5th July 2017
A break has done a world of good for the players, putting a first class effort against the Panthers. That makes its 7 from 7 against the Panthers in our biggest win over them at ANZ Stadium Its another step forward in the right direction with 7 more wins required from 9 matches to make the finals.
What a great day for Alex Johnston who scored 5 tries and should have had 6. Equalling the 5 try record hauls for a Souths First Grade player. He now joins Horder, Quinlivan, Mason, Graves, Moir and Sladden, Fahey and Merritt in achieving this remarkable feat.
Welcome to Dean Britt who is a mid season transfer from the Storm. He is a lanky prop who recently made his first grade debut. He will play his first game in Souths / Bears system at Wyong on the weekend.
Dean Hawkins continues to play above his weight and has helped transform the U20s team since moving upfrom SG Ball. He is adding direction and a good kicking game, and has a good understanding on when to run or pass. Watch this space.
With so many legal loop holes can the the NRL Salary Cap be enforced or used any more as a equalising factor. Again we hear of non NRL means in identifying a potential Salary Cap rort. It seems unless a former employee spills the beans or a Police matter uncover a issue, there is little the NRL or its Integrity-Unit can actually do. It will only get worse when lower grade players are contracted out to 2nd Tier feeder clubs.
Round 17 - Stat Attack
Statistically again a slow start but then a very good performance. Completion rates improved to a very good level of 86% from 73% last week. Errors were improved to 6 from 13 last week. We gave away 8 penalities compared to 6 last week. Souths Effective 1st tackle improved into a very good level of 24.2m from 33.6m last week. Our second best all year. Our missed tackles dropped to a very poor level of 37 missed tackles from 21 last week. Our 3rd worst all year. Opposition offloads improved to 4 from 8 last week. Our best all year.
Looking at our left side defence - Johnston-Goodwin-Sutton-TFuimaono/SBurgess (0-1-3-2) dropped to 6 from 2 last week. On the right side Burns-AGray-Reynolds-Crichton (2-1-5-3) was dropped to 11 from 3 missed tackles last week. Ruck defence TBurgess/Musgrove-Farah/Cook-Tyrrell/GBurgess-SBurgess/Clark (8-4-2-5) dropped to 19 from 13 missed tackles last week.
Our go forward this week improved to 1714m from 1644m. Second best all year. Tom Burgess, George Burgess and Johnston made 10+m per run. Crichton, George Burgess, Tom Burgess, Sam Burgess, Musgrove, Johnston, Walker, Goodwin and Gray making 100+m in the match. Defensively Sam Burgess was our best in the tackling raking up 37 tackles. Tyrrell Fuimaono, George Burgess and Johnston not missing a tackle.