Michael Maguire, one of supercoach Craig Bellamy’s star protégés, is becoming more like his old master with every passing week.
Yesterday, we learned that popularity and reputations count for zero with ‘Madge’.
He dumped record-breaking winger and club stalwart Nathan Merritt from the Souths team that faces Brisbane at Suncorp tonight.
To be honest, I was shocked when news broke of Merritt’s demotion.
He has been a backline fixture for the Rabbitohs for the past nine years and few considered his position to be in any kind of jeopardy.
Merritt, lauded when he became Souths’ all-time greatest try-scorer just two weeks ago, was dropped due to a downturn in form rather than any disciplinary reason.
Coach Maguire has clearly set high standards for his players – senior or otherwise – and he is not afraid to wield the selection axe.
In the earlier rounds this year, he has relegated Beau Champion, Luke Burgess, Lote Tuqiri, Ben Lowe and Dave Tyrrell from the senior team and now Merritt finds himself preparing for a run in the State Cup.
South Sydney and their coach are under enormous pressure to win the premiership after a drought lasting several decades. It is clear that tough decisions have to be made in order to achieve that lofty goal.
I like what Maguire is doing. No Rabbitoh has a comfort zone in 2014. Form is the foremost selection criteria.
Two players were named in Merritt’s place, the experienced Joel Reddy and 20-year-old up-and-comer Alex Johnston. Most talk is that the kid will make his debut against the hard-to-beat Broncos.
This match has the ingredients to be one of the best of the year.
Brisbane will try to run Souths’ big men around with their slick passing game, while everyone knows what to expect from the highly physical and much bigger Rabbitohs.
Bronco Benny Barba showed some form in last week’s big win over Newcastle. I’ll be interested to see if he can back it up with another sharp display for Brisbane.
The Broncos have been patient waiting for Barba to settle into their playing patterns and it looks as though the rewards are about to come.
Souths have lost a number of games they should have won this year and I feel they must stamp their authority on the comp sooner rather than later.
Brisbane would be an ideal place for them to show the NRL exactly what they’ve got, but the home side will fight them every inch of the way.
Before I sign off, I have to make a comment on Glenn Stewart’s unwilling departure from Manly.
Far too many club stalwarts are being forced out the door because of salary cap restraints and it leaves the loyal fans with a sour taste in their mouths.
Surely it’s time for the NRL trumps to take some action and stop this rot.
Ten-year servants for any particular club should be offered special dispensation on their contracts of say, 75 per cent. Most are 30 years or older at the time these instances crop up.
It is grossly unfair to penalise these senior footballers after their tremendous years of continuous service to their respective clubs.
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