11th Mar 2026
Season Opens with Win
It was a high scoring affair, 70 points scored but South Sydney were in control for most of the match. Our forwards help lay the platform and while everyone was marking Johnston & Fifita our right side took full toll and then as they adjusted our left side opened up. The team is still learning to play together but scoring 40 points showed our ability in attack. Though letting in 30 points hilights defence still has work to do. The loss of Ward on top of Humphreys and Glover has resulted in a halves injury crisis already early in the season, with reserve grade having to field a makeshift halves combination. AJ inches closer to the record, as we head back to the Sydney Football Stadium to play our arch rivals on a 5 day turn around.
Graham and Mitchell score a double
It was a very welcome return for Campbell Graham on the right wing, after his ongoing sterum injury concerns. He made up for lost time in scoring two powerful tries out wide. Not to be outdone, with every watching new recurit Fifita and AJ, gaps opened up in front of Mitchell who also scored a double. Rattling up 20 points for the match. Keep up the good work.
Hadley Smith double
A new hooker from the Qld Cup popped up in U21's this week. Hadley Smith. He was a steady influence with a good passing game and took two opportunities when the presented themselves as he scored a double from dummy half against a rushing defence. It wont be long for a number of our U21 boys take the step up to reserve grade.
Alverez and Jennings double
5 from 5 our SG Ball boys continue to impress, as the won their top of the table clash in convincing manner. Jennings was once again dominate on the right side scoring two tries and kicking some great sideline conversions. While on the left it was Taj Alvarez bagging a double through great support play using his speed off the mark. Now they take on the undfeated Parramatta in a game that will define their season.
Matts 4 from 4
In Matts it was a all round effort from the team as the go 4 from 4 in one of the most impressive performances so far this season. They only lost by a narrow 2 points in the first round and have been on a steady improvement. And continues to be one of our best season starts evever in the new 9 round format.
6 agains increase by 35%
Round 1 and two teams get beaten by the dreaded 50 points, our match has a agreggate of 70 points. It seems the rule reversal of 6 agains is the culprit. The KPI of keeping the ball in play by extending the 6 agains for a extra 20m has increased the momentum of good attacking teams and causing blow outs. A lot of people are not happy with this change, just as rugby league was better balanced last year. The 35% jump has shown teams are trying to exploit the rule change. On the plus side it has combated the wrestle, but fans have no idea why a set restart was awarded, and gives the referee too much influence over a game. The NRL wants to combat this introducing another rule change, scorers kickoff to be a momentum change agent. You have to ask the question why do we need this sort of change at all. We see too often concussion and player safety sacreficed. I am not a fan, and will watch how the next few weeks play out as teams adjust to the new ways of play.
Round 1 - Stat Attack
Statistically it was a good game. Completions dropped to 75% from 79% last week. Errors dropped to 13 from 12 last week. We gave away 3 penalties and 4 6-again calls from 14 last week. Souths Effective 1st tackle improved to a good level of 25.4m from 32.7m last week. Our missed tackles improved to a outstanding level of 19 from 23 last week. Opposition offloads dropped to 14 from 2 last week.
Looking at our left side defence - Johnston-Mitchell-Walker-Fifita (0-1-0-2) improved to 3 from 6 missed tackles last week. On the right side Graham-Wighton-Ward/Sullivan-Aitken/Duncan (2-3-3-2) dropped to 10 from 8 last week. Ruck defence Tatola/Aitken-Garlick/Mamouzelos-Koloamatangi-Murray/Hubner (1-2-2-0) improved to 5 from 7 missed tackles last week.
Our go forward improved to 1889m from 1781m last week. With our props go forward improved to a good level of 465m compared to 317m last week. Koloamatangi, Gray, Graham, Mitchell and Ward made 10+m per run. Koloamatangi, Fifita, Murray, Tatola, Aitken, Gray, Graham and Mitchell made 100+m in the match. Koloamatangi made 200+m in the match. Defensively Aitken and Murray was our best in the tackling raking up 28 tackles. Tatola, Murray, Duncan, Hubner, Walker and Johnston didn't miss a tackle.
none
Pre01 St Geo-Ill Woll W 28-24 Pre02 Manly Mudg W 30-6 Rd01 Dolphins LngS W 40-30
Pre01 Wests-Tig NISC L 26-42 Pre02 Parramatta Gosf L 22-28 Rd01 Warriors MtSm L 18-42
2023 Rd03 SFS2 L 18-20 36,669 G.Sutton 2023 Rd27 StAu L 12-26 36,263 A.Gee 2024 Rd03 SFS2 L 6-48 37,594 A.Klein 2024 Rd27 StAu L 28-36 19,674 G.Atkins 2025 Rd05 StAu W 20-14 22,114 A.Gee 2025 Rd27 SFS2 L 6-36 41,604 A.Gee
First Grade Pe 6A SB OR SO
2025 Rd05 Syd Rstrs StAu W 20-14 22,114 Referee 11-6 5-1 - - - :
2025 Rd15 Canterbury StAu L 18-24 23,871 Referee 11-4 0-2 - - - :
2025 Rd27 Syd Rstrs SFS2 L 6-36 41,604 Referee 3-7 3-3 1 2 - :
M W D L : PeW PeD PeL PeF PeA : 6AW 6AD 6AL 6AF 6AA : SB OR SO
v Syd Rstrs 6 2 - 4 33% : 3 - 3 37 39 48% : 2 1 - 13 4 76% : 1 2 -
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