There's light at the end of the tunnel after Bunnies' embarrassing loss

Shadow. Bennett seemed to have confirmed that Reynolds is leaving the Rabbitohs at year end. He didn't say where but I think it could well be the Broncos. This is nothing but a major stuff up by the Rabbitohs management, you'd expect such mismanagement to come from a club like the Tigers. We've just been torpedo'd and I suspect that poor performance last week against the Storm was a result of the playing group aware of the discontent in the dressing rooms from the Captain.

Tim That explains the vague memory of roller coaster expecting of when I was a young fan. Climax I think winning the knock-out midweek comp in 1976(?): Amco Cup contested by teams from all over (including a group of Mortimer + Brentnall introducing up the jumper from whatever group Wagga was in). Thanks for ref on book. Will check on booktopia now. Cheers KP

Reynolds has to stay. The club needs to keep him above everything else at the risk of losing another player (s). There is no one like him, and may never be anyone as loyal (and local) as Reyno. I was disappointed the way the club played out the AJ situation last year, they haven't learned and the Reynolds situation isn't any better.

2013. 2018 and 2019 for instance. :thumbup:

This stuff with Reynolds... is torpedoing the Rabbitohs 2021 premiership hopes. Now imagine if Reynolds and Souths announced that Reynolds has just re-signed for another 2 more years? What a boost that would be. Souths CEO Blake Solly needs to be brought back in line by Rabbitohs owner Russell Crowe. Why aren't Rabbitohs members intervening like they did with AJ? Everyone is leaving it too late with Reynolds poised to sign elsewhere either in the next few days or a week or so.

...I'd add had there been a proper independent auditor a few of the chooks premierships may have been stripped as well....

Mate, you need a rest so that you can freshen up for round 10.

Sorry mate, but I have to call them as I see them. :happy: Also, I don't think this stuff with Reynolds is helping the club.

At least Souths didn't have any of their 21 premierships stripped for rorting the salary cap steveng. The Storm are still the proud holders of the most premierships to be stripped for playing outside the rules! :laughing:

"Mansour and Gagai normally defend that right edge" Silly Shadow! You've been in the sun too long mate. Campbell Graham (also unavailable) and Josh Mansour defend Souths right edge while Gagai and Johnston defend Souths left edge. It has to be the PTSD, surely?

And losing Campbell Graham and Josh Mansour who defend the Rabbitohs right edge cost Souths BIG time! That is where the Bunnies leaked SIX tries to South Sydney junior, Josh Addo-Carr! Latrell Mitchell also would have been able to effectively cover and snuff out many of the Storms' scoring opportunities.

"but now I can only see Penrith, Parramatta and Easts as legitimate challengers to the Storm going back to back." Whoa, hold on a minute, Tony! Playing just their first 30 mins of the 2021 season Souths were ambushed and blown away by the defending premiers 22-0 after a flow of possession from repeat sets of six and an increased dependence by the NRL on six again calls to speed up the game. Souths were slow to adjust to the new rules at first, but how did the following 50 mins play out mate? Souths won that period 18-4. The Bunnies finished with a wet sail scoring 3 tries to the Storm's ZERO in that final 50 mins in round 1. The Storm could NOT score a single Try for the rest of the game and Souths fell just 8 points short in the end. If not for the slow start they would have won that game. Since that first round loss Souths were undefeated over the following 7 rounds and sitting in 2nd and then 3rd position on the NRL ladder due to points differential. The stage was set for Souths to get revenge and prove why they were ahead of the Storm on the NRL ladder with only one loss to the Storm's two. But having a third of Souths 30-man squad unavailable including 4 key players with Origin experience causing a string of enforced changes to the Rabbitohs starting side put an end to any hope of an even contest. I even tipped the Storm in light of that giving Souths no realistic chance of winning that game. One loss though, even if it is two back-to-back losses to the Storm, does not erase the fact that, at full strength, the Rabbitohs are still one of the top 3 teams in the competition. A loss doesn't change that, even a loss by 50 points. Not when Souths had 8 players out and not when it is only 9 rounds into the season and Souths have Latrell Mitchel, Adam Reynolds, Cameron Murray, Campbell Graham, Josh Mansour, Jaxson Paulo and young gun rookie Blake Taaffe set to return by Souths Bye round (round 13) in 4 weeks time. Reynolds may even be back next week while Latrell Mitchell and Josh Mansour are due back the week after. It is way too early to be conducting an autopsy on the Bunnies 2021 season when there are still 16 rounds to go plus the finals. Everyone should just settle down and stop reading too much into one result in an early season game.

"That 50 points stat is just a number" It is even more irrelevant when you consider that Souths had 8 players unavailable including 4 players with Origin experience. Although the Storm were never beaten by that scoreline did anyone write the Storm off in the past when they lost games during the Origin period with Smith, Slater, Inglis, Chambers, Hoffman etc. all missing? Did anyone write the Broncos off either when they lost games when their key players like Darren Lockyer were missing during Origin? This is no different only it is injury and suspension instead of Origin, and it is only 9 rounds into the season. When Souths beat the Roosters late last year 60-8 and the same mantra about losing by 50 points was making the rounds THAT was in round 20 the last game just before the finals. The Roosters had all their rep players except for Brett Morris and were also missing just Victor Radley, Joey Manu, Lindsay Collins and Isaac Liu. Instead of collapsing in the face of that loss though they went on to lose by ONE POINT to Grand Finalists and minor premiers the Panthers and before losing by just 4 points to Preliminary Finalists the Raiders. So the Roosters were still highly competitive despite losing by 52 points just a few weeks before. Like you say, it's just a number... like 21 turning into 22 at the end of this season. :stoked: :thumbup:

Just wait until Souths turn the Storm's lights out at the end of this season Walter. He who laughs last laughs best remember that. It is going to be an all Sydney GF with the Rabbitohs beating the Panthers to win their 22nd premiership and the Melbourne Storm will be watching the game on TV just like you Walter. :laughing:

"The Rabbitohs were without superstar fullback Latrell Mitchell, Cameron Murray, Adam Reynolds and Campbell Graham, who really spark South Sydney’s attack but are also great defensive players." Souths were also without Josh Mansour and Mansour and Gagai normally defend that right edge for the Rabbitohs. When Souths were leaking points on their right edge defence a true "super coach" would have made an adjustment to plug that hole and throwing a back rower come centre (Jed Cartwright) at the problem, a player who had not played for most of the season, was NOT the answer! From the beginning Souths should have had AJ at FB and Cody Walker back at 5/8 partnering Benji instead of throwing rookie Dean Hawkins in the deep end against the Storm. It is unfortunate that gun rookie Blake Taaffe was still unavailable due to injury and will not be available until rounds 10 or 11. I feel Taaffe would have fared far better than Hawkins and could have potentially had a Sam Walker-like impact on the game. To add to Souths extended list of injuries and suspensions both Jaxson Paulo and experienced first-grader Tautau Moga were also unavailable. Not that I have much of a rap on either player. Dane's brother, Jacob Gagai should have been brought in as Souths were short on outside backs. Not that I have a rap on him or that his form this year in Souths lower grades deserved a promotion, but when a side has 7 backline players unavailable then changes are inevitable. As the Roosters proved, having key players out is no excuse for going belly up in defence. That said, and despite the Storm's early season loss to the Eels, in round 9 the Storm are clearly one of the top 2 sides on form and the Eels, like Souths, are struggling to justify their place in the top 4.

Souths got the spoon in 1975. The Bears finished 9th after an up and down year. They lost to Canterbury, who finished 4th, 6-50 in round 7 but beat them 21-20 in round 18. They lost to St.George, who finished 3rd, 3-6 in round 8 but beat them 18-12 in round 19. They lost to Souths, 18-22 in round 3 but beat them 18-16 in round 10. My source is The History of the North Sydney Bears by Alan Whiticker and Greg Anderson.

Agree. Bunnies need a stronger bench. Storm, Panthers and Roosters have pretty good benches. Roosters on Friday gave Bunnies a lesson on how to defend relentlessly with good line speed to keep yourself in the game even when you have lost so many of your players ( Roosters were without BMoz, Radley, Lindsay Collins, Keary, Friend, Lam, list goes on). I think you need Murray more than anyone for defence and Graham is very handy in that respect as well.

The problem with statistics is that they will tell you what is likely to happen but never guarantee it. Digging a little deeper, how is that 50-0 made up ? A case could be made that in terms of measuring against this statistic, the bunnies really lost by more than 50 possibly even as high as 60. Munster was that bad with the boot that you have to say that his performance skewed the numbers a little in Souths favour. Then again, how is that stat affected by injuries. Is the norm for this just 2 injuries or 3 and if the Bunnies had more than this, how much does that skew the stat back in Souths favour ? On top of all that we have the rule changes and what effect to they have ? As someone above said, 50 is just a number.

IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR ALL SOUTH SYDNEY FANS Due to the on-going financial difficulties currently being experienced by all NRL Clubs, the South Sydney Management Committee have decided that in order to save money and with immediate effect, the light at the end of the tunnel will be turned off.

Shucks What's the odd 50 nil result! Spoken by an old Bears fan - from time we beat Souths to leave them with the spoon in (i think) '76. Cheers KP