18th Feb 2026
Reserve Grade Brings Shield Home
The Dragons were running their toline squad, while South Sydney ran out 18 players out from the starting lineup, either through injury, suspension, representative duties or being rested in week one of the pre-season. The match build up was theis ould be a easy victory against our reserve grade squad. Losing Glover and then Penatini early in the game did not help either. But as the game unfolded, the upset of the season thus far was unfolding, with South Sydney scoring early the second half set us one for one of the most unlikely victories, as we bring the Charity Shield home for the 25th time. Now with 11 team changes, we run our first grade onto the field in Mudgee this week in one of our strongest on paper lineups in years.
Rotten Luck Glover & Penatani
Glover had one of most rotten debuts in South Sydney colours I have ever seen. In his 2nd tackle of the game he copped a shoulder from the Dragons runner and suffered a broken jaw, leaving the field. Penatani scored a spectacular try only to tear his hamstring once again. Both are now on the sidelines for 8 weeks. Speedy recovery for both.
Alvarez Triple
What a game Alvarez had in the U19s, scoring 3 spectular tries. His first from a bomb not field properly. His second from a great solo stepping effort to score. His third from a big break up the middle where he backed up to score. The great effort was soured late in the game when a Warrior player took him out in backplay breaking his nose and sidelining im for 2 weeks.
Ben Wright double
On the weekend our Matts U17s boys opened their season with a strong win over the Warriors. One highlight was the two tries by Ben Wright on the wing. Looking forward to many of these as he settles in to the team.
Logan double
A stand out effort Mequynne LOgan wasn't enough to lift the the U19 girls. Two spectaular tries to Loagn both off McGregar gave South Sydney some hope has they try to win their furst game of the season. She has been rewaded with a return the starting line. A win is not far away.
Origin becomes a All-Star Game
A suttle change has occurred in the State of Origin eligability during the week, as we head towards a Origin game in Auckland. The ARLC removed the Tier 1 nation restrictions, meaning players who played for New Zealand or England can now play Origin if they qualify. Queensland is already in looking to expand their "That's in Queensland" player base. Players who played in either state before the age of 13 now qualify. A potential side effect from this is players who had chosen Tonga or Samoa because they were Tier 2 nations and they could play Origin, returning to New Zealand and weakening Tonga and Samoa. But over all Origin is evolving, but is moving more and more into an All Stars clash. How this will play out is interesting, as the focus continues to increase on the NRL and Internationals. Time Will tell, but old timers continue to see meaning of State verses State diminishing. Let alone to what happens when a Victorian or West Australian wants to play State football.
Pre-Season 1 - Stat Attack
Statistically it was a very good game. Completions improved to 85% from 78% last year. Errors dropped to 10 from 9 last year. We gave away 3 penalties and 2 6-again calls from 10 last week. Souths Effective 1st tackle dropped to a very poor level of 28.2m from 43.1m last week. Our missed tackles dropped to a very poor level of 45 from 43 last week. Opposition offloads improved to 5 from 17 last week.
Looking at our left side defence - BentleyHape/Kirk-Seigwalt/Lawry-Humphreys-Fletcher/Hubner (2-6-2-4) dropped to 14 from 12 missed tackles last year. On the right side Mazzone-Penatini/Afaulo-Ward-McCarthy/Garlick/Johanssen (0-4-2-4) improved to 10 from 11 last year. Ruck defence Ataata/Keppie/Fakaosi-Mamouzelos/Garlick-Hubner/Radel/Keung-Garlick/Hubner/Tatola (4-5-3-3) improved to 15 from 20 missed tackles last year.
Our go forward dropped to 1457m from 1467m last week. With our props go forward dropped to a very poor level of 342m compared to 355m last year. Penitani, McCarthy and Tatola made 10+m per run. Keppie and Dufty made 100+m in the match. Dufty made 200+m in the match. Defensively Mamouzelos and Hubner was our best in the tackling raking up 30 tackles. Ataata, Radel, Fakaosi, Penitani, Mazzone and Kirk didn't miss a tackle.
Selected Pre-Season Challenge Round 2 teams
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