I will rate South Sydney’s spine players out of five, with one being the lowest and five being the highest.
The fullback has been talked about a lot in the pre-season in terms of whether Latrell Mitchell is fit enough for fullback and should be playing centre. Mitchell’s first touch at fullback was a try assist to winger Campbell Graham in their 26-12 win over the Dragons in the Charity Shield. Mitchell had six runs for 52 metres and a couple of errors, and one of them ended up leading to the Dragons scoring.
Latrell Mitchell will start at fullback come Round 1 and will take a few games to find his feet but Souths are hoping he doesn’t take too long because he will be a big part in their 2020 season. His running game will be very important along with his combinations with Cody Walker, Damien Cook, Adam Reynolds, James Roberts along with Cameron Murray and Liam Knight through the ruck.
Cody Walker started the first nine games of the NRL season with a big role, with Walker ending up playing Game 1 for NSW. He played very averagely, which ending up in him being dropped. Walker’s form dropped a lot until the back end of the season.
Walker finished the 2019 season with 16 tries, 64 points, 13 forced drop outs, and 16 try assists in 25 games. Cody Walker will be hoping to do what he did at the start of 2019 and continue that throughout 2020.
(AAP Image/Darren England)
Adam Reynolds in 2019 had problems with back injuries but was still the main man for South Sydney with 25 games played, three tries, 207 points, 28 forced drop outs, 12 try assists and 367 average kicking metres, which is his second highest average since he started playing in 2012.
Adam Reynolds’ number of forced drop outs was his highest since he started his career and his try assist record was his lowest (12) since 2015 (ten). Reynolds will need a better year on the try assists front by combining with Damien Cook, Cameron Murray, Cody Walker and new recruit Latrell Mitchell.
Damien Cook was one the best if not the best number nine in 2019, which saw him play every game for NSW in 2019 in a 2-1 series win. Damien Cook played 26 games for three tries, eight forced drop outs, 18 try assists and average running metres of 79, which is his second highest since he started playing in 2013. Damien Cook will be hoping to continue his form in 2020 along with his combinations with Cody Walker, Adam Reynolds, Latrell Mitchell and Cam Murray.
With the move of Murray to an edge, Liam Knight has been moved to the 13 in hopes of bringing more game time to Murray and unleashing Knight’s full potential. Whether this move will be played out through the season or not will be interesting to see.
Liam Knight has re-signed for Souths until 2023 and when Sam Burgess was injured, Liam Knight really stood up with 23 games, two tries, 48 tackle breaks and his highest average running metres of his career with 108. Liam Knight showed he has a lot of footwork and strength to show and Wayne Bennett will be hoping to unleash more of that in 2020.
I rate the Rabbitohs’ spine a four and a half out of five.
William W
Roar Rookie
Wacky Barry... You are Rubbish with your pathetic comments on the Rabbitohs. Top 4 for sure! Pencil it in Round 5, we will smash your pathetic rabble! Bottom 4 for your puppies again! There you go... Plenty.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Brilliant...thanks for such a well thought out response Such a chicken sht approach to yell rubbish at someone else and offer nothing yourself
William W
Roar Rookie
Rubbish!
Succhi
Roar Rookie
I think a bit high, only because of Latrell’s unknown role in the team. This early in the season,I would have to say the Roosters have the more attractive spine. The others mentioned are in dire need of a chiropractor!
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
The first part of your reply is very astute. 4.5 could be the low mark as you say, but the second part of the reply let's you down. 'Certainly there are two spines better than Souths right now'. But no criteria. Same as the original problem. Oh and South's have a new FB and The Roosters have lost one of the greats in CC which makes comparisons to last year redundant. In the end it's all subjective and thank God for that. Shovelling though is good for thinking.
tetley
Guest
Think it's fair to say without a decent forward platform your spine can't salvage too much. Souths got a workmanlike pack at best, but i think it will do enough to get their spine ... cracking.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Fair enough...I refer you back to my earlier breaking news story... :stoked:
Paul
Roar Guru
hi Anton, I read your article twice, then thought some more about it while shovelling dirt ( thanks to the wife for that job) and have come to a few conclusions. The first is, I have no idea how you came up with a rating of 4.5 out 5. Not saying you're wrong, but you didn't provide any parameters to show how you arrived at this conclusion. My second conclusion is that your rating of the Bunnies spine is meaningless unless you both set the parameters, then describe how every other side in the comp rates against the same measures. For all I know, Souths might actually rate last, with every other side having a spine rating of 4.51 out of 5, or better. Certainly there are at least 2 spines better than Souths right now and these are the teams that finished above them in the premiership last year - the Roosters & Storm. Throw in the Raiders and your 4.5 rating means you're around 4th, IMO.
Chilli
Roar Rookie
Haha thanks for the effort Baz, admirable!.. I’m gonna settle this once and for all.. unscientifically and more in line with the fabric of the game. I would not swap any member of my spine for anyone period, therefore we have the best spine :silly: Disclaimer: Tedesco and Trjbovic may or may not come into play obviously but I am very very excited about Latrell so as of right now.. I’m sticking!
The Barry
Roar Guru
Those are the lab conditions in which a lot of the great scientific work is done...
Harry
Guest
I'm kind of hoping Mitchell fails at fullback and gets moved back to centre - not out of any animosity to him but because I think he has the potential to be a truly great player, of the type who could change the way we think about a particular position (think Billy Slater changing the way we think about the role of the fullback, or Cameron Smith doing the same for hooker). I'd love to see a player of Mitchell's talent single-handedly make centre a major position in rugby league again instead of just somewhere you chuck an outside back who you can't fit in elsewhere, which is kind of what it's become now.
Joe
Roar Rookie
All good man : )
kk
Roar Pro
Using a scientific method that has been developed over lots of Boag's, Toohey's and Carlton draught I was surprised to find spine ratings of : Roosters 359, Raiders 358, Storm 358, Souths 357, Manly 355 and Parra 341. Come 8 o'clock tonight that could change slightly, there being little between the spines of those teams, which is great for Rugby League.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Hey Joe..I just read my response and it sounds far more smart @rsy than I meant it to be...sorry
The Barry
Roar Guru
Ok 1 DCE 2 Reynolds 3 Williams 4 Hughes 5 Flanagan Roosters 11, Raiders 12, Storm 11, Souths 13, Manly 13 Better? Doesn’t really change the main point that there are better spines than Souths
Joe
Roar Rookie
Don't agree with Flanagan being rated so highly...what exactly has he done so far to get that rating above Hughes. Hughes has played 7 for the Storm during the season and a finals series then went on to represent NZ and Maori.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Fair enough but Munster established himself as one of the best fullbacks in the comp before moving to 6, he’s also played there periodically since, and had played rep footy at 1 Mitchell hasn’t played there at all since, he was nowhere near rep foot and while he had some good things there were also some gaps in his game and there’s queries about his fitness and endurance It’s a matter of opinion I guess but there are far more question marks over Mitchell moving back to fullback than there would be for Munster I actually hope Mitchell succeeds. He’s got the potential to be a brilliant fullback
Nat
Roar Guru
On par with the Storm, maybe just pipped by having the GOAT. Cook is the next best hooker but there's still a fair margin. Hughes isn't a rookie but I'm not convinced he's a 7. Mitchell needs work but he's still Mitchell and going to be dangerous. Mind you, they will have to be good. Other than Murray the quality drops away pretty quickly.
Joe
Roar Rookie
Agree to disagree....if Munster played fullback this year for the Storm I wouldn't call him untested despite his last season playing fullback being 4 years ago in his rookie season pretty much same as Latrell. The fact that he did play a season and was ok means he has been tested at fullback and as I said above, playing in the NRL the last few years means he now is a much wiser and hardened player.
The Barry
Roar Guru
My fullback ranking 1 Tedesco 2 Turbo 3 CNK 4 Papenhuyzen 5 Mitchell 5/8 1 Keary 2 Munster 3 Wighton 4 C Walker 5 D Walker Halfback 1 DCE 2 Reynolds 3 Flanagan 4 Williams 5 Hughes Hooker 1 Smith 2 Cook 3 Hodgson 4 Friend 5 Levi So lowest score wins: Roosters 9, Raiders 13, Manly 13, Storm 12, Souths 13 That’s as scientific as I can get...