Where will the South Sydney Rabbitohs finish in 2019?

[Daza06]

Same process as last season.


Who better to ask where a certain team will finish than the fans of the team themselves!


With their strongest line up where would you have them finishing?

1. Alex Johnston
2. Campbell Graham
3. Greg Inglis
4. Dane Gagai
5. Robert Jennings
6. Cody Walker
7. Adam Reynolds
8. Thomas Burgess
9. Damien Cook
10. George Burgess
11. John Sutton
12. Cameron Murray
13. Sam Burgess

Adam Doueihi
Junior Tatola
Mark Nicholls
Dean Britt

 

[Daza06]

For me, the Rabbitohs are the hardest team to place for 2019. They could finish anywhere from 4th to 12th.

The biggest issue for me is the depth within the forward pack. Starting pack no issues, the bench though is no good.

Britt, Nicholls and Tatola lack power and will struggle to get the team the team on the front foot. In terms of depth, only Dillon and Turner have NRL experience (Sironen has only played 2 NRL games).

Bennett will have a difficult time getting this team into the 8 should injuries strike within the forward pack.

 

[Mr Angry]

I rate your young blokes.

1-4

 

[ThingFish]

I might need some time to think on this. I think there are too many variables at this stage.

I’d say 6-10th. Bennett teams never start like a house on fire, but they do finish well. So I don’t expect a great start to the season.

I might wait and see how some of the young guys go during the trials before committing.

But 2020 with some contracts ending and freeing up some cap with the lose of a twin, I think that will be the start of our window.

 

[Rhyno]

5-8th will just be making up the numbers won’t be serious contenders

 

[ThingFish]

5-8th will just be making up the numbers won’t be serious contenders

I’ll take that.

 

[Souths Till I Die]

I might need some time to think on this. I think there are too many variables at this stage.

I’d say 6-10th. Bennett teams never start like a house on fire, but they do finish well. So I don’t expect a great start to the season.

I might wait and see how some of the young guys go during the trials before committing.

But 2020 with some contracts ending and freeing up some cap with the lose of a twin, I think that will be the start of our window.

I think you’re completely right here. Whilst we have a good pack I think we are going to need to rely on a few young players establishing themselves in the NRL this year. There’s a few players in the roster that I think could make the step up to our first grade squad. I think we’ll probably see Liam Knight and Corey Allan play first grade next year. I can’t really tell with the others that we’ve recruited though. I like the look of Dillon as a potential bench player.

 

[ThingFish]

I think you’re completely right here. Whilst we have a good pack I think we are going to need to rely on a few young players establishing themselves in the NRL this year. There’s a few players in the roster that I think could make the step up to our first grade squad. I think we’ll probably see Liam Knight and Corey Allan play first grade next year. I can’t really tell with the others that we’ve recruited though. I like the look of Dillon as a potential bench player.

From the Bears games I saw last year I think Britt was a standout. He made the NSWCup origin side as well. I’m hoping he’ll take it to the next level in 2019.

 

[Valheru]

Depends on how bennett coaches the team. If he instills that same grinding, defensive, field position based game plan as he did at dragons/Broncos then they will slide. That just isn't the way that side should play.

If he coaches them to play quick footy through the middle and play ad lib attack on the back of that, they will prosper.

 

[Galeforce]

I have caste my vote , however the assumption is

GI , Cook , Sam , Twins , Walker and Reynolds , Murray and AJ play more than 20 games each during the season fully fit.

A successful season depends on having your best players available for most games during the season

 

[Travitoh]

Souths could finish anywhere but bottom 4 i feel. It's strange but i had more confidence going into 2018 on the back of losing seasons than i do going into 2019 after a top 4 finish.

 

[ThingFish]

Souths could finish anywhere but bottom 4 i feel. It's strange but i had more confidence going into 2018 on the back of losing seasons than i do going into 2019 after a top 4 finish.

Although I don’t think we’ll finish that low, I 100% agree about the whole vibe going into this season. Everything seems a little off.

 

[Travitoh]

I've gone 5-8 as i feel missing the finals will be a fail. That said, it could be a very tight finals race again with teams from 2 through to 12 being seperated by only a couple of points.

We should definitely finish ahead of Canberra, NZ, Canterbury, Gold Coast and Manly. Parra are my roughie to play finals.

 

[The Mad Hatter]

I went bottom 4.

I predict a lot of youngsters and rookies will be blooded and given more experience.

There will be a mid season bombshell that GI is retiring immediately.

Cook won't be as dynamic.

George will leave.

 

[ThingFish]

I went bottom 4.

I predict a lot of youngsters and rookies will be blooded and given more experience.

There will be a mid season bombshell that GI is retiring immediately.

Cook won't be as dynamic.

George will leave.

There is growing whispers on the Twitterverse that George could be at the Broncos in 2020.

 

[Different kind of Rabbit]

I think we will be top four.

Say what you want about Bennett but he is no idiot. He will see that our attack was working last year and he won't want to tweak it too much. The only changes may well be GI to fullback which I think everyone agrees was probably the missing link for us anyway and he'll definitely tweak the interchange which should help as well.

What Bennett will certainly change and hopefully improve is our defensive structures.

Basically, if Bennett does what I expect him to do, we should improve as a team.

 

[callmack1]

I think we will be top four.

Say what you want about Bennett but he is no idiot. He will see that our attack was working last year and he won't want to tweak it too much. The only changes may well be GI to fullback which I think everyone agrees was probably the missing link for us anyway and he'll definitely tweak the interchange which should help as well.

What Bennett will certainly change and hopefully improve is our defensive structures.

Basically, if Bennett does what I expect him to do, we should improve as a team.

I agree with most of what you say about Bennett and yes, I'd love GI at fullback but I just don't think it's gonna happen. Not now with him being overweight and this new knee injury. First of all, he needs to get fit and then we should preserve him in the centres. We need GI on the field, fit and in form.

 

[English Rose]

The problem for me is that 2 of our best most experience best paid players have a cloud over them:

GI: Currently injured and apparently overweight, wouldn’t surprise me if an early retirement came this season.

Sam: We don’t how much of his marriage break up will take out of him on the field. His form dipped at the end of last year and obviously personal reasons along with a couple of niggling injuries he had contributed to this.

But on the other hand if these 2 fire like they can we always stand a chance! Wouldn’t back against them both having a wonder season either!

Interesting season ahead!

 

[Vic Mackey]

I think Souths slightly over achieved last year and the disappointing showings in the last two finals games showed that.

Crichton isn’t much of a loss However im concerned about their depth of a few injuries hit. Key players like Walker, Reynolds, Cook and Burgiix3 played nearly the entire season which was a godsend, as outside of the top 15 it looks very bare (North’s were disgraceful). Luckily though that too 15 has some serious players in it. Graham and Murry look like stars and will only improve.

They have too many good players to miss the 8, I have them around 5th-6th.

 

[Rabbit Stew]

I'm thinking 4-6 (and, yes, I know that's not one of the options).
Looking at last year's top eight, I would expect the Rooters to remain top four, and I can see Broncos and Panthers also taking a spot each.
If Rabbits play to potential, and the Burgess brothers keep catching the ball, I can see them competing with the Warriors and Melbourne for the last spot in the four.
Of course, Cowboys finished bottom four last year after making the GF in 2017 so trying to work out when any is going to end up is just a lottery at this stage of the year