Last round, when television cameras caught Wests Tigers coach Jason Taylor during the 60-6 shellacking by the Raiders, he looked a shattered man.
Last night, Taylor was emotionless as firstly the Tigers did all the roaring before the Rabbitohs momentarily fought back, but couldn’t sustain their efforts for the Tigers to win 30-22.
Taylor only broke into a huge grin with two minutes to go, when his side was home.
What a massive turnaround in the space of five days.
“We owed Jason Taylor that win,” was hooker Robbie Farah’s post-match explanation. That comment in itself was indicative of how the Taylor-Farah rift has healed.
But if the Tigers were thoroughbreds they would have been in the steward’s room immediately after last night’s win.
More so with heavyweight props skipper Aaron Woods and Tim Grant out injured, losing play-maker Mitchell Moses to a quad injury sustained late in the warm-up, and crack fullback James Tedesco to a shoulder injury for the entire second half.
But Farah and Curtis Sironen took up the slack upfront, while Luke Brooks’ general play and his boot joined forces with Jordan Rankin to show how the backs led Souths a merry dance.
Jardine added two tries and three goals from six attempts for a 14-point haul.
In a strange game of three distinct sections, the Tigers swept to a 20-0 lead in the first 21 minutes, Souths retaliated with 18 points in a point-a-minute burst, before the Tigers regained their authority to add 10 points for a game winning 30-22 scoreline.
There are genuine reasons to say Wests Tigers didn’t win this game, Souths lost it by doing nothing in defence or attack for a total of 62 minutes.
Up front, they were an embarrassment to the traditions of the once mighty Rabbitohs.
Teak-tough was replaced by a pathetic prima donna pack with the exception of benchman Nathan Brown who ran hard and straight every time he touched the ball.
The much-vaunted Burgess brothers went MIA apart from one bust from Sam in 80 minutes.
As a result, every time the Tigers had possession they made over 10 metres a carry because the Souths pack sat well back on their heels gift-wrapping empty space.
It was both embarrassing and frustrating to watch a star-studded Souths pack going nowhere in slow motion.
To add insult to injury, Souths missed 32 tackles as well.
Only once did the television camera catch South skipper Greg Inglis exploding at his team mates under the goal posts after the Tigers fourth try in 21 minutes.
Not that Inglis did much either, but he wasn’t allowed to as the Tiger defence shut him down early every time.
So the Tigers ran in six tries to four, earning themselves credit going into the NRL break.
Souths must use that time to reorganise themselves into what resembles a football team.
And that won’t be easy with all the negative thoughts firmly etched into Souths’ current game plan.
Kombi Phil
Guest
Christov I totally agree with you. And I think half the problem with lack of pride in the jersey is that the current jersey is a dog's breakfast. The white/black splodge up the sides, from armpit to waist, that Russell brought in a few years ago, reduced the amount of red/green. That was bad enough. Now this year there is an additional splodge of white/black on the shoulders, further reducing the amount of red/green. Add in all the white/black advertising, and there's little red/green left. The jersey is the least of Souths' problems at the moment though. Attitudes, selections and tactics need to change, and change fast.
Les Boyd's Elbow
Guest
Roadkill is out of it.
Christov
Guest
Now I will never call a RL player soft, just taking the field and to play such a sport at the top level is an achievement in itself. I missed the game last night but saw the replays of some of the Tigers tries. The one where GI did not cover the kick and it bounced for the Tigers leads me to believe that he is just not in 'game' mode at the moment. I agree with other posters here, something is not quite right in Rabbits land and whether it is the coach, Burgess envy (#blameburgess) or something else entirely the boys are not playing as a team. They don't want to bleed for each other. Sam Burgess played with a broken cheek bone in the GF, I can't see anyone in the team doing that if we were in the 2016 GF (very long shot at this stage). As a lifetime fan of the Rabbits it saddens me to see them play like this. It is like their is no pride in the jersey, but even more than that, there is no pride in the team and playing for one another. Even when we had an ordinary squad whoever played had a red hot go. We just didn't have the quality players, facilities and off-field nouse to compete. I accepted that and can accept losses. Having watched us come back into the comp and struggle for years on end (also the pre-booting wasn't that great either, but we did win the Toohey's Challenge in '94 woooo) I know that we cannot win every game and every season. I am not silly in thinking that the Rabbits should go back-to back- to back as it just doesn't work that way. I guess what I am saying is that, to repeat myself, I can take a loss and have taken it so many times over the years. What I can't take is the jersey seemingly meaning nothing to the guys on the park. Aren't they embarrassed? I know I would be.
steveng
Roar Rookie
Never mind all Rabbitohs fans the next few weeks draw is - Eels, Dragons, BYE (we might win that one) Titans, Wests/Tigers, Eels, Panthers, Cowboys, BYE (we might win that one) Broncos, Sea Eagles, Raiders, Storm and the list goes on with teams that we won't beat. In that list of teams WE WILL NOT WIN any games by the form that we have shown so far!!!
steveng
Roar Rookie
Spot On 'Wild Man From Borneo' I couldn't have put it any better!!! That Keary kick when he had a 4 man overlap and kicked it was abysmal and really showed why Keary should not be in the team, but the list goes on and nothing that we say will rectify anything at Souths. Madge Maguire either starts looking like a coach or 'HE HAS TO GO'!!!
steveng
Roar Rookie
We've got players missing also, John Sutton who is a key player, Alex Johnston who should be at fullback (when he returns) and Zane Musgrove who was excellent in his first game and will be out for the season with a wrist injury. But in saying all this the Rabbitohs are getting poorer and poorer each week and I cannot see any improvement with the list of players that Madge Maguire is picking week in and week out!
planko
Roar Guru
People who thought souths "came back" did not watch the game. They were GIFTED 2 tries. They then lifted but dropped their heads again soon after.
chivasdude
Guest
The real story here is South's' poor display in the 1st half. Apart from a few bursts, their 2nd half against a tiring Tigers was not much better. Clearly something about the squad is not right. Sacrificing so many players to accommodate Sam Burgess' return may not have been the smart thing to do after all... As for the Tigers, the side looked better balanced without Moses to be frank. As it is, the side has 3 potential playmakers (Brooks, Moses and Farrah). Too many cooks really. Without Moses, more responsibility was placed on Brooks who did well with a freer hand. This also allowed Farrah more scope to be creative and he set up 2 tries and played well. Lawrence at #6 shored up the defence (which Moses struggles with) and played well himself. Maybe this is the future for the Tigers? `
Mike from tari
Guest
In the second half when Souths started making their comeback they threw the ball around scored some tries, then some silly kicks instead of passes blew a couple of tries, then it was bash it up the middle & not throw the ball around, West Tigers score 2 more tries & win, McGuire needs to change his game plan.
Emcie
Roar Guru
None of them looked like they were there for each other. There were patches of supporting play but generally it looked forced. Did something drastic happen in the off season or is this just a result of a bad run?
spruce moose
Guest
So what's your solution david?
catcat
Guest
Poor effort from Souths- not to NRL standard. GI looks miserable- no smiles and goanna crawls this year. Burgess(i) where are the massive hitups? - they are 3 massive units there..nup..just dropped balls. Rusty will need an academy award winning speech to rev these guys up
Wild Man From Borneo
Guest
Congrats to the Tigers on a performance where they backed themselves and came away with a win and some pride. On the other hand Souths were abysmal. There is something seriously stinking in that club atm because the players have decided they don't want to play and are demanding a new Coach by refusing to play. I've been around League a long time and I've seen this plenty of times before. It will just get worse until the decision is made. Souths are at the crossroads. They either sack the Coach or sack all their players. GI trotted around all game like he had a harness on. No fends, no fight, no interest. Keary had a 4 man overlap and kicked it instead and, his outside men were still too slow to beat a Tigers player who had to turn and run. Pitiful. Reynolds may of been a little shell shocked from the hits to his head last week but he just wanted to kick as well and proved he has little else in his bag of tricks. Sam, Cook and Brown were the only ones having a go and what does this say about the Coach who keeps picking the other members of the pack? He is out of ideas.
DingoGray
Roar Guru
A week (well 5 days at least) is a long time in Rugby League. I feel for the Tigers supporters. The dross they dished up last weekend, compared to the effort they put in last night is quite embarrassing.
Birdy
Guest
Murphy's law. After watching the disgrace of last week I made up my mind not to watch last nights game. I even turned off my phone to avoid match updates. Oh the joy of being a Tiger supporter . 2018 can't come quick enough.
curaeus
Guest
And who the hell is Jardine "Jardine added two tries and three goals from six attempts for a 14-point haul".
curaeus
Guest
"There are genuine reasons to say Wests Tigers didn’t win this game", What a buffoon!. They won the damned game with several key players out and coming off a 50 point plus loss less than a week ago. Obviously you backed Souths!
Joe
Roar Rookie
Yep, that was how I saw it as well but at least Tigers had an excuse to be poor with key players missing. Rabbits were just missing.
Bulldog
Guest
Not sure if the Tigers are "back in business with bite". I am happy to see them win but neither team played very well - it was just that South were worse on the night. The defence of both teams was abysmal
MAX
Guest
Gee Whiz David, you are making more appearances than Bill Hunter. Good to see. Souths are a write off for 2016 and in serious trouble of fielding a competitive team in the near future. The under paids are carrying the over paids. Worse still, I don't think the overs want to play any more. Dylan Napa, single handed, killed Souths.