We have all self-diagnosed on the internet. A sudden pain under your arm, a throbbing headache. Type these symptoms into Doctor Google and you may have anything from migraines to period pains.
The point (outside of seeing a medical professional) is that not all symptoms reveal the illness. South Sydney are in their self-diagnosing phase following back-to-back losses to start the season. The winless start has left them searching for answers and resulted in the dropping of Lachlan Illias.
He had been underperforming dating back to last year, but is his demotion the cure to the team’s loss in form or just a symptom?
Souths have been in a tailspin since the middle part of last year, having lost 11 out of the past 15 matches. When reviewing the numbers, it is easy to see why.
Souths accrued fewer metres than their opponents in all their losses. Of the four games they won, three were against the anchors of the last year’s competition in the Tigers, Dragons, and Titans. The forward pack on paper has star power, but there has been a power outage as of late.
Origin stars Jai Arrow and Keaon Koloamatangi missed ten and six games each last year, with Arrow already out for an extended period following a shoulder injury from the opening round.
Even serviceable starter Tevita Tatola missed nine games last year, forcing a pack already absent of depth to delve further into their limited inventory. Halves are helped when they play off the front foot, and the introduction of Dean Hawkins will do little to change the quality and availability issues of South Sydney’s pack.
Availability concerns aren’t confined to the pack. Jack Wighton, Campbell Graham, and Tyrone Munro are yet to feature for the side. Souths are a top-heavy roster.
Money devoted to stars places a heavier reliance on those stars to play. Extended absences have been an annual occurrence for their main star Latrell Mitchell.
Latrell Mitchell. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
He has averaged 16 games over the past three seasons, with a cocktail of injuries and suspensions being the core ingredients. When Latrell does play, his lack of involvement puts Souths on the back foot against quality opposition.
Of the qualified fullbacks to have played 15 games last year, Latrell ranked 11th in total runs per game. He is a moments player, someone who can produce plays that swing the momentum of the game. But these moments are far too fleeting. You can afford to be a moments footballer when you are a centre or a winger, affording to take sets off until the ball comes your way.
Fullbacks on the other hand need to own the result. Touching the ball regularly and trailing the play are all essential requirements to be a truly elite fullback. Ilias on the surface level inherited a grand final team littered with star talent. But it is when you look underneath the surface that you can see the problems are far more systematic.
This is not to say that Illias has performed well. Far from it. He has been far too error-prone for a playmaker that lacks creativity. Illias has ranked in the top five for total errors by a halves player over the past two years. He has shown little improvement from his first game. It is difficult to argue that he does not deserve to be dropped.
However, Ilias is a symptom and not the cause of their losses. Dropping him may only provide temporary pain relief without treating the root causes of the illness.
Ilias has underperformed, but his dropping cannot be seen as the sole remedy when considering the structural damage in the framework of the attitude and design of the Rabbitohs roster.
MGM
Roar Rookie
@SSTID, . couldn't agree more , especially re Latrell Mitchell .... pay him according to his effort and then WATCH him improve !!
Once upon a Knight
Roar Rookie
Hopefully JD can change the plan of attack and use Murray as a direct ball playing 13. South first 3 tackles are generally hit ups with nobody pushing up into space. If they can change this and add tips on or someone pushing up behind the front runner they have less chance of getting dominated in their tackles. This with offloads should get them onto the front foot. More running from Cook? Unfortunately the halves can’t dominate and they revive no quick play the balls. Something Murray and Cook did well in the past. Latrell not being a player who does a heavy workload needs to be utilised better as a decoy or dummy half in the first 3 tackles in their own end. Forwards get momentum equals Cody Walker try assists…
Dodgy Dragons
Roar Rookie
I don’t get to many live games now because I live in Perth, but the big thing I noticed in the rabbits game last year here ( and since then) is there lack of intensity getting the ball out of their own end. The forwards aren’t dominating/winning the ruck when they cart it up, and their first 3 tackles with the ball are soft. Mitchell jogging after a kick, turns and either gives it to the winger who gets man handled, then a couple of soft runs by backs until the forwards get back onside and they are behind the 8 ball. Johnson is a great finisher, but not the best carting it up out of his own end, and unless Milne is playing, the rest have very little effect. They are badly missing Campbell Graham, and Mitchell needs a rocket to become a complete fullback, not just as you described SSTID, a 5 min class display. Ilias and Cody can’t do much if they can’t get it out of their own end and South s have been poor at that since mid last year. Maybe Jack will help, but the forwards need to aim up
blacktown leagues
Roar Rookie
Bunnies have conceded 64 points in 2 games. Sack the halfback that's where the problem is.Something not right at Redfern!
andrew
Roar Rookie
Two star lazy backs Tez. That's the understatement of the year. Watching the Roosters Manly game on the weekend, you've only got to see the amount of work Teddy and Turbo do that shows you how much work Mitchell doesn't do.
Pomoz
Roar Rookie
Good article James. The old saying “forwards win games. The backs decide by how much”, is still as true as ever. Much as I love Nathan Cleary, I have no delusions about what is the key element of the Panthers success. The forward pack is one for the ages. Tough, fierce, but extremely fit and a little bit skilful. The demolition of the Eels in the 2022 GF was delivered by the front three’s brutality. If it was a boxing match, the ref would have stopped the fight to prevent further damage. Ilias could have led that pack to victory. Any halfback could succeed behind that wave of muscle, sinew and aggression. Instead Ilias is behind a pack that isn’t very fit (Murray excluded) and struggles to stay on the field. I also have sympathy for the fact he is the junior man in the middle of Walker, Mitchell and Cook and they have their own ideas how to make the “broth”. After listening to Mitchell’s latest sweary outburst, I cant help that think his ego can’t be good for the team either. Maybe Sam Burgess was on the money? Remember Murray’s retort to Mitchell complaining he didn’t get the ball when in support, “to be fair, you are not usually there”. I think there is more unrest to come.
Abbot
Roar Rookie
And/or dropping Latrell
Tez
Roar Rookie
Bunnies problems are down to two 'star' lazy backs and a relatively light weight pack where only a couple of blokes work their butts off. Most of the squad look unfit, lack effort and sit back waiting for the miracle play. Thats my opinion and dropping Illias is not going to change a damn thing. Now dropping Walker might just give the team a kick.
aerial lizard
Roar Rookie
All the skills and talents available mean little if confidence is poor, and repeatedly blaming one young bloke for the sins of the team is bound to shake his confidence. I think the Bunnies are looking at the wrong Greek.
SSTID
Roar Rookie
I have refrained from commenting on the other article about Souths, because most of them are saying things that I have said previously, so no need to repeat myself. But this article and a comment by Cam in the previous article clarified something for me about the decline of Souths - the lack of dominance by South's forwards. Every so often when I get nostalgic I watch the 2014 Preliminary Final between Souths and Easts. It was IMO a masterclass of winning through defence. The Souths forwards absolutely hammered the Chooks. Nowadays the forward pack (with a few exceptions) are serviceable, but not dominate. They don't set up the platform to hold teams down their end of the field, or give the space to the backs to attack when they are in a scoring position. I am not a full on stats person, but just on my watching the game I don't think Ilias makes that many mistakes per game, but is that what the stats say, then it is what it is. At the same time you have to balance this against his defensive efforts, which are first class. So I think he is being scapegoated here as the fall guy for a lacklustre team effort. It would be interesting to see what you and others define as "creative" halfs and then rank then (it would make a good article for someone who is so inclined). IMO, halfs come in all shapes and forms and their all tend to play to their particular strength, but on my casual observations (I don't watch other teams closely or see all matches) I don't think there are that many creative (as I would defined it) halfs out there in first grade. I wouldn't even put Reynolds into that category - good kicker, organiser, team man and occasional put a man through a gap, but he is no where in the same league as Cleary, Hughes, Johnson (in his prime) or Cherry-Evans as far as creativity goes. The rest all perform a special role, but not what I call creatives. My long winded point here is there are so few creative halfs out there, that you have to take what you can and play to their strengths. Ilias has one of the true genius creatives playing outside of him, so it is only natural that his role is to do what Cody Walker calls and just give him the ball where and when he needs it. To say Ilias should be replaced with a more creative half might work longer term, but it will be a disaster in the short term with Cody chewing more angry pills than what he already does. On Mitchell, he should have a special contract that is paid according to game time, effort and trys / try assists. That might get him more involved in the game. For his 5-10 minutes of brilliance, it doesn't make up for the money paid for the other 70 minutes of averageness.