South Sydney are so tightly scripted in their style of play that it doesn’t take much – one key player injured here, another out of form there – to knock them off-course. They simply don’t handle disruption as well as some other teams.
I don’t buy the suggestion that infighting among the players is the reason behind the Rabbitohs losing three games in a row. That is usually a suggestion made by people who don’t know any better and are trying to suggest that they do.
It wouldn’t be a great mood at the club at the moment, but that would be the result of the losses rather than the cause of them.
Souths rely heavily on the thrust of Greg Inglis coming from fullback, the direction and accurate kicking game of halfback Adam Reynolds, the great running and general decision-making of Issac Luke out of dummy-half and the power of the Burgess brothers close to the opposition line.
It isn’t rocket science, but when things are going well for the Rabbitohs they look like they practice it in their sleep. The problem is that when one of the main parts is not working properly or at all, it can throw the whole operation out of whack.
Inglis and Luke were on deck for the 28-8 win over Sydney Roosters in the first round, and the 14-12 loss to Manly in Round 2. A defeat, sure, but nothing to get too concerned about. The Sea Eagles are high-class opponents.
But then, in the third round against Wests Tigers, Inglis left the field concussed after five minutes and the Tigers won 25-16 in a shock result. Luke was on the field for almost the entire game before hurting his shoulder and going off.
Last weekend, when Canberra caused Souths a second straight shock by beating them 30-18, Inglis played but Luke was missing with the shoulder problem that will keep him off the field for a while yet.
On top of all of this, Reynolds, while he has been playing, hasn’t been playing well. His form went downhill in last year’s finals series and he is struggling to get back to where it was before that.
And the player who was scheduled to be Reynolds’s partner in the halves, Luke Keary, didn’t even make it to the start of the season because of a torn pectoral muscle.
That meant Dylan Walker moving from the centres, where he was a danger man, to five-eighth. That experiment has now been abandoned, at least temporarily, with Walker returning to the centres for Saturday night’s game against St George Illawarra at the SCG.
John Sutton has gone back to five-eighth from the back-row.
The other thing we shouldn’t forget is that Souths lost more players with first-grade experience at the end of last season than they recruited. And one of those players was Nathan Peats, the high-quality back-up hooker to Luke who is now starring with Parramatta.
Their quality of depth was inevitably affected. Souths would have been fine had all of their key players been fit and in form, but they couldn’t afford much to go wrong.
The switches involving Sutton and Walker should help, but they badly need Reynolds to find his old form.
And because a rookie in Apisai Koroisau is deputising for Luke, everyone in the team needs to work a bit harder to produce some spark in the absence of the star dummy-half.
The Rabbitohs are going to have to become a bit more adjustable to enable them to negotiate this difficult period with some competition points.
Say, like Manly.
The Sea Eagles struggled to adjust in Round 1 against Melbourne when star fullback Brett Stewart failed to return after halftime because of injury. They led 20-4 at that stage, but ended up losing 23-22 in golden point extra-time.
But they adjusted pretty well to beat the Rabbitohs without not only Brett Stewart, but his brother Glenn as well.
And they have kept winning with Peter Hiku deputising for Brett, 22-18 over Parramatta and 8-0 over Sydney Roosters. The Sea Eagles had a couple of other players out for that most recent game. The Roosters, who beat Manly 26-18 in last year’s grand final, were minus Sonny Bill Williams.
The Sea Eagles have three wins and one loss. The Rabbitohs have one win and three losses. Manly aren’t winning by much, but they’re winning. Souths have been knocked out of the contest in each of their last two games.
3_Hats SSTID 2014
Roar Rookie
I found this article by accident when researching something else! WOW, this was way back in 2014 and Souths didn't start well. 1 win and 3 losses, as they say, hindsight is wonderful. HISTORY will tell us all that Souths went on and finished 3rd with 15 victories. Souths went on and WON the COMP in 2014!. Fast Forward to 2016 and the same Journos as back in 2014 are the same Journos peddling out the same old dribble. Reyno want's out and infighting at Redfern. Well, Reynolds is NOW signed up until 2020.
Damien
Roar Guru
Get over yourself GAL, you're sounding like a cranky old man.y. We get that you're not a fan of the Burgess Boys.They've done more good than bad. The 'eye gouging' of Maloney had nothing in it. Burgess was just trying to annoy/take the piss out of Maloney. The penalty count point you made is very interesting though..
Gonads At Large
Guest
The bit I love is throwing road signs through car windows in Darwin. Next time I'm up there I'll give it a shot. Might try the squirrel grip and eye gouging, too. I'll win some new fans.
Damien
Roar Guru
Its a wonder 'star' player want to do any media. If a player does media appearances has half a personality etc. they get labelled Big Heads, if they shun the media they get hammered for not being available. Its a no win situation. I like the Sam & George Burgess because they are unbelievable footballers. I think George will go on to be one of the greatest props and Sam's already in that class. The attention they get is natural reflection. Plus they're young men, not robots. Getting paid $2M would make most players want out as well..
Gonads At Large
Guest
Ronald Regan, I suppose.
JimC
Guest
I support the Gripper but I'm English so am biased. You don't become a bad player overnight and I'm sure his ego has been somewhat deflated by now. I think he and Souths will turn it around. However it's tough to win the flag with that backline.
Greg Prichard
Guest
Any supporters of the Gripper out there? Anyone want to see the Rabbitohs win one for the Gripper?
Greg Prichard
Guest
I would have thought if people say they want to read about the game they would want to talk about it. Otherwise, it might suggest they just want to be critical when it suits them. Incidentally, I think MH370 is at the bottom of the ocean, which is hardly a scoop but the best I can do on that front.
JimC
Guest
We are reading Greg, just not commenting. Obviously it's not going to get the same response as your "A-league is fascinating, rugby league is boring" piice of clickbait a few weeks ago, but if that's what you want, go the whole hog and write about Israel/palestine or what you think happened to MH370. I think this is a decent article by the way.
Scrubbit
Guest
I think ugly is an understatement. Hideous maybe.
Gonads At Large
Guest
Some in the team loathe the Squirrel Gripper. That's why the co-captaincy was stripped off him. Not turning up for training before a vital game was the last straw before a group of players almost revolted. Only Crowe's intervention saved him. Don't believe anything the club says. This is the same club caught fudging crowd figures. The same that told everyone that David Fa'alogo had to come back early from the Jacksonville trip for family reasons when the truth was that he punched someone at a taxi rank. And the same club that issued a press release saying that Kidwell injured his knee tripping over his daughter at a family BBQ when the truth was he did the season-ending injury playing knee football at the drunken birthday party of a certain Oscar-winner (who turns 50 next Monday).
Dave
Guest
Personally Greg, from what I am reliably informed, Suqirrel Grip Sam will not be missed at the Burrough. There is not much room for a big head and a holy than though attitude in a team full of stars when you want them to play off the same hymn sheet. My mail is that the Bunnies would be happy to see Suqirrel Grip Sam go now.
Dave
Guest
Correct. For the record I am not a Manly fan. My point is not about who is in and who is not...all teams have injuries, my point is that they have Banked games 15 other coaches woould love to bank. Obviously ypour coach would have loved to banjk the game against theManly and for that matter Souths. There is no doubt that SBW is a big loss, but so too is Glenn Stewart and Snake Steward. The statistics show the win and loss rationis way better with snake in the team. Perhaps that comes back to depth and recruitment. Personally I still think Eastern Suburbs are the team to beat this year. Good luck to you and your team BA Sports.
Bunny Magic
Guest
Against my will I completely agree with this article. The speculation of in house fighting is a media driven agenda to gain interest in Souths.I also think Inglis doesn't look to be in the greatest shape to start the year and Souths over reliance on GI is being exposed. I believe even if Souths say it isn't true they gutted there depth to try and sign Ferguson. I think Ferguson was viewed as the missing piece and once the off field issues/injuries meant he will more then likely be out for the rest of the year Souths are being exposed for the lack of depth that a club like Manly has. That being said there are a few good young players coming through the grades that might be chucked in sooner then expected that can only add to the enthusiasm of the playing group which appears to need a shot of confidence.
Pomoz
Roar Rookie
I'm not sure what a media circus is (clowns and acrobats with laptops and tape recorders?) and how it is a distraction. As long as it isn't stopping players train, or resulting in them going out on the town, who cares that the Burgesses are liked by the media? Certainly the Burgess's contribution to the team on game day doesn't seem to have suffered. Souths would have got nowhere without Sam and George last year. The media attention, as long as its positive is good for the game here and in the UK. To complain about it sounds like straight forward jealousy to me and the real villain, assuming this is true, is the person who doesn't like them getting media attention. That said, I do think they are within their rights to complain about the penalties given away by Sam, he lost the plot there.
Greg Prichard
Guest
You know, when you write about crowds, or some off-field issue or drama, people get on here in droves and complain that you're not writing about the game, but when you write directly about the game hardly anyone comments. Interesting, that.
Gonads At Large
Guest
Two years ago Phil Rothfield tipped the Tigers to win the comp and predicted that Chris Sandow would be the buy-of-the-year. We can safely assume that the paunch and florid cheeks are not the proceeds of wagering success.
Greg Prichard
Guest
The market is often silly. It had Wests Tigers favourites before the start of last season, if I remember correctly. There are plenty of reasons teams can lose games. I mentioned the turnover of players at the end of last season hurting Souths, and when you get injuries it exacerbates a problem like that. Luke out, no Peats as back-up, for example. It's a fact a team's form in a competition governed by a salary cap can go up or down dramatically according to the poor form or unavailability of couple of key players. The examples are many. Some teams are just better at handling it than others. Souths haven't handled it well.
Gonads At Large
Guest
The problem started much earlier....like when the Burgess circus started upsetting others in the team last year. Since then, Souths have lost 5 of their last 7 games, which indicates the symptoms began back then, not recently. If Souths are completely put off their game by the loss of one or two players, then the market was silly for having them favourites to win the comp this year, last year, and the year before. Away from the dissension that HAS occurred, there are other problems such as poor recruiting. Ditching performing first graders and replacing them with rejects from other clubs....well, super coaches, at least so far in rugby league's 106 years, haven't used that masterplan. As I see it, the rule changes in tackles has hit Souths hardest, given their reliance on forcing a slow ruck speed. The crackdown on cannonballs, etc, has hurt them more than most, because they need slow play the balls more than most to suit their lumbering forwards. Faster, more athletic packs seem to be the go under the new rules, IMO. Lastly, Souths haven't lost a penalty count for 10 games yet they still lost most of these games, even with Inglis and Luke playing.
Greg Prichard
Guest
I'm surrounded by Gonads and Gonad sympathisers.