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Diminutive Dragons five eighth Jamie Soward will return to the Dragons NSW Cup team, the Illawarra Cutters, for the second time in two years this weekend after being dropped from first grade.
But what is more noticeable is the trend emerging that has been recurring among football fans since the Dragons 2010 premiership win; when the Dragons lose, blame Jamie Soward.
There are few players that polarise opinion like Jamie Soward.
The difference with Soward is that he doesn’t possess many of the characteristics of a player who normally would.
He isn’t a cocky, loud mouthed type who blows his own trumpet in the media. He isn’t on the footy show every week aspiring to be a quasi actor. He isn’t a hulking forward who is so enigmatic he is often conspicuous by his absence in the play.
I was at a recent Dragons autograph signing session which featured a plethora of stars. A host of representative players such as Matt Cooper, Brett Morris, Ben Creagh, Dan Hunt and Trent Merrin were all present. But everyone there was after one signature; Jamie Soward.
This week the anti-Soward fever reached another apex when Soward missed a penalty opportunity after the final siren that would have sent the game into golden point.
With the reaction of fans post game, one could be excused for thinking Soward missed twenty tackles, made seventeen errors and kicked none from five.
In reality, Soward had a sound game. Sure, he wasn’t man of the match but he went okay considering his forward pack were on the back foot all night.
Soward scored a try and kicked three goals, two of which were from out wide. It is just as easy to argue that he was the only reason the Dragons were in the game after that final siren.
In Nick Tedeschi’s famous “Willie M” awards which are a mirror of the Dally M’s but award a 3-2-1 based on ineptitude and mediocrity, Soward did not feature. It was in fact his halves partner Nathan Fien who got the three points.
When Soward did score he was a victim of some foul play afterwards, with Ben Barba coming in late with knees in the back.
Unlike most, Soward did not get up carrying on like a pork chop or swinging vengeful haymakers ad infinitum, he had a quick word and walked back and slotted the goal from the sideline.
So why are so many fans anti-Soward?
Jamie Soward isn’t likely to go down as an immortal, but he has won the Dragons many games, often with his left boot.
In fact it is possible that his propensity to often seal a victory for the Dragons may be the reason fans turn on him when he doesn’t; the fans expect it every time.
Coaches have used varying defensive tactics with Soward to protect him and allow him to be fresh in attack. Many see this as him being soft or hiding from the hard work. In reality it is a tactic hatched by coaches such as Wayne Bennett; it seemed to work well for him.
Maybe it’s the fact that we rarely see Soward get tackled, another perception of softness. Maybe it’s the times that he drifts across the field laterally and doesn’t use an option which appears to stunt the attacking momentum.
I think one of the qualities that Soward does have that a few other players could benefit from is that he gives 100% every game.
If that means he tries twenty things in a game and eighteen of them fail, so be it, we all have off days at work, but most of our bosses are happy if we are doing our best.
Rest assured that while Jamie Soward continues to play in the NRL, he will continue to have good and bad games; he will continue to win his side games or fail narrowly trying to do so.
But as sure as death and taxes, Soward will also polarise opinion and fans will continue to love or hate him.
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