17th February 2016
In a game where nine of our top squad were unavailable our fringe Rabbitohs put on a great performance to not only match it with the Dragons who were a top 8 last eyar but to eventually win the game and secure our 17th year we retained the Charity Shield. Now off the Gold Coast for a final hitout before the season and the return of Sam Burgess in the red and green.
What a honor for Greg Inglis to be named captain of the Indigeneous All Stars. He has become a leader and role model in the Aboriginal community off the field and now on the field too.
I a game of so many unknown players two new buys stood up on the weekend. Jok Dokoivalu looks like the prop we are so desperately looking for. Coming to the Bears from U20s last year he is already making a impact on teh field. Riley Travers is the other player to stand out. A Bears Berowra junior he came on for a short 15 minute stint and set up two tries to win the game with some loevely passing. We will watch how the year progresses.
Still a lot of learning going in the U20s as players are chopped and changed. However they the Dragons too much of a early lead before a good come back to be level with 10 minutes to go. Its a team that is still very much work in progress.
Our junior representative sides kicked off their season with U18s having a resounding victory. It was a powerful performance with good ball movement and for Matt King a great coaching debut.
A few experimental rules were tried on the weekend as we head into round one. The play the ball differential penalty while rarely used will be a good thing. The shot clock for drop outs worked smoothly. However the 35 seconds shotclock for scrums seemed to be excessive as we saw many time players still standing around for 10-15 seconds. The impact of the scrum shot clock was that you cannot stop the clock by packing the scrum quickly. So the excitement of the last play of the game or half is lost. We need to bring this back expecially for the last play of the half. If one team is packed then the scrum should be played out even after the hooter.
The bunker still felt slow. Even though a decision may have been made we still seemd to take a eternity for the decision to be conveyed via the big screen. Something that needs to be looked into.