22nd May 2024
Improvement but still not enough
On the weekend we saw a improved showing from the team, once again from the team. Many metrics showed we should have won the game, but key moments in defence let us down. We have to address those defensive lapses, as opposition teams continue to target key plays and players. Its 12 months to the weekend since our issues started, with coaching dramas have finally settled, so it will be interesting how the team responds this week, in a game I call the battle of the Interim coaches, after Parramatta also just sacked their coach during the week.
AJ and Gagai return
Troops have started to return, after a horror injury start to the season. We see our two wingers AJ and Gagai return, with AJ adding adding another try to his record. This added some much needed stability out wide.
Kennedy double
Codey Kennedy is a big tall winger who was brought down during our injury crisis, and is repayed Joe O'Callaghan's faith in him on the weekend, when he scored two strong tries out wide. He is work in progress, but another possible late bloomer.
U21s Forwards power
It was a wet heavy track at Erko on the weekend and Souths took on the Warriors forwards from the outset. South Sydney played a forwards power game. Led early by Reed and Sullivan up front set a platform that backrowers Grossemy, Ibrham and Heslin built upon. Then bench props Abou-Arrage and Hallie continued the power game. It was great to see the pack acting a unit working off each other and contributing 3 tries to the win.
New Coach now for the rebuild
We welcome the return of super-coach Wayne Bennett back to the club. Immediately there is a buzz around the place that had disappeared over the last 12 months. The rebuild has begun and there is a lot to fix as we try to reverse the trend of the last 12 months. He has already put a hold of recruitment activities and re-signing players for 2025 while he assesses how best to move forward. Interesting times coming up, with a lot of nervous players. I will be watching with interest in who steps up over the coming weeks.
Round 11 - Stat Attack
Statistically it was average game this week. Completions improved to 83% from 66% last week. Errors improved to 12 from 15 last week. We gave away 2 penalties and 4 6-again calls from 9 last week. Souths Effective 1st tackle improved to a average level of 30.2m from 39.6m last week. Our missed tackles dropped to a poor level of 39 from 28 last week. Opposition offloads dropped to 11 from 6 last week.
Looking at our left side defence - Johnston-Wighton-Walker-Arrow (2-4-1-3) dropped to 10 from 7 missed tackles last week. On the right side Gagai-Thompson/Duncan-Teaupa-Koloamatangi/Milne (2-4-5-3) dropped to 14 from 8 missed tackles last week. Ruck defence Moale/Havili/Koloamatangi-Cook/Mamouzelos-Keppie/Burgess-Havili/Duncan/Cook (1-3-6-3) dropped to 13 from 12 missed tackles last week.
Our go forward improved to 1648m from 1582m last week. With our props made a very poor 327m compared to 319m last week. Wighton made 10+m per run. Duncan, Koloamatangi, Havili, Keppie, Arrow, Wighton and Thompson made 100+m in the match. Defensively Cook was our best in the tackling raking up 40 tackles. Moale and Havili didn't miss a tackle.
Rd09 Penrith StAu L 12-42 Rd10 St Geo-Ill Koga L 14-28 Rd11 Nth Qld LngS L 22-28
Rd09 BYE Rd10 Brisbane WSS L 14-30 Rd11 Melbourne LngS L 16-48
2021 Rd17 NISC W 46-18 3,127 M.Cecchin 2022 Rd24 StAu W 20-10 15,264 G.Sutton 2023 Rd17 StAu L 6-31 11,262 G.Sutton
First Grade Pe 6A SB OR SO
2021 Rd19 Warriors SunS W 60-22 7,569 Referee 2-2 2-3 - - - :
2021 Rd20 St Geo-Ill LngS W 50-14 0 Referee 3-5 4-3 - - - :
2022 Rd18 Canterbury StAu W 36-28 19,126 Referee 5-4 0-1 - - - :
M W D L : PeW PeD PeL PeF PeA : 6AW 6AD 6AL 6AF 6AA : SB OR SO
v Parramatta 1 - - 1 0% : 1 - - 9 5 64% : : - - -
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