2025 - The Cyber View from the Hill

21st May 2025

Lucky Escape

South Sydney got off to a good start against a opposition looking for redemtion after a previous week thrashing. Our forwards continued to lay the platform this week after the return of Arrow and Koloamtangi to the middle. In the wet it was a close contest, and a we lucky to come away with a win after failing to score points. It will be something the club will ned to address as resrve grade is also struggling with the same delema. But at this stage of the season its not about winning pretty but collecting the vital 2 competition points, as we move back into the Top 8 with all 3 of our byes still to come. This week is a well earned rest for a number of players while we have a week off during the State of Origin period.

Graham Match Saver

Campbell Graham continues to prove his worth now back at right centre. His defence along with Aitken in recent weeks has shut down many attcking raids on the right side. But the try saver which turned into a match saving tackle on the weekend was one of his best. He was rewarded by being names 18th man in the State of Origin I squad. Well done.

Poynton steps up

Our next U19 SG Ball squad member, steps up into U21s this week. Charlie Poynton is a winger or fullbackback with a ton of speed. He is a quality goalkicker as well. Looking forward to another member of our U19s squad stepping up to the next level.

Tarau great effort

Young Payton Tarau joined the City U16s team on the weekend along with Charlie Bateup and Anthony Mailangi. Tarau scored the opening try and kicked 6 goals in a man of the match performance at five-eighth. Well done.

McGregor wins the game

While there isn't much to celebrate in 2025 in our womens teams, one standout performance occurred in Womens City U19s when Kiara McGregor kicked the winning field goal playing halfback to win the game. Looking forward to seeing her continue this success when the Womens NSWRL team kick off in July.

Missing City v Country

We are in the traditional City Country period of the season. It would be really worth while instead of rushing into State of Origin I, we had a return of the normal pre-origin selection trial. We could have Sydney City v NSW Country, Brisbane City v Queensland Country and the Affiliate Interstate Series back on our rugby league calender rather than byes. I am missing those clashes and seeing fringe representative players given a chance before the main games, in a tradition that dates back to 1911.

Round 11 - Stat Attack

Statistically it was a average game in the wet. Completions improved to 88% from 80% last week. Errors improved to 9 from 11 last week. We gave away 8 penalties and 5 6-again calls from 10 last week. Souths Effective 1st tackle improved to a average level of 33.9m from 35.6m last week. Our missed tackles dropped to a very poor level of 38 from 29 last week. Opposition offloads dropped to 19 from 13 last week.

Looking at our left side defence - Johnston-Tass-Humphreys-Duncan (2-1-3-2) was improved to 8 from 9 missed tackles last week. On the right side BentleyHape-Graham-Sullivan-Aitken (0-2-4-4) dropped to 10 from 8 missed tackles last week. Ruck defence Arrow/Tatola-Havili/JGray-Koloamatangi/Moale-Hubner/Koloamatangi/LeBlanc (2-4-4-9) dropped to 19 from 12 missed tackles last week.

Our go forward improved to 1848m from 1555m last week. With our props go forward improved to a outstanding level of 633m compared to 497m last week. Our best all season. Koloamatangi, Tatola, Aitken, Hubner, Johnston and Sullivan made 10+m per run. Koloamatangi, Aitken, Tatola, Arrow, Moale, Graham, Tass, BentleyHape, Johnston and L.Mitchell made 100+m in the match. Koloamatangi made over 200+m in the match. Defensively Koloamatangi was our best in the tackling raking up 49 tackles. BentleyHape didn't miss a tackle.

News This Week

Rd08  Melbourne  MRSt L 16-24
Rd09  Newcastle  LngS L  4-30
Rd10  Brisbane   StAu W 22-14

Rd08  Cronulla   Leic W 20-18 (GP)
Rd09  St Geo-Ill LngS W 34-28
Rd10  Melbourne  MRSt L  0-64

2022 Rd07  WSS  L 22-23 14,251 Z.Przeklasa-Adamski
2022 Rd12  StAu W 44-18 13,585 C.Sutton           
2023 Rd11  StAu W 20-0  21,013 L.Kennedy          
2023 Rd22  Tamw W 32-18 10,453 Z.Przeklasa-Adamski
2024 Rd20  Gosf W 42-28 16,284 W.Raymond          
2024 Rd24  Camp L 16-18 11,420 B.Sharpe           

First Grade                                            Pe    6A   SB OR SO
2024 Rd20  Wests-Tig  Gosf W 42-28 16,284 Referee      7-2   4-5   -  1  - :
2024 Rd21  Canberra   Bruc L 12-32 12,114 Referee      6-7   4-4   -  -  - :

              M   W  D   L      : PeW PeD PeL PeF PeA      : 6AW 6AD 6AL 6AF 6AA      : SB OR SO
v Wests-Tig   1   1  -   - 100% :   1   -   -   7   2  78% :   -   -   1   4   5  44% :  -  1  -