Why South Sydney aren't winning

South's have an in experienced team, injuries to key players and not having any consistency with the team each week is making it tough .We may make the eighth this year and if we are at full strength and playing with confidence we could cause a few headaches for teams in the finals. We miss Teo a lot, Isaac Luke is a tough one,one of my favourite players, but he was pretty average last year and looks terrible at the Warriors ( mind you it would be hard to lplay well in that team right now). We should have held onto Api. I actually thought Lote was great for us at the back end 2014, he added a lot to the young backline with his tough runs and defence, he added a lot of confidence to the team. Dylan Walker is a big loss in attack. Gray should be given a shot in the centres.

The burgi twins are both carrying injuries George a hip problem and torso muscle tear and Tom a syndemosis problem with his ankle or foot. Inglis has an ongoing knee and a hip flex-or issue, Sam is not fully fit yet. Reynolds jaw maybe fully comfortable in a week or two given its not broken again, Keary has a long term issue with his foot says its manageable. plus they have some long term injuries. Sutton the key one. A couple of players incuding Johnson due back next two three weeks with a bye due in 2 weeks. Yes all sides have injury problems but its effected Souths key players. project those injuries onto the broncos or cowboys and see how well they travel. There are other issues at Souths but some of the more talked about issues such as Keary on the outer and the Burgi always in the social pages are only very minor and mostly resolved. The salary cap issues to accommodate Sams return really only effected Walker and Macqueen. but has been resolved. Luke was always going back home at some point. Souths have some genuine recruitment issues and this has been a bit of contention between McGuire and the management. Crowe needs to keep away and let people do their jobs.

steven - Watch the Cows get stitched up in the prelims. No one goes back to back under the current administration. Did you see Sam in the post match(vs Broncos) interview complain about the games officials? The remainder of the squad had last season to adjust. I read countless posts from you back in 2015 complaining about the refs.Sorry but you've had your turn.It's about sharing the love.

Walker had pace, in the centres that is critical, no Walker & Johnson is not able to get the tries he was getting before, the backline lacks pace, the twins are not running hard. I am also sick of their patsy tackling, the Broncos, Cowboys with their driving tackles, waltzing ball carriers around is finished so Coach McGuire had best get with the times, smash them down & drag them out.

The 'NRL Paradise' seems to have shifted 'North Again' to the Broncos and the Cows and come SOO time it will stay there again. But come on 'Muzz' surely you don't 'gest' that the Rabbitohs were favoured in 2014? Surely?

Don't encourage him MAX!!

Muzz, you just defined RL paradise. Simple and brilliant. PS Have not heard from Newcastle.

The 2014 freebies are over. No more lopsided penalty counts and the momentum that followers.

Agree with the inexperience of their back line. They should become more involved in taking the ball up mid to late in the game. Their front line take a lot of battering and look tired late in the game. Runs from dummy half and scoots from their outside backs will definitely help out.

The Bunnies are getting dominated up front, simple as that. There is little go forward and the pack are too slow. Tyrell is a carthorse, the Burgess Twins are lumbering too often plus drop the ball every game. S Burgess, Brown and Grevsmuhl have to carry the pack each week. Turner works hard but really is a defensive player whilst Carter puts in each week but his size is an issue. Clarkey is wholehearted but another toiler at best. The hookers are going OK but losing Isaac was always going to be tough. Simply put it's an ordinary pack of forwards. Losing Sutto and Musgrove hasn't helped at all. I think Sammy isn't 100% whilst GI turns up to play once every 4 weeks. I say all this as a frustrated Bunnies Member !

T & G Burgess have been doing that for a few seasons now and they have the experience to (if they got on top of their game) be right up there as the leading forwards that Souths need. But they are continually dropping ball and are making elementary mistakes and are ineffective with their play. Don't get me wrong Souths will be a great side in a few years with their youngsters but we cannot expect these youngsters to be as good as and/or compete against sides like the Broncos, Cowboys, Storm and the top 8 sides if they don't get a go and are continually on the bench and/or playing Holden Cup.

Another apologist article for Inglis

Not after how Issac played last night in that disastrous Warriors side, and that is how Issac plays, one week he's hot and one week he is cold and does some really stupid things. The problem at Souths is as David says 'inexperience' and that Madge didn't and still does not try out different combinations with the massive list that he has e.g. Cook, C. Walker are just two but there are other young players that he has to give them a go from now on, he has no other options!

Yeah, but Luke was always going to move on at some point. The worst decision Souths have made with their recruitment was not to keep Apisai Koroisau, he was playing as well as Luke at the time and was going to improve where Luke wasn't. Souths went through a period with strong hookers throughout the club (Faloon, Peats and Koroisau were all back-ups to Luke), and I think that the glacial speed that Souths now move around the ruck in both attack and defence is a huge problem for them.

Agree on Tyrrell and Clark, they hardly ever bend the line back and always seem to get picked up and dumped with ridiculous ease. I do like Nathan Brown and Grevshmul but, as they run hard. I thought Tom had his best game on Friday in terms of effort. The whole team drops too much ball but. BTW an early tip for shoe-in of the week is how often the commentators (especially Channel 9) use the term "Judgement Day", especially in relation to the Rabbitoh's finals chances and Jason Taylor's coaching job.

Souths are 'resting' as do actors in between work. Looking forward to your Thursday preview. Which team will turn up? Would be interested to know if Tigers have form to recover from thrashings?

I'll be previewing the Rabbitohs again this week for my Thursday Night Forecast and so far as I can tell its the same problem that has plagued the team all year - forwards aren't making enough metres and everybody is dropping the ball. I'm with those here who don't rate Clark and Tyrell, at best they are both third interchange forward standard, neither should be starting and neither should even be a mainstay off the bench.

Agreed Nathan. Souths backline in 14 was much less experienced but they didn't have problems scoring points. Souths main problem is that their pack who were so dominant in 14 are playing like powder puffs. George and Tom are dropping easy passes and playing with no aggression. Sam is still finding his way back after the neck injury. Players like Tyrrell, Clark, Turner are good support players but need the forward leaders to lead to be effective. Secondary problem is that their two best players (Surgess and Inglis) are playing injured. That's probably about 30% of their cap out of nick.

I don't know, the more I watch, the more I think it could just be a case of the forwards dropping too much ball. On Friday, when Souths FINALLY got into position with a couple of tackles up their sleeves, they did what they do best: a smooth little wrap around set-piece that gave them a try. The problem is, they're never up in the opposition 20 because: A) wingers are hitting the ball up inside their own 20. B) forwards are running sideways instead of forward only to drop the ball in the tackle anyway. C) Inglis is not getting enough ball. He's actually not too bad when he has the Steeden in his hands, he just doesn't have it enough. Thank god we have the Tigers this week...

David, I like the stats analysis and the unique perspective, but I think you are reading too much into this. Yes experience is important, but I don't think this is the reason Souths are getting punished on a weekly basis. A combination of their best attacking weapon barely seeing the field all season and the fact that they simply cannot hang onto the ball is not even giving them a chance to be competitive. Melbourne's back five are just as inexperienced as the team fielded by the Rabbits over the weekend, yet they went alright last night.