14th May 2025
A Game of Two Halves
It was a classic game of two halves. There was significant improvements in our linespeed and ruck defence this week, with three changes to our front row. These were part of ten position changes changes as Bennett shook up the team. The first half saw us struggling as we fell behind 14 nil at half time. A much more hands on and vocal Bennett at the break, saw the team respond and draw level, before eventually winning the game as they kept the opposition scoreless. We are 5 win and 5 losses and are back to equal 7th in a important win that broke our 4 game losing streak. Its now off to Campbelltown to play the Tigers who will be on the rebound.
Mitchell Greatest Ever Fieldgoal
Was that the greatest ever South Sydney field goal? 50 metres out, in the rain, and the scores were level and it was the man Latrell Mitchell who stepped up to make the big play. We all watched as he hit the ball sweetly and the ball sailed towards the posts. Was it going to make the distance? It cleared the crossbar by just over a metre to win the game. It was one of the greatest pressure fieldgoals I have ever witessed.
Shaq successful return
Brother Shaq Mitchell has made a successful return from his calf injury in the last two weeks. He size power and ball playing ability was a welcome addition to our forward depth. Looking forward to him hit full futness over the coming weeks.
Penitani Electric
Talanoa Penitani made a electric comeback after 3 weeks on the sideline. His class over the U21 squad was clearly evident in his footwork and speed. He scored a great 60m try and was dangerous, when ever he touched the ball. Looking forward to seeing him progress, as he steps back up into Reserve Grade this week.
Water Gate
Not since Nixon in the 1970s have we seen such a off field scandal as the Water Gate scandal that arrived in the NRL this week. The Penrith touch judge just before evry kickoff squirted water on the ball just before kickoffs, to try and get the opposition to drop the ball. No one knows whats in the water bottle. To then see the Cowboys start doing the same thing soon after. The NRL quite rightly fined both clubs and suspended both trainers. Though the one game duration was insuffient. But it raises the question, how often has this type of ball tampering been occuring and has other methods been used?
Round 10 - Stat Attack
Statistically it was a poor game. Completions improved to 80% from 79% last week. Errors were steady at 11 again this week. We gave away 6 penalties and 4 6-again calls from 6 last week. Souths Effective 1st tackle improved to a poor level of 35.6m from 35.8m last week. Our missed tackles improved to a good level of 29 from 49 last week. Opposition offloads dropped to 13 from 12 last week.
Looking at our left side defence - Myers-Tass-Humphreys-Duncan (1-4-2-2) was steady at 9 missed tackles again this week. On the right side BentleyHape-Graham-Sullivan-Aitken (0-1-6-1) improved to 8 from 9 missed tackles last week. Ruck defence Arrow/Keppie-Havili/JGray-Koloamatangi/Moale/LeBlanc-Hubner/Koloamatangi (3-2-3-4) improved to 12 from 28 missed tackles last week.
Our go forward dropped to 1555m from 1995m last week. With our props go forward improved to a very good level of 497m compared to 367m last week. No one made 10+m per run. Koloamatangi, Arrow, Hubner, Aitken, BentleyHape, Tass, Graham and L.Mitchell made 100+m in the match. Koloamatangi made over 200+m in the match. Defensively Aitken was our best in the tackling raking up 48 tackles. BentleyHape, LMitchell and JGray didn't miss a tackle.
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 -
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