27th January 2016
10 days to go till the first hit out for the season in the Auckland 9s as we defend our title. Looking forward to who Madge will select in the team this year. 9s is much more like the 13 man game that people give it credit and a strong forward pack and speed out wide are important. I am expecting once again to see a few new faces in the squad.
Our forward leader is back.Its great to see Sam back in Souths colours.We are looking forward to seeing him getting our forwards allmoving together in the right direction. But we need to remember he has been out of the game for 12 months, so he is behind on NRL fitness and will need a few games to get his game back on track for rugby league.
With the departure of our right side backline, we have seen Hymel Hunt, Michael Oldfield and Dane Neilson added to the squad. There will be a lot of competition for poistions this year with centers and wingers final makeup being decided during the trials.
After a year over at NRL headquarters we see the welcome return of Shane Richardson as General Manager of Football. Since our premiership win we had a large volume of front office changes and Richo's return will help steady the off field side of the football club operations.
Its great to see the RLIF finally starting to get more involved in the direction of the game. Publishing their strategy and looking to grow the game into new markets leverages off the very good work being done by the RLEF. Still a lot of work to do but a step in the right direction.