2026 - The Cyber View from the Hill

27th May 2026

Injuries mounting up

South Sydney went into the game with 9 players on the side line and one on representative duties, and AJ on one leg. It was always going to be a tough ask, but to the credit of the team but they stayed in the contest for 60 minutes. But another injury to Elliott this time and two tries to Alex Johnston going begging due to injury was enough for the opposition to take the contest. This was also our 6 straight loss under Atkins the referee. Still 8 more wins to make the finals. We get a weekend off to lick our wounds and hopefully get some troops back.

Penitani double on debut

Penitani had a sensational first grade debut, his speed and step were a highlight as he scored two tries down the right wing. He was on his way to possible third try when his hamstring gave way again. He has not played a full 80 minutes for almost a year. Hope it is not serious as he could be our answer to the right wing.

Mazzone scores again

Mazzone has a habit of scoring tries. On the weekend he scored his 5th try in 6 games, showing his pure speed down the left side line. He is making a name for himself as the reserve grade team climbed into the Top 3 on the back of 7 wins in their last 8 games.

U21s win in Fiji

Our U21 team broke a 5 game losing streak. It is taking a few weeks for our U19 boys to get used to playing up against tougher opposition, but behind a strong forward pack, our backline were able to shine.

Women dominate in trial

Big news this week was the step forward our women's team look to be making. In their second trial of the season they scored a dominating 9 tries to nil victory. Tries all over the part were a highlight, and Madison Wilson scored a double. Hopefully this a good sign for our team to turn the corner.

Top 30 plus 6 not working need 42 players

Depending upon how you balance your squad, there are 19 first grade players and 17 reserve grade players every weekend. So a Top 30 and 6 supplimentry players would fill out those 36 possitions. But all clubs don't sign the 30th player untile just before June 30. Throw in 2 boom youngsters playing U21s on the books and you are already short of two teams. Then throw in 6 to 10 players, injured, suspended or on representative duties and you no longer have most of your reserve grade team. We seriously need to expand the 30 + 6 squad to be 42 full time professional players with advent of the new 6 man bench and concussion protocols. This would a first step in some important professional development pathway adjustments.

Round 12 - Stat Attack

Statistically it was a poor game. Completions improved to 71% from 70% last week. Errors were steady at 15 again this week. We gave away 2 penalties and 3 6-again calls from 10 last week. Souths Effective 1st tackle improved to a poor level of 35.2m from 43.8m last week. Our missed tackles dropped to a poor level of 39 from 29 last week. Opposition offloads dropped to 14 from 8 last week.

Looking at our left side defence - Johnston-Siegwalt-Walker-Koloamatangi (1-3-3-2) dropped to 9 from 4 last week. On the right side Penitani-Duncan-Ward-Aitken/Fletcher (0-0-4-3) improved to 7 from 11 last week. Ruck defence Tatola/Hubner-Mamouzelos/Humphreys-Keppie/LeBlanc-Elliott/Tatola/Humphreys (8-3-6-3) dropped to 20 from 12 missed tackles last week.

Our go forward improved to 1855m from 1684m last week. With our props go forward improved to a average level of 403m compared to 349m last week. Keppie, Tatola, Dufty, Penitani and Johnston made 10+m per run. Keppie, Hubner, Koloamatangi, Dufty, Penitani, Duncan, Johnston and Siegwalt made 100+m in the match. Dufty made 300+m in the match. Defensively Mamouzelos was our best in the tackling raking up 42 tackles. Duncan and Penitani one didn't miss a tackle.

News

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Selected Round 13 Match Report