The cards were firmly stacked against the South Sydney Rabbitohs heading into the opening match of Round 9, but what followed was a bloodbath dished out by the Storm.
Sure the Rabbitohs have a woeful record against the Storm, and they were missing half of their starting team, but depth is crucial for a premiership contender, and getting a cricket score posted against you is a horrid effort.
50-0 was the score by the time it was all said and done, Josh Addo-Carr become the first man to score six tries in an Australian top-flight match for over 70 years.
And we will get to the Storm later because plenty needs to be said about just how good they are and the way Craig Bellamy has them humming along, but without Adam Reynolds the Rabbitohs looked a mess.
More worrying than their attack though, of which there was none, was the defence.
It’s a trend that has been creeping into their game over the last few weeks. They let in plenty of points against the Titans, looked vulnerable at times against the Raiders and then had the doors completely blown off last night for their second loss of the season.
Even before that, they had only just scraped past the woeful Tigers, and while bigger wins were preceding against weaker opposition, they haven’t put in a genuinely good performance against top opposition since their Round 3 victory over the Roosters.
Last night’s result isn’t going to do their confidence a world of good either, and with certain players – Damien Cook and Cody Walker spring to mind – being so vital yet playing on confidence more often than not, it could really shake the Rabbitohs and their chances moving forward with things not exactly getting any easier in the near future, games against Penrith and Parramatta on the agenda in the next three weeks.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Breaking a seven-match winning streak wasn’t the issue Wayne Bennett and his team wake up to this morning. It was the way it happened.
Their edge defence was up there with the worst you’ll ever be likely to see. Six players out or not, defensive structures don’t change all that much, and while it was a mismatch, at this level, no one should ever be able to score six tries.
Cameron Munster, Nicho Hynes and Jahrome Hughes ran absolute rings around the Rabbitohs, with Addo-Carr the man to benefit on the wing.
How Melbourne are letting Addo-Carr go next year, or how the Tigers ever did in the first place is one of the more baffling stories to ever be written.
But, back on topic, and the Rabbitohs were targetted in all their weak spots by a relentless outfit in purple, and it showed on the final scoreboard with the Storm running up 50.
Now, it’s not a normal occurrence to write a team off who have won seven straight and still sit in the top four, but the cold hard truth is that Souths are going to go backwards before they go forwards given their current injury toll, and of course the more pressing issue:nNo team has ever, in 113 years of top-flight rugby league, won a premiership after conceding 50 points in a game.
The Storm might have only just got there, but they did, and with it, the Rabbitohs can all but kiss their premiership hopes goodbye.
More worrying for the club is the fact Adam Reynolds appears to be heading to other pastures at the end of the year, and while I don’t want to revisit last week’s column, it’s a general consensus that the men from Redfern won’t be winning a competition without their star half anytime soon.
So with last night’s absolute flogging, the Rabbitohs premiership window may have just slammed shut, despite the fact they sit 7-2.
If there is a team who are ever going to break the 50-point curse, it might be the Rabbitohs, but they are up against a mountain of history and frankly, no matter how many injuries there were last night, a team who completes at 68 per cent, runs almost a kilometre less than their opposition, misses almost 30 tackles and doesn’t make changes to counter the Addo-Carr clinic, doesn’t deserve to be in the premiership conversation.
Of course, they weren’t the only ones with injuries, given Melbourne were playing without their influential fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen, arguably the competition’s best player over the first third of the season.
(Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
That only makes the 50-point loss more concerning, given Melbourne found a way to run on all those points through Jahrome Hughes, Nicho Hynes and Cam Munster.
Cameron Smith might have left the men from the Victorian capital at the start of the season, eventually announcing his retirement from the NRL, but the Storm are finally clicking on all cylinders.
A team struggling doesn’t run up 50, and while there were some bumps in the road early for Melbourne, some returns in the middle third have helped, Harry Grant continues to go from strength to strength and their attack has become absolutely menacing.
While one premiership window might be slamming shut, the other one from last night’s game just looks like it’ll never close, with Bellamy’s side now one a six-match run.
Even scarier than that is the way they have gone about it. They might look like the winning Keno numbers at the local pub, but Melbourne’s winning margins during that run have been 34, 34, 16, 22, 26 and 50, their attack putting on 224 points in those six games at an average of 36.33 points per game. The only time they scored under 40 was against the Roosters, but even that was a commanding 20-4 victory.
(Photo by Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The only knock on Melbourne’s performance was the goal kicking, with Munster only managing to land five out of ten. But that is clutching at straws in what was otherwise a ten out of ten effort, no matter what was on the other side of the park.
So, again, the cards were stacked against South Sydney last night. They were never expected to win.
But to let Melbourne run away to the extent they did only goes to prove two factors. Melbourne are a mile ahead of everyone bar the Panthers, and South Sydney have a mountain of work to do, and now history to overcome.
A tail of conflicting emotions at Homebush to launch Round 9, but it was a Josh Addo-Carr record and a curse that stole the headlines.
GregM
Roar Rookie
sounds like you love the Cock mate
Muzz
Guest
Storm were awesome. Their new expansive style of play is so entertaining. Souths were rudderless without Reynolds.They need to find a way to keep him! Murray and Radley are both crucial for their respective teams
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
Was it just me or was there some irony in the fact that the storm were disguised as Canterbury but it was Souths who played like Canterbury?
Shadow
Roar Rookie
"It was a two team comp from the start." I can't decide whether you are being unfair to the Storm or the Panthers jimmmy. :silly: The Rabbitohs have strong competition from both teams as per my initial prediction; 1. Panthers, 2. Rabbitohs, 3. Storm. No need to panic now over just one game with 8 players missing. Remember, Souths weren't in the conversation until their run to the finals and then blew sides off the park. It's important not to peak too soon. Remember that mate. The Cowboys are timing their run perfectly then. :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:
johnb
Guest
Nathan, many thanks indeed. Every time this comes up I've wondered the same thing and now I know. You can't really appeal to history (the 50 point "curse") without taking history (it wasn't always 4 point tries so 50 now wasn't 50 then) into account. Funnily enough, Souths are just the sort of side that could repeat the 1953 effort - get everyone back and they'd be well in it - especially if the other contenders lost key players themselves.
Mitcher
Guest
I’m an !diot. Ignore me and my inability to read.
Mitcher
Guest
Very brave is he who tips the same two teams to make the grand final and then crows about it well short of midway season. How many times has such bravery been correct...
RRK
Guest
Olam is off contract after 2022 - I would not be surprised to see him join JAC at the Bulldogs
Walter Black
Guest
"he’s really not in the same echelon as JAC…" Yet ! Josh was rated pretty low by most people before he donned purple, I wouldn't put it past Bellamy to see Coates step up a gear if he joins. Apparently JAC has advised Coates to join the Storm. He said that their systems would help him become the best that he could be. I guess we will see.
alex
Guest
too many rule changes have killed the game
Big Mig
Roar Rookie
I can still hear the cackle at 60-8
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
Cronulla only lost 48-0. They can still win the comp.
Shadow
Roar Rookie
They were the days indeed BD. Do you remember the streamers on sale at the ground and the old black and white programs, the "pick the first Try scorer" raffle, playing footy on the hill and then in the in-goals after the game. The updates from the public address speakers around the ground from other games being played on the day, when all games were played at the same time. The cheers and the boos as the scores were announced... If you didn't live through those days to experience how the game used to be you would never understand it. There was a magic when Dragons breathed fire, the Rabbitohs bled and played broken and courageous and the Roosters and Manly were challenging the old guard. The 70's, that was my period. If you can remember Sattler's broken jaw then you would be older than I am. That was in 1970, the year I started following Rugby League and the Bunnies. I ran into Captain Courageous John Sattler in 1980 at a pub on the Gold Coast by the broadwater when I was a teenager holidaying there with a friend. A story for another time perhaps. I went to ALL the Rabbitohs home games. I grew up in the flats behind the old Redfern Oval scoreboard. My mum btw, was a Balmain Tigers supporter who couldn't support the new merger monster either.
Shadow
Roar Rookie
Unlike the Roosters though, Souths will get all their players back by the Bye round in round 13. If they can keep their key players on the field and the Adam Reynolds drama doesn't derail their premiership aspirations Souths will still end up in the top 3 IMHO.
Big Daddy
Roar Rookie
I think I did although bit may have been another one of you non de plumes. When I was a West man lucky enough to meet Tommy at the opening of the Bateau Bay Hotel and Ned Kelly at a Pro-Am golf day. We played together sot it was a day to remember. My last South's match was the day Satts broke his jaw but did go to a few matches at the Old Redfern Oval. They were the days.
Shadow
Roar Rookie
Fair enough. You may have read my yarn, but I met Tommy Raudonikis at Dolphin stadium in Redcliffe. I was also at Lidcombe Oval the day Souths upset the top of the ladder Western Suburbs Magpies in 1976 when George Piggins ran through half the Magpies side to score next to the posts (see the video below). I was with a mate who was a Magpies supporter, and he got me to wear a Magpies jersey (I must have been drugged or lost a bet) but when Piggins scored and I jumped up and down cheering and screaming my head off. I was on the hill surrounded by only Magpies supporters, and you could have heard a pin drop as I was pierced by a sea of death stares from irate Magpies supporters calling me a traitor. What a moment! I was a Bunnies Trojan Horse just like Seibold, BD! :laughing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO5X8QpIRWk
The Mexican
Roar Rookie
I agree with you there, people are reading too much into it. Last night trashing was the wake up call the Bunnies needed, remember last game they lost was against the Storm after that they went on a 7 game winning run, I think they will bounce back. I'm a Storm supporter & I think it's too early to write off the Bunnies or any of the teams currently in the top 5 or to give the premiership to any team, you can win all your regular season games and lose the grand final all it takes is one loss!
Big Daddy
Roar Rookie
Shadow, I was a West's Magpies man until merger and just couldn't hack it. Was in the Navy with Shane Webcke s father so took a liking to them. Big fan of Wayne's style of coaching and a few years ago when he was coaching Newcastle I met him on the train going into the city so was a big thrill for me even at my age. Played some lower grades for Wyong back in the day and still try to get up and see them although COVID has put a dampener on it. Did know a Steve Merritt who played for Manly as we both lived in Kariong . But it certainly has changed a lot.
The Mexican
Roar Rookie
Apart from the trashing last night I thought Cameron Munster was easily South Sydney's best player, 5 missed conversions from 10 attempts that's a great effort :stoked: :silly: :laughing:
Shadow
Roar Rookie
Born in Wyong and living in Sydney? How the hell did you end up going for the Broncos then? Are your parents
North KoreansQLDers? :silly: I lived in Narara and my son played for Gosford Kariong Storm and Erina Eagles. Did you play for the Wyong Roos then? I actually played on Central Coast stadium in a State knockout semi-final with Nathan Merritt’s dad. Have you been to the Gosford recently? A lot has changed and is still changing especially around the Brisbane Waters waterfront.