What a off-season it has been. So much drama around who will coach Souths in 2019 after Seibold had accepted a Broncos offer for season 2020. But in the end it ended up being a basic swap with super coach Wayne Bennett coming to Souths. He goes about his business in a quiet professional manner, with fans, sponsors and players all taking a liking to him and his methods. We are all looking forward to what the New Year will bring.

Inglis disrupted off season

Our club captain has had a disrupted off season. From the high of being named as Test Captain and enjoying a Koori Knockout weekend, to the lows of a being caught DUI, losing the national captaincy, neck surgery and then hurting his knee in training. Which resulted in him missing out on playing in the All-Stars game, all trials and the first few rounds. Then in middle of all of this he also announced his retirement in two years, with 2019 being his last rep season.

New Sponsors

It's been a great offseason for sponsorship. We have a new away sponsor Acatel, a new home sponsor Aqualand, a new pathways sponsor WotIf and Redfern Oval sponsorship Metricon. We congratulate the sponsorship team on how they continue to grow our brand in the marketplace.

Pathways Return this week

It's been over 12 years since we saw the mighty cardinal and myrtle jersey on both our lower grade jerseys, but this week the team walk out for the first time for their first hit out for season. We see the return of Buddy Gordon as we rebuild the squad where last years U20s and ISP squads have basically been split in two between the Bears and Souths who are now both fielding teams.

Off field Dramas Penalties need to Be Public and Consistent

This offseason has seen a volume of off field issues occur. With a number appearing on social media, CCTV camera's and a club being banned from an establishment. One of bigger concerns is a players issues only coming light after he departs from his former club. Rather than his old club taking action, they kept it under lock and key for a number years, with his new club having to deal with it and its salary cap implications There is a big backlash from the public wanting the NRL step in and take action. But legally its important for the court process to follow its course, otherwise players could be attacked on false allegations just before a big game. But once proven, the NRL need to use a grading system to better manage penalties. De-registration while being a means to achieve a result, leaves everyone with confusion on what is the penalty. While there should be fines, counselling and community service, there needs to be a consistent non-playing penalties imposed. So grading's need to be applied, with goal terms having a 1 year = 3 year NRL ban, with others being something like

© 2019 SSR Almanac / HOME / RETURN