7th September 2016
The team finished the year on a high replicating our 2014 grand final win over the Bulldogs. In a strong goal line defensive display we held their forward pack and then just like in the 2014 grnd final ran away with the game in the final 10 minutes. So we finish the season on good note winning the last 4 in a row. The year will however be remembered for the volume of off field drama, with a volume of players released during the season from Dylan Walker, Grant, McQueem, Auva'a, Carter, Grevsmuhl and Olive. This impacted our depth significantly.
What a way to end his short NRL stint. He scored two scintalating tries. His speed was great to see, and many fans are disappointed to see his him leave for England just as he was finding his feet and forming a great combination with Walker and Reynolds.
Aaron Gray has put aside his troubled start to the season with another great performance at left center and scoring a great barnstorming try through the Bulldogs forward pack to seal the game.
In a poor season Pheonix and Jamel Hunt are two shining lights in our u20s squad. Jamel Hunt stepped up into the Bears after a number of strong running performances and Pheonix stepped up from U18s as a dynamic running hooker. Looking forward to seeing these two develop further.
When are we going to start seeing consistency in the MRC process. 12 months ago we saw our plyer get suspended for throwing a water bottle. This week it happens again and no charge. A month ago a defensive colission gets charged with a shoulder charge. Yesterday a proper shoulder charge has no case to answer. This is a huge frustratio for fans. We need to make sure Referees, MRC and Judicary are on the same page. With the MRC needing a overhaul. We need to have the match referee plus a delegate from each club join the MRC representative in the MRC review session. We also need to publish on the NRL website examples of each grading. So everyone understands what is a grade 1,2,3,4,5 incident. If it has never happened should it be on the charge sheet ?
Round 26 - Stat Attack
Statistically a strong performance against a team fighting for a Top 4 position. Completion rates improved to 84% from 80% this week. Errors were improved to 9 from 11 last week. We gave away 4 penalities compared to 9 last week. Souths Effective 1st tackle dropped but still at a averagelevel of 34.3m from 30.0m last week. Our missed tackles improved to 13 missed tackles from 17 last week. Our best all season. Opposition offloads were improved to 5 from 7 last week.
Looking at our left side defence -JBurgess-AGray-Walker-Sutton (0-0-0-1) was improved to 1 from 7 missed tackles last week. On the right side Johnston-HHunt-Reynolds-Turner (0-0-2-1) improved to 3 from 4 missed tackles last week. Ruck defence GBurgess/Clark/Brown-Cook-TBurgess/Musgrove-SBurgess (0-0-6-2) was dropped to 8 from 4 missed tackles last week.
Our go forward this week dropped to 1382m. Tom Burgess, Turner, Joe Burgess, Inglis and Johnston made 10+m per run. Tom Burgess, Joe Burgess and Inglis making 100+m in the match. Defensively Cook was our best in the tackling raking up 42 tackles. With George Burgess, Cook, Clark, Brown, Inglis, Joe Burgess, Aaron Gray, Hymel Hunt, Johnston and Walker not missing a tackle.