16th Apr 2025
Travel Woes
South Sydney have struggled over recent years when they travel and last week was another loss on the road. That is five losses in the last 5 games in Perth. The team struggled up the middle again this week and by the 60 minute mark they were desperatly trying to stop the Cowboys scoring. It was very evident this week that the bunker ruling had a big effect on the game and the team. Creativity and team work in attack is another area being impacted by the constant changing of players each week which is forced by injury and suspensions. It continues to hamper us again in 2025. But it the errors under fatigue late in the game impacted our ability to win the contest. We head to Homebush for a clash against the front running Bulldogs in front of a projected record Good Friday clash crowd.
Aitken solid debut
Welcome Euan Aitken who finally took the field as a makeshift centre on the weekend, scoring a try on debut. He has a back ground in the backline playing over 140 games in the position before moving to second row in the last few years. He is returning from a pec injury suffered midway through last year, so we will monitor his progress in a slow and steady return to his best.
Schuster Returns
There was a lot of interest in our reserve grade clash this week, with the long awaited return of Josh Schuster to rugby league after over year out. He showed his class with the ball in his hands at five-eighth and good kicking game in his 30 minute spell, as he works back into the fitness levels need to play NRL. Looking forward to seeing him get back to his best.
Alhazim captaincy reward
Our left side was on the fire in U21s with our backline causing havoc on the weekend. First it was Waqa who scored off a great backline move only to get injured. He scored again before leaving the field. Then Geary a makeshift center stepped up to cover and found himself also on the end of another two tries, as our U21 won their first game of the season.
Alaverez Quad Tries
Nuggety hard running second rower Joshua Alhazim was rewarded by being name captain of our U21 team on the weekend. He openned the scoring on the weekend as he tries to lead by example. Looking forward to see how he progresses over the course of the season.
Poynton cool under pressure
Two points behind, 5 seconds on the clock and we get a penalty our on the sideline in the semi-final clash against Canberra. It was then over to Charlie Poynton to not setup tries this time, but step in as fill in goal kicker to kick the vital goal. He did it magnificantly and sent the game into Extra Time. A few minutes into extra time he was called upon to do it again in a goal kick to put South Sydney in the lead for the first time in the game. Another goal and South Sydney went on to win our first juniors finals clash at SG Ball level since 2016. We now get a week off before the grand final qualifiers.
Aufai-Farani hatrick
It was a great day for our big second rower Taj Aufai-Farani. He crashed over for three tries as our U17 boys took a commanding lead into the break. It was our first finals win since 2019. He will be a vital member of the team as the look to progress our final campaign and win again in the semi-final clash.
Hip Drop debacle
The dreaded Hip Drop tackle once again decided a game on the weekend. It was called by the bunker after Jack Wighton had performed one of try saving tackles of the season. It was a major bunker process error. The ruling allowed the Cowboys to score from the following set, but it also mentally rattled Wighton for the rest of the game, with a error from him resulting in another try. It a close 8 point game it clearly had a effect on the outcome of the contest. But after the game the Match Review Committee deemed it wasn't a hip drop tackle, after a huge media backlash, as he didnt land on the players legs. It highlights once the major difference between a tackle at speed verses a tackle when a wrestle is in effect. The Hip Drop rule should only be applied when tackle momentum has almost stopped. When a runner is moving at speed momentum will always bring the tackler into position that could mean it may land toward the runners lower body as he effects the tackle. The NRL will need to adjust the wording on the rule, otherwise every great tackle from behind at speed is a hip drop tackle.
Round 6 - Stat Attack
Statistically it was a poor game. Completions dropped to 75% from 86% last week. Errors dropped to 13 from 7 last week. We gave away 6 penalties and 2 6-again calls from 7 last week. Souths Effective 1st tackle dropped to a poor level of 38.0m from 27.7m last week. Our missed tackles improved to a good level of 28 from 40 last week. Opposition offloads improved to 8 from 16 again last week.
Looking at our left side defence - Johnston-Aitken-Mitchell-Koloamatangi (0-0-0-4) was improved to 4 from 13 missed tackles last week. On the right side Tass-Wighton-Sullivan-Arrow/Hubner (1-0-3-3) improved to 7 from 12 missed tackles last week. Ruck defence Keppie/Havili-Mamouzelos-Tatola/Moale/LeBlanc-Hubner/Duncan (6-3-2-7) dropped to 18 from 16 missed tackles last week.
Our go forward dropped to 1547m from 1595m last week. With our props go forward dropped to a very poor level of 293m compared to 412m last week. Arrow, Havili and L.Mitchell made 10+m per run. Arrow, J.Gray, Tass and Johnston made 100+m in the match. J.Gray made over 200+m. Defensively Mamouzelos was our best in the tackling raking up 46 tackles. Tatola, L.Mitchell, Aitken, Wighton Johnston and J.Gray didn't miss a tackle.
none
Rd04 Penrith StAu W 28-18 Rd05 Syd Rstrs StAu W 20-14 Rd06 Nth Qld PrSt L 16-24
Rd04 Cronulla Ende W 20-6 Rd05 Newcastle StAu W 20-0 Rd06 BYE
2022 Rd06 StAu W 36-16 30,194 G.Sutton 2022 Rd18 StAu W 36-28 19,126 C.Butler 2023 Rd06 StAu W 50-16 35,211 G.Sutton 2023 Rd19 StAu L 32-36 16,166 L.Kennedy 2024 Rd04 StAu W 20-16 35,275 G.Sutton
First Grade Pe 6A SB OR SO
2023 Rd13 Canberra StAu L 26-33 12,382 Referee 7-4 3-2 - 1 - :
2023 Rd25 Newcastle NISC L 10-29 29,018 Referee 7-7 0-2 1 2 - :
2024 Rd27 Syd Rstrs StAu L 28-36 19,674 Referee 7-9 1-4 - - - :
M W D L : PeW PeD PeL PeF PeA : 6AW 6AD 6AL 6AF 6AA : SB OR SO
v Canterbury 1 1 - - 100% : 1 - - 6 3 67% : 1 - - 8 6 57% : - 1 -
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