South dealt major blow with Reynolds ruled out for a month

There you go I was correct, Reynolds is cleared to play Rd 2 against Manly!

Talakai pulled off some bruising hits in the manly trial.

Adam Reynolds Injury Update: From the inside! The media are 180 degrees out with their assumptions. The Media's assessment of 4 weeks is based on an OPEN Surgery NOT Keyhole Surgery, there is a massive difference. Reynolds had Keyhole Surgery Keyhole surgery has a 2 weeks recovery time. His Surgery was performed on Thursday the 23rd of February. So 8 days now. Reynolds is back doing light training now. Open Surgery as they have done so for decades is an outdated method but it is still performed when a rupture does occur. This is not so in Reynolds case. Reynolds is a chance to play in Rd 2. Madge won't risk him though and may give him an extra week. We play Manly in Rd 2 on Saturday Night so that will be 2 weeks plus 2 days. It may be pushing it but it is possible, a wounds healing process speeds up extremely fast after the initial 10 days after surgery. The Saturday game will be 16 days.

Sorry to be pedantic but it was an illness not an injury.. :) GO THE TIGERS

souvalis, I'm not sure how reliable it is but I just heard some "inside mail" that Reynolds will be OK to play in Round 1. This source claims they are close to Reynolds and that if he isn't right by round 1 he will play the following week and Damien Cook has been chosen to start at HB. I hope I wasn't being pranked but fingers crossed it is true. Don't shoot the messenger but we will know soon enough if this is the case or if not I will end up with egg on my face. Judging on their form in the Charity Shield I wasn't overly impressed with Rochow but I was impressed with Cherrington. I liked the drive in his hit ups, the offloads (one like Sam Burgess falling and offloading a few feet off the ground) and his energy in defence. I would be starting him over Rochow ATM. Musgrove HAS to be in the 17 surely? I rate him highly.

I was there among the 2,500. Tom Turbo, Walker, Green and Perrett best for the visitors. Let's hope Manly can translate solid trial form into 2 points this Sunday.

I was at the Campbelltown trial also 3 hats. 46 degrees at 630pm!!! Luckily it cooled down to mid 30s by kick off. Best players for mine on Souths side were Farah and Clark for sure. In fact, Farah was best on park. Talakai not up to it defensively IMO, although he is a bloody hard runner. He's a replica of Konrad Hurrell from mine. Here's one from out of the blue for everyone. Farah may well yet play halfback. He played a few games there for the Tigers over the years. Cook to play 80 at dummy half. I think playing Kelly is our best option though, simply because it has the least disruption to the teams make up. Tuesdays team lists will definitely be interesting.

If it were just a week,Kelly..but not a month..too many anything can happen days with him.. Sutton in,which gives a run on role to either of the 2 most promising forwards in the club..Angus Crichton straight in or shift Rochow back and start with Musgrove..

"So Guys who do you think will be at halfback?" No 3hats, WHO do YOU think SHOULD play (not will play) at HB and WHY? Kelly or Cook? I would be very interested in your answer as you do know the team and the boys well. FYI, this is not a shot just an invitation to talk about more than just team lists, roster depth and the behind the scenes at Souths. I think many here would be interested in your honest opinion on this. I have already given mine. Btw I absolutely agree that "Walker will play that ad-lib style and won’t be burdened with structure and/or guiding the team around" as you know I have argued this elsewhere before. It was a mistake that Souths moved him to FB last year in GI's absence and Souths attack suffered because of it (even though Walker did a decent job at FB). Now if GI is out AJ or Braidon Burns should drop back to FB (my choice is Burns who looks a real talent). I thought you told me Burns wouldn't play first grade this year though because he wasn't ready? He looked pretty ready to me against the Dragons in the Charity Shield, don't you think?

Or play them together like Sterlo and Kenny and forget the modern system of separating halves on either side of the ruck? Thurston plays first receiver on both sides of the ruck doesn't he? Andrew Johns also did the same if I remember correctly? I agree though that Cooks' main contribution to the team at present is his attacks from dummy half and with that he is the closest Souths have come so far to replacing Issac Luke. But given the importance of having the right players in the halves (and the massive loss Reynolds will be to the team) I thought the experiment might have been worth it since Farah has the dummy half role covered and is a safe pair of hands, if unexciting in the role. To be fair though, Farah did look sharp out of dummy half in the Charity Shield but the Dragons forwards were gave Farah time and space and did not put him under any pressure. Luke Kelly for mine has looked no better than a NSW Cup player in the past. He has had some good touches in his first 2 hit outs for Souths and seems to have a decent long kicking game (if not put under pressure) so perhaps he might be a decent short term option. No doubt he will probably be the player that gets the first opportunity at HB (rather than reshuffling the team) but I am still not convinced about Kelly's ability to meet the standard required of an NRL HB week in, week out. My concern for Cook is that he will only get a 20 min stint off the bench instead of sharing and alternating the role with Farah who can move to lock and play as a loose forward. Farah should then be allowed to follow the ball and play the dummy half role in tandem with Cook. With both being capable of playing 80 mins, even if used for 60 plus, that should free up a couple of interchanges to increase the forward rotation (especially when Sam Burgess plays 60 plus mins each week). I think the main obstacle of playing Walker and Cook in the halves together is that neither one has a strong long kicking game which is crucial to a teams chances IMO to move them down field, relieve pressure, give their forwards a rest and put the team into an attacking position. Both players however have excellent and very dangerous short kicking games that would make life very difficult for opposing defences! Hey mate (The Barry), you never answered my question, "Which team do you support?"

Souths will still win mate. The 17 players selected will step up.

Many Thanks 3 Hats. Fingers X, R3. Starting Kelly may be an open invitation to the Tigers that they are not being taken seriously which may be reflected on the scoreboard and possibly prove insurmountable.

I'll keep an eye on that - it's always good to watch players combine like that. I remember Milton Thaiday and Andrew Johns for the Knights in the early 2000s. The combo didn't last very long but they were almost telepathic. It was brilliant. If that's the case it's more reason to keep them together than standing on opposite sides of the ruck.

Oh, Max, the feeling is Reyno will be back for Rd 4 against the Rorts. But don't be surprised if he is back in Round 3. Brett Greinke is back running from a broken ankle, about 3 weeks away. Aaron Gray is looking at between Rd 8 and 10. Jack Gosiewski should be back in Rd 12

Kelly's last game of first grade was actually Rd 1 last season, Parra Vs the Broncos. Kelly came in late as the 19th man to replace Foran, he hardly had a decent preparation the week leading up to that game. Well, It seems that Kelly or Cook will be at halfback but Madge is playing it extremely coy. On Friday there were quite a few Journos at training trying to get an exclusive on who will play halfback so Madge decided to drop the field structure training session and split the group into 3 groups and did nothing more than fitness sprints followed by a skills session. So none of these Journos has any idea what will happen. There is something that happens in training sessions that a keen eye can pick out and see. I believe I may now which way he will go! But anything is possible! But Madge won't tell anyone and whoever gets named in Number 7 on Tuesday may not start there. Madge may even move the training session on Monday away from Redfern Oval just to keep everyone guessing. So these Journos these so-called experts in the media whom turned up and saw nothing are now throwing around plenty of scenarios. Some journos have Sutton or GI to 5/8 and Walker to halfback, that won't happen in my opinion. Gi will remain at fullback and Sutton on the edge. The one thing that I can say is that Walker will be at 5/8 and for good reason. He is a running type of a player, ad-lib, off the cuff, plays what he sees, no matter which way you want to phrase it. GI is an honest man, maybe too honest and he always answers questions thrown up at him. GI did mention that Walker will play that ad-lib style and won't be burdened with structure and/or guiding the team around. Many fans believe that Kelly will be a risk but he did have a fine game down at Campbelltown. My Best 5 Souths players on the Night were Farah, George B, Talakai, Kelly and Clark. Kelly's kicking game found the grass and the corners all night, poor Turbo didn't get any on the full. The trial game lacked intensity so it is difficult to judge exactly how good the players were! Cook is quite capable of running the team. I don't think that many on this website would have ventured down to Campbelltown on that stinking hot day! I did. I am sure most of us watched the shield, Kelly didn't get all that much time in that game. So Guys who do you think will be at halfback?

Re the relationship (or understanding) between Walker and Cook, I watched the two closely during the pre-season last year and also during the Souths run home (i.e. during periods where they got to play successive games together for more than just a 20 min stint for Cook) and there were many examples of each reacting to something the others was doing or Walker suddenly running down a short blind side (without any prior discussion with Cook and Cook glimpsed the movement and went to the blind from dummy half, drew a defender and put Walker away. Similar things happened with short kicks for each other. Cook did not get much of an opportunity to play decent mins until late in the year in 2016. A year further on and another pre-season preparing together and this should be even more evident in the coming weeks (unless Farah takes too many mins from Cook). Either way we should get a better idea in a weeks time (although I expect Farah to play a lot on mins against the Tigers which will impact on Cook's mins).

I know he started at half - he played several games there for the Dogs and struggled until he went to hooker. That is a couple of seasons ago, but he hasn't played there since. I think he's better suited to the 9. You're possibly over stating his relationship with Walker but they'll combine more playing 6 & 9 than 6 & 7

I agree that Cook "on present evidence" is much better at dummy half but he did start his career at HB and first receiver and has grown between the ears since then. Added to that he has an uncanny understanding with Walker that borders on the telepathic. How this progresses in the halves may have been interesting to watch and dangerous for the opposition. The fact that neither Walker or Cook have a strong long kicking game makes this match a little less likely though. Inglis should either play FB or left centre (he is wasted at 5/8). I agree that disrupting the team just to cover one position is a mistake but IMO (again on past evidence) Kelly is barely up to first grade standard which puts him in the ranks of Lichaa, Rein, IDG and Gerard Beale. Still it might be Souths best option for the short term to save rearranging the entire team and should give Kelly an opportunity to finally prove what he is capable of with big name players around him and a quality attacking 5/8 partnering him in the halves.

The memory of Luke Kelly's last game with the Storm still lingers. I hope for Souths sake (and his own) he can deliver the goods until Adam Reynolds returns. As every fan knows the Souths stats without him are not inspirational. Would be interesting to get 3 Hats take and an up to date report on Adam. The growing NRL list of players unavailable for the early rounds is disconcerting.

That's bad luck on the eve of the season. I'd play Kelly in the halves. I think Cook is a far better dummy half than he is a first receiver. It's also disruptive to the rest of the team than moving Inglis, Sutton, Walker, Cook, etc