time ok,but tass has been playing qld cup,i say bite the F bullet,we should not have left gagai go,even on 1 foot he was man of the match.
Again ill drive my brethren mad,call me what you like, recruitment is a bare cupboard,we need a specialist, if we dont pinch at least 1 cronulla forward for next year we need our headds read,they have so many now oregon kafusi as well and we just let them go when they ask,we are a soft touch

 

[callmack1]

Rabbitohs Line Up for Round 2 Against Storm: https://www.rabbitohs.com.au/news/2022/03/15/rabbitohs-line-up-for-round-two-against-storm/

EXACTLY as I predicted it! Pretty happy with the line up over all. Would have liked to have seen Paulo either not there or on the right wing but it is what it is, JD is giving him another chance and Karapani and Tass probably need some time in NSW Cup before they're 100% ready. Hopefully Jaxson can step up.

Can't put into words how huge it is having Latrell back!! So excited to see him back out on that field in a Red and Green jumper! He may be a little rusty, we can't expect him to be at his absolute best but this is the start of 2022 for him and even a rusty Latrell is still one of the best players in the game. He will change a lot for us and we should see improvement, having AJ back on that left wing will help too.

Other than that, same side as last week. It was a poor performance in Round 1 but no need to axe anyone yet. It's one game, the first game of the Season, and the boys will know they all need to lift massively. It just HAS to be a much improved performance against the Storm.

Is it Thursday night yet?!!

 

[Nafedogg]

IMO Cody and Cook really need to lift after last week, they are the senior players who are needed to steer these young blokes around. Keep the silly errors (incorrect play the ball, knock ons from scrum etc) and get our 5th tackle kicks away and that’ll go along way.

If there is actual effort from each player, there is no reason we can’t take it to the storm, forget the 50-0 flogging, they only got us by 8 points in that first game last year. Let’s break that idea that we can’t beat them!

 

[handyman2190]

IMO Cody and Cook really need to lift after last week, they are the senior players who are needed to steer these young blokes around. Keep the silly errors (incorrect play the ball, knock ons from scrum etc) and get our 5th tackle kicks away and that’ll go along way.

If there is actual effort from each player, there is no reason we can’t take it to the storm, forget the 50-0 flogging, they only got us by 8 points in that first game last year. Let’s break that idea that we can’t beat them!

Cody looked frustrated and depressed

 

[Rabbits20]

 

[Rabbits20]

 

[Nafedogg]

Cody looked frustrated and depressed

This is his time to shine, not get all frustrated. Clean up his errors and the little aspects of his game. If Cody is firing, the squad is aswell. Hopefully it was just an off night for him.

 

[Steenson123]

What I meant by Tass not being ready is that he's recently back from injury.
.

What's wrong with putting Karapani in there?? Demetriou sticking stubbionly with Paulo as a centre is doomed, it reminds me of how Maguire sunk himself for 6 straight games in 2017 playing Tuggboat Talakai as a centre when everyone could see he is purely a barging, metre getting back rower. This helped cost Maguire credibility as a HC and eventually cost him his position. Yet when he finally dumped Talakai it were too late the squad was used to heroic defeats.
The Paulo/"Demetriou knows best" process now playing is eerily similar to what happened with Maguire. Eventually and rather ironically this led to us importing yes... Gagai! Isn't this ironic?
Overall, showing Reynolds Gagai etc the door all at once because of the fear of quote "being put in Sam Burgess/GI type situations with injured veterans on large contracts". This is really immature and novice like behaviour by the hierachy running the squad. Surely the prerequisite should have been "do we currently have better or equal options to these veterans via the youth teams?" The answer appears obvious. Further, most of these teams could not play last season hence the question: how do these officials expect "emerging" younger highly inexperienced players with very little recent game time at any level to fill the important breaches left by immature recruitment policies??
There has been a lot of talk about the energing crop of good young talent. Yet Kalo Kalo, Karapani are ignored for a position of dire need and Moale does not look anywhere near the hype surrounding him. Nothing even close to it! Ilias may be good its obvious he needs more playing time and a clearly defined role.
Two things we definitely know. One, Bennett never played Paulo as a centre nor did he ever suggest he would, even with players absent. Two, should the side fall badly and continue at say 7-10 ppg Demetriou will be sacked.

 

[Steenson123]

It was always going to be a rebuilding season so there's no point in focussing on early season form, we just need to enjoy the ride no matter what.
.

Cannot agree! We have Walker, Cook, Murray and Mitchell. Four of THE best the NRL can offer. This is NOT rebuilding!! Its up to Demetriou to prove he can coach successfully. Blooding guys like Karapani is exactly what is needed yet Demetriou seems allergic to doing it. Paulo is not a centre yet Demetriou persists. Taaffe too could be an option in the halves he seems far too light to continually play FB. Taaffe from memory did play 5/8 or half in a winning JFlegg program. Wrong choices and inability as a coach to develop new players leads to a short life for coaches.
The club needs to target Eddie Jones as HC, a true supporter ex-Randwick rugby guy: Jones has won everywhere he has been, has charisma and is similar in stature to Bennett. Did you see Eddie last season in an International Rugby game coaching England? He had a Souths Bunny Cap on!!
From what I see Demetriou is not good. And the squad play no good. That's on him its not like he has no big names!! Keep up the 10 or less ppg, the continual errors and fumbling and he will be toast.

 

[Steenson123]

What's wrong with putting Taaffe at half?
He is slick, has a burst, has a kicking game, good hands and co-ordination and can place kick. Plus he has GF experience despite his relative shallow time in A Grade.
If Ilias fails put Taaffe there. He may solve that position riddle simply because he has the skill and pace to do it.

 

[southsport]

What's wrong with putting Karapani in there?? Demetriou sticking stubbionly with Paulo as a centre is doomed, it reminds me of how Maguire sunk himself for 6 straight games in 2017 playing Tuggboat Talakai as a centre when everyone could see he is purely a barging, metre getting back rower. This helped cost Maguire credibility as a HC and eventually cost him his position. Yet when he finally dumped Talakai it were too late the squad was used to heroic defeats.
The Paulo/"Demetriou knows best" process now playing is eerily similar to what happened with Maguire. Eventually and rather ironically this led to us importing yes... Gagai! Isn't this ironic?
Overall, showing Reynolds Gagai etc the door all at once because of the fear of quote "being put in Sam Burgess/GI type situations with injured veterans on large contracts". This is really immature and novice like behaviour by the hierachy running the squad. Surely the prerequisite should have been "do we currently have better or equal options to these veterans via the youth teams?" The answer appears obvious. Further, most of these teams could not play last season hence the question: how do these officials expect "emerging" younger highly inexperienced players with very little recent game time at any level to fill the important breaches left by immature recruitment policies??
There has been a lot of talk about the energing crop of good young talent. Yet Kalo Kalo, Karapani are ignored for a position of dire need and Moale does not look anywhere near the hype surrounding him. Nothing even close to it! Ilias may be good its obvious he needs more playing time and a clearly defined role.
Two things we definitely know. One, Bennett never played Paulo as a centre nor did he ever suggest he would, even with players absent. Two, should the side fall badly and continue at say 7-10 ppg Demetriou will be sacked.

JD probably wants to have a look at Paulo with Mitchell at fullback and AJ on the left wing.

 

[southsport]

Cannot agree! We have Walker, Cook, Murray and Mitchell. Four of THE best the NRL can offer. This is NOT rebuilding!! Its up to Demetriou to prove he can coach successfully. Blooding guys like Karapani is exactly what is needed yet Demetriou seems allergic to doing it. Paulo is not a centre yet Demetriou persists. Taaffe too could be an option in the halves he seems far too light to continually play FB. Taaffe from memory did play 5/8 or half in a winning JFlegg program. Wrong choices and inability as a coach to develop new players leads to a short life for coaches.
The club needs to target Eddie Jones as HC, a true supporter ex-Randwick rugby guy: Jones has won everywhere he has been, has charisma and is similar in stature to Bennett. Did you see Eddie last season in an International Rugby game coaching England? He had a Souths Bunny Cap on!!
From what I see Demetriou is not good. And the squad play no good. That's on him its not like he has no big names!! Keep up the 10 or less ppg, the continual errors and fumbling and he will be toast.

I think we lost our first 3 matches in 2012 when Reyno replaced Sandow, early days yet, let's not start slashing our wrists after one loss, there's still a lot of water to go under the bridge in season 2022.
.

 

[handyman2190]

What's wrong with putting Karapani in there?? Demetriou sticking stubbionly with Paulo as a centre is doomed, it reminds me of how Maguire sunk himself for 6 straight games in 2017 playing Tuggboat Talakai as a centre when everyone could see he is purely a barging, metre getting back rower. This helped cost Maguire credibility as a HC and eventually cost him his position. Yet when he finally dumped Talakai it were too late the squad was used to heroic defeats.
The Paulo/"Demetriou knows best" process now playing is eerily similar to what happened with Maguire. Eventually and rather ironically this led to us importing yes... Gagai! Isn't this ironic?
Overall, showing Reynolds Gagai etc the door all at once because of the fear of quote "being put in Sam Burgess/GI type situations with injured veterans on large contracts". This is really immature and novice like behaviour by the hierachy running the squad. Surely the prerequisite should have been "do we currently have better or equal options to these veterans via the youth teams?" The answer appears obvious. Further, most of these teams could not play last season hence the question: how do these officials expect "emerging" younger highly inexperienced players with very little recent game time at any level to fill the important breaches left by immature recruitment policies??
There has been a lot of talk about the energing crop of good young talent. Yet Kalo Kalo, Karapani are ignored for a position of dire need and Moale does not look anywhere near the hype surrounding him. Nothing even close to it! Ilias may be good its obvious he needs more playing time and a clearly defined role.
Two things we definitely know. One, Bennett never played Paulo as a centre nor did he ever suggest he would, even with players absent. Two, should the side fall badly and continue at say 7-10 ppg Demetriou will be sacked.

The only thing i dont agree with is sacking JD whats happened here isnt his fault not when youve got Ello,solly and the great pappas making the 30plus decision, gags on 1 leg was man of the match last week and debatebly the biggest loss. Our deadly left edge is no more, cody is a shadow,cookie useless, and why is murray even playing? He had the same op as cleary at the same time,cleary isnt ready how is cam ready? And he played like it as well.
Yes ive said it before 1 player AR loss was enough,weve compounded it. Everything else youve said is spot on

 

[callmack1]

Rabbitohs Insider 2022 Round 2: https://www.rabbitohs.com.au/news/2022/03/16/rabbitohs-insider-round-two2/

"You can see the difference Latrell makes to our attack" - Jason Demetriou: https://www.rabbitohs.com.au/news/2022/03/16/jason-demetriou-round-two-media/

Rabbitohs 19-man squad for Round 2: https://www.rabbitohs.com.au/news/2022/03/16/rabbitohs-19-man-squad-for-round-two/

Squad remains exactly the same for now.

'His achilles heel' - Anasta's advice to Latrell to become 'nearly unstoppable': https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...e/news-story/e32142da19cf2eb2292940f9d4b46984

Beast mode - Latrell works on when to switch on the aggression: https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/be...switch-on-the-aggression-20220316-p5a516.html

 

[Rabbits20]

 

[callmack1]

I'll say one thing about hoodoos. For whatever reason, they are real. They exist. They can happen. They do happen, especially in sport. We all know the tale of the tape, our hoodoo against the Storm is about as crazy as it gets. over 25 years, 35 games against them for 5 wins, 30 losses. That's a win percentage of just 14%. In Melbourne? Well, it doesn't get much crazier. 17 attempts, yup, 17 losses. Zero wins in Melbourne. Now that is a hoodoo no doubt. But you know what the great thing about hoodoos is? They are made to be broken and law of averages say we are well overdue for a win. That's what we'll be trying to do tonight as we take on the Storm down there in Melbourne in Round 2! That's right, it's game day!!!!

Huge game tonight there's no doubt about that as we get to test ourselves once again against one of the premier teams in the comp. It's going to be one hell of a challenge. There's no tougher road trip than heading down to Melbourne let alone in their first home game in 11 months, let alone being their coaches 500th game in charge. The odds are certainly against us but that's just the way we like it. The Storm are going to be so up for this one and we have to find a way to fight fire with fire and stand up to that. They have an injury crisis so it's not a bad time to get them however, they do still have Munster, grant and Bromwich returning tonight so they'll be fine I'm sure. Such is the quality of their side, I don't think there's any real key battle this week, we just have to be on all over the park or we'll get our pants pulled down again.

With Round 1 now behind us, I'm expecting a much improved performance tonight and it needs to be. It simply needs to be a huge turnaround from last week if we want to be any chance of beating the Storm. Every part of out game needs to have a massive improvement but particularly our completions and execution in attack. We complete like we did last week and we'll get slaughtered. Latrell's return is a massive boost and I simply can't wait to see him back out there on the field, going to be mega.

I just want to see us really fire up, stand up and finally give it to these purple pricks for the first time in a very long time. We have it in us, it's just about going out there and doing it!! We can do it, we can defy the odds! Hoodoos are made to be broken. It's game day baby, let's gooooooo!!!

 

[Rabbits20]

Well here we are round 2 and Game Day is upon us. What has been the toughest trip for us in the NRL going down to Melbourne we take it on again. 17 attempts down there for 17 losses one of the biggest hoodoos off not the biggest in the NRL. Surely that will have to change sooner rather than later. We just have to treat it as another game. One things for sure and that’s that the boys will be hurting after last week we were very rusty and off our game. We just have to come out and start fast. For us getting Trell back is a massive boost, hopefully he can have a big game. Having AJ back on that left wing is great for us as well. We will have to much them in the middle so we need big games from our starting pack and going with them early to allow our spine to get into the game. Defensively across the park we can’t afford any lapses or they’ll make us pay and on our edges we need to work together well for one another and slide well as the Storm will look to exploit our edges. If we can be in the game at half time you never know. We certainly need to hold onto the ball much better than last week and finish our sets off well. I would like to see Ilias take on more of the general play kicking as well.

For the Storm they lose a few to injury but they get back Munster, Grant and J. Brom, and they have threats all over the park. The first 20-25mins when we have played them recently they’ve blown us off the park So stopping offloads will be key and good line speed. They still have some very fast backs of course in Pap and Coates plus a strong pack plus its Bellamy’s 500th game coaching them too so they’ll be very fired up. A big key for us will be shutting down Munster he always seems to go bonkas against us.

Regardless of whether we win or lose the thing I wanna see is a much better effort and attitude than last week and I wanna see the boys dig deep and show pride in the jersey working hard for one another.

SO OK RABBITOHS MEMBERS AND SUPPORTERS IT IS NEARLY TIME ONCE AGAIN TO FIRE UP!!!!! AT 8:03PM TONIGHT EVERYONE ON YOUR FEET LETS GET RIGHT BEHIND THE BOYS TONIGHT WHETHER YOU ARE AT THE GAME OR AT HOME LETS ALL WEAR THE COLOURS PROUDLY AND SCREAM OUR LUNGS OUT!! GLORY GLORY LETS GO RABBITOHS!!

 

[Steenson123]

The only thing i dont agree with is sacking JD whats happened here isnt his fault not when youve got Ello,solly and the great pappas making the 30plus decision, gags on 1 leg was man of the match last week and debatebly the biggest loss. Our deadly left edge is no more, cody is a shadow,cookie useless, and why is murray even playing? He had the same op as cleary at the same time,cleary isnt ready how is cam ready? And he played like it as well.
Yes ive said it before 1 player AR loss was enough,weve compounded it. Everything else youve said is spot on

Well I notice Demetriou has mentioned "attack" in refernce to Mitchell's return. I stand firm what I said. If the squad contiue at 4-7 ppg or even less, the coach is toast. And further I note Demetriou has no A Grade experience as a HC and no real charisma. He has had 3-4 months or more to prepare players like Ilias yet the young man seems lost and hesitant. Nor do I understand why you people are not pushing for Taaffe as the #7. He has acceleration, ball handling and kicking skills and he has starting GF experience. Taaffe needs to be used much more his talent is obvious but for some reason the club seems to be restraining it.

 

[southsport]

Well I notice Demetriou has mentioned "attack" in refernce to Mitchell's return. I stand firm what I said. If the squad contiue at 4-7 ppg or even less, the coach is toast. And further I note Demetriou has no A Grade experience as a HC and no real charisma. He has had 3-4 months or more to prepare players like Ilias yet the young man seems lost and hesitant. Nor do I understand why you people are not pushing for Taaffe as the #7. He has acceleration, ball handling and kicking skills and he has starting GF experience. Taaffe needs to be used much more his talent is obvious but for some reason the club seems to be restraining it.

Taaffe is out injured for a few weeks so Ilias will be our #7.
.