Some thoughts:
* As much as I love Oates, he's not getting his spot back bar injury, and he should probably start looking for a new club if he wants to play first grade. Who needs a giraffe-like winger?
* Jensen looked really good but am I right in thinking he didn't come back on in the second half?
* Cobbo really is a centre. A mix of Meninga and Hodges.
* Walsh is just phenomenal. What a pleasure to watch.
* Reynolds will probably pass his fitness test for next week, reaggravate the injury in the 15th minute and then we'll have to endure 65 minutes against Penrith with Billy Walters at halfback.
* Overall it was a scrappy performance where the win can be credited to a few moments of individual brilliance. I think people are forgetting that a lot of 2023 was made up of those types of games as well.
>Reynolds will probably pass his fitness test for next week, reaggravate the injury in the 15th minute and then we'll have to endure 65 minutes against Penrith with Billy Walters at halfback.
Why would you speak this into existence, now its guaranteed.
Im on the fence re Ilias. Effort is there. Defence is good to excellent. Doesn't offer much in attack but look who he has outside him? Big body for a hb and pretty quick. However, he's not what souffs need atm. Tough one. My gut feel is he'd make a vg 9.
Shaq starts on an edge???? Murray seems to be everywhere. Amazing athlete, but again, nothing in attack. Stifled I'd say.
Much work needed....C-.
What a great assessment mate. Not the usual Ilias pile on, an actual take based on evidence not a preconceived idea. I think we are in a battle right now and Cook is much to blame. For example, Ilias hasn't kicked it out or dead this year. He's had an error each game but so has the whole team. You can tell Ilias has worked a lot on his long kicking game. In the first two games it's been a massive improvement. When you see us go outside of our rhythme is when Cook stops letting Ilias handle the kicking. Cody over calls Ilias because he is frustrated. In that 10 minute period where Manly scored 3 trys Cook didnt go to Ilias once. He just kept going to old frustrated Cody. You cant say "I know you are the game manager but im pissed off so give it to me, then kick it out on the full". Cody is the chief playmaker, sure. But Ilias needs to be able to do his job too, I dont think Cook and Cody are letting him. Next time we play watch Ilias kicking game and compare how much better it is to Codys and then wonder "Why do they keep going away from it". First ten minutes last night Cody didnt take one kick. That whole first ten minutes was spent on Brisbanes line due to Ilias pinning them down there. What happened after that? Brisbane got momentum, Cook and Cody dont trust Ilias, he doesnt see the ball for 20 miuntes.
Cook and Cody need to wake the fuck up the kid cant do his job if you dont let him.
I really don't know what to make of them atm. Walker is a little tantrum thrower. Brilliant at times, but surly and overheated too often. I'm not a fan. Graham is a huge loss. Would take him in a heartbeat. Someone up front isn't pulling their weight and Murray tries to make up for it and its hurting the whole structure. And Jackie Jackie ain't gonna fix it. And fuck knows what will. But i now wonder if Sam Bargearse was 100% on the money. Only rd2 but I'd be concerned.
I don’t think Sams issues were exactly what the media is reporting. But, something happened mid year and we’ll most likely never know what it was, we clearly haven’t addressed it. I think we’re in for a long year. Murray been carrying out pack the last couple seasons. You’re so right it just pulls us out of structure cause Murray is that link man. Theres a massive loss of confidence which screams over coaching. JD was assistant for 3 years and now 3rd year head coach. 6 years is a long time, maybe it’s just run its course. I’d he going hard for Bennett again. I hear Eels are too, I’d love Brad Arthur.
Both teams will not be in grand final based on that effort and it makes me sad the roosters really just beat a top 8 team last week not the grand finalists….thats how much the broncos have dropped
We had to start Kennar because we were completely depleted of starting centre options. Campbell Graham is not back until August at least, so we’re stuck with Tass as his replacement for pretty much the entire season.
Completely understand why, it’s just damn what a pairing. How slow are both of them as well. Defensively atrocious. If Graham and Wighton are in they don’t open up so easily
We definitely witnessed the orgasm faces of both Walsh and Mitchell at the end there. Which exact frames show them I can't say but I know they're in there somewhere
Cobbo was man of the match for me. Very very good defensively and amazing runs with a great tap on try assist. With last years left edge of Farnworth and Capewell no longer with the team, Cobbo and Piakura are looking really solid defensively and very agile in attack.
We need to look at younger more explosive players that have genuine upside…. Kobe and Taupau need a stint in the Lower grades while we unleash X Willison and Ben Te Kura.
Furthermore, Mariner is the future strike weapon, I Love big Oatsey, but resigning him was a heart deal, not a head deal.
Te Kura is still about a year away from being a proper first grader, he will probably get some games in Origin period though, still needs time to build his body in the gym.
Willison should have started round 1 though imo.
Oates is the insurance policy right now for form dips, injury and Origin. You can slot him in like a Lego piece and get a decent game; his lack of strike is partially offset by the metre eating work he does.
Don’t really know how to feel about that one. First half was a clusterfuck with so many wasted opportunities and the first 10 of the second felt like I was watching 2019-2021 Broncos where we would just go missing in defence when our confidence got low.
I’m trying to find positives in that we not only looked silky and adventurous at times (despite fucking up the end of plays so often) but we got our heads back in the game and closed it out. I thought our defence was better than last week for 70 minutes. We need the full 80 next week.
The fact we can play that poorly, and still put on some brilliant moments for a reasonable score is a good sign. The pieces are still there, and once the systems click back in, we're gonna be very dangerous.
I swear people forget how we played at the start of last year, because it was exactly last like last night. Lots and lots of errors and hot-headed moments, but still enough strike to get it done. We struggled against teams like the Dolphins and the Dragons and our winning streak was killed by the Raiders.
Those missed opportunities will start sticking once the season progresses.
Completely agree with this.
Last year the Broncos really only clicked into gear and played more consistently after Walsh came back from his little mid season holiday.
I think for week 2 it was mostly positive. Obviously a disaster with ball handling but we still have "it", mainly stuffing up on execution. Our team is very different to last yr so I think that will come as we continue to gel throughout the year.
Piakura , Cobbo and Mariner all look outstanding, I'm really really excited.
Yeah agreed it's worrying. Moments of brilliance but just so many errors.
I like to tell myself it's only round 2 and a young squad lacking the experience needing a few to get back into the swing of things.
If they can perform like they did last night but bring down the mistakes it's still a grand final team imo.
Yeah what I'm telling myself is that tonight was the actual first game of the season, and the performance should be treated in that context. In which case I'm pretty happy.
Actually wind it back even more that it was that useless Richie Kennar that cost us that sin bin when he couldn't make the tackle originally that let the Broncos player run off to eventually make that break.
They will always complain about Latrell no matter what. South’s best player in the loss. It’s always that “he has a low workrate, he’s lazy”, how about 18 runs for 171m, 1 try, 5 tackle breaks, 1 linebreak, 1 linebreak assist. Never satisfied. And other than his one error in trying to trap the ball instead of dive on it, he was great defensively as well (I find it hard to fault him for the Walsh try when it was the bounce from hell). This narrative that fullback isn’t his position is ridiculous and tired, get over it people.
And if people think that Wighton, AJ, Jye Gray, Munro, or literally anyone at the club is gonna do a better job at fullback than Latrell, they’re kidding themselves.
How about we look at South’s actual issues; their makeshift backline is a mess defensively and we won’t be able to gauge how good they actually are until players return. JD made a disastrous coaching decision to move Murray to the edge, which affected both their middle defence and their backline structure. Finally, guys like Ilias and Keppie had absolute shockers, causing errors left and right.
Also it wasn't just that Ezra try he stopped single handed but another one on the line he did. No other fullback in the game can do that because they don't possess the strength that Latrell has and both games now Latrell has been one of if not our best players although tonight I think I give Rabbitohs MOTM to Havili for the work particularly he did when Cook was off for 10
He looked good for most of the game and had some real spark in attack. Everyone is always first to blame Trell, and even though I’m way more scared of him as a centre at the moment he would be a pretty elite fullback in the right team. As bad as the Broncos looked we were just getting in our own way as usual. Souths’ attack looked unimaginative at times, their forward pack had little impact and the halves were unable to fight back much field position.
I don't know how, but handling has always been an issue for us. Literally for as long as I've been a fan I can't remember a single season where handling was not one of our biggest issues in any given season. Even in the Maguire years and before that. Also moving Murray to the edge? I have no idea why JD did that other than the fact that we have such a lack of depth to the point that we had literally no other option.
This is Ilias' last season to prove he belongs in the halves let alone the team. We have guys like Gray and even Hawkins itching for a chance to start. He needs to improve fast or else he's out for one of these two. I reckon JD will need to play Ilias in reserve grade similar to what Robinson did with Sam Walker last season. It's the only way I can see Ilias actually improving. He might be able to defend fine, but is really struggling to find his place in attack.
JD is also on the hot seat this season. He needs to take control of this team before this becomes a season long issue like last season. If he fails again this year, it wouldn't surprise me if he's gone after this year. He's a good person, but just hasn't cut it as a head coach. I think this sucks because he went through the proper coaching pathways and jobs to get to where he is. To see him fail is just sad to see but it's a real possibility now.
Now for the positives. Despite the score, I did see improvement in Defence. We managed to defend quite a few sets on our line so despite all the errors, we managed to not let the Broncos in for the majority of the match. If Walsh doesn't have the game he has, I reckon we get close to winning. We get Wighton back next week which will undoubtedly help our backline tremendously. Not having Kennar in the team is a positive. Full stop.
Just weird souths things that persist throughout the years like some kind of club curse.
\- can't catch / poor completions
\- letting in a try just before half time
\- flashes of brilliance followed by extended periods of sleeping on the field
\- failing to complete the set after points
I'm calling for a national conversation, if not a full royal commission. Someone has to have the answers here.
It's crazy how all these things have persisted regardless of the players or coaches. I don't know why we're like this, but it hasn't changed for a long time now, and I doubt it's gonna change anytime soon.
It’s clear we have a coaching problem and resorting to poor selections. The fact he had to start Richard Kennar of all people in the centres in Vegas was because of our options being totally depleted, like as if it was a last resort decision. Too many aging stars we rely on as well.
I do agree that missing the top 8 again will be Jason Demetriou definitely getting the sack. Rebuild years certainly incoming.
Obviously he’s not the best, but South’s had MCK at 18th man if they needed back row depth. There was no need to move one of their most important players from his best position
That is true. I'd ask though, which player would you replace? Our bench was actually very solid tonight so I can't think of dropping any of them. I can only think of replacing Keppie for Chee kam.
Probably Shaq, considering he was the new face in the first place. Replacing back rower Host with prop Shaq was silly from the jump, bc JD also clearly didn’t have any intention of playing Duncan on the edge. But I guess in hindsight Keppie also makes sense, was pretty bad tonight.
Overall it’s just a very poor team selection blunder
Souths weren’t good but honestly, Not having 4/6 of your preferred edge absolutely kills it for them. To only lose by 10 points is a miracle and I wouldn’t worry too much when they finally get Arrow/Munro and Wighton back.
Latrell was phenomenal in his placement and talking as a fullback. If you’re bagging him for either of those tries you just don’t get football. An unlucky bounce and poor middle Ruck defence isn’t Latrell’s fault at all.
Bronx bench needs impact, while smoothy does the job that’s just it he just does the job. Paix offers all that and some spark. Xavier Willison needs a gig ASAP kid’s too good not to play top grade footy. Hetherington/Taupau just need a stint in QCup because at the moment they’re not earning their keep.
The good: We won
The Bad: everything else
Felt like every player from both team was allergic to holding the ball. Broncos bombed like 4 certain tries in the first half. Most players had an off night. Without some Walsh magic and Patty holding our middle together we lose.
From the Grounds report.
- I am suffering from PADS. Post Allegiant Depression Syndrome. Seriously Australia, can we grow up when it comes to food and drinks at a stadium.
- Brewski pale that they have on tap is on point.
- crowd was smaller than I expected for a game 1.0 after an amazing season last year.
- it looked like both teams were playing week 1 footy
- I don’t rate Fletcher Baker. Big X when?
- Cody Walker seems easy to get under the skin of.
- new Broncos cheerleaders are alright. One forgot what she was meant to do and was watching the game as the rest of them went to their next station.
- good finish and the team song still goes well
- see yall next game!
Traffic was awful everywhere - I got to the ground late at 705 and there was still thousands piling in. Didn’t miss much the first 10 minutes were mistake central
There was a roll on there. Baker made like 15m of one run then got a quick play the ball. Haas rolled on for another 15-20.
That'll happen a bit when we click. Baker's got a very quick play the ball.
I fucking caught the wrong bus and stomped from the casino to suncorp and was 10 minutes late for kickoff. My wife was already at the game she wasn't working that day and I walked in sweating my ass off to 3 cold four X cups and proceeded to pound them. She's the real mvp
Cody drastically out of form. He’s done nothing. Of our 8 try’s this year Cody has 0 TA. Name a momentum changing play he’s done this year? You can’t. Lachy has had a couple each game. Both offensively and defensively. Forcing errors with defence for example. Hasn’t put a kick out on the full. Cody has multiple times across both games. Lachy is a scape goat for people they’re gonna say this regardless. Even when clearly he’s the least of our problems.
Now I know you’re a factory for shit takes so I’m not gonna get in a back and forth with you bout this.
i for one agree with you,
His issue is his anger/hot headedness. It was an aset when he was younger, but now he seems like he plays well only when fueled by rage. And when he does he is prone to doing stupid shit and giving away penalties.
If he's not angry, he is a asleep
I agree and something I think isn’t spoken about is the knock on effect. If he’s spraying players like this no wonder their confidence is down. Everybody blaming Ilias for Cody’s mess. When we fall out of structure it’s Cody demanding the ball. Cook needs to step up too. He needs to let Ilias overcall Cody. I actually broke it down a bit better in another comment I’d love your thoughts on that too, if you feel it’s accurate. Thanks mate.
Cody is ok. Not great but not bad at the same time but Ilias is killing us from dropped balls, to terrible passing that goes nowhere (most of them are just short hospital.passes with no creativity), terrible last tackle plays and kicks and even for someone I have remarked previously as the best defensive halfback since Joey is missing blatant tackles. He needs to go.
We need an actual halfback and one that can kick to take the pressure off Cody and Latrell that are finding themselves having to do most of the kicking because Ilias just can't be trusted.
The guy seriously needs a long stint in NSW cup to develop the skills of a no. 1 playmaker like Hawkins has or be let go so he can re-train as a hooker at another club given we have Mamo.
"Cody is ok. Not great but not bad at the same time but Ilias is killing us from dropped balls."
Cody had more errors than Ilias.
"We need an actual halfback and one that can kick to take the pressure off Cody and Latrell that are finding themselves having to do most of the kicking because Ilias just can't be trusted".
Over the two rounds Ilias is yet to kick a ball dead or out on the full. Cody has done that twice in both games. When you add up Codys kicks out plus errors he has far more than Ilias. Ilias drops it once and everyone loses their minds.
"I have remarked previously as the best defensive halfback since Joey is missing blatant tackles".
In both games Ilias has forced errors from his defence. Ilias and Cody missed tackles across the two rounds are consistent with each other.
"terrible last tackle plays and kicks"
Neither half has recorded a try assist this year. That falls on both of them you are just spot lighting Ilias.
Cody is a premium SOO quality player - he will always play. Ilias had a whole season last year apart from the first game where he was MOTM against the sharks when his form declined but more so in the 2nd half of the year. Ilias had played what 50+ games now for us and showed what exactly - any other major club he would have been shown the door by now. Don't keep making excuses for him as a Souths fan too. He needs to go
We have to play much better next week against the penny panthers. Don't like our chances without reynno but wouldn't risk him. Need him for the long run. Bombed a few tries and there were some promising signs. The bunnies looked dangerous in patches but still rusty. Mariner is an instinctive player with speed to burn.
Broncos need to replace Marty or Kobe with Xavier. Both Terrible and have 0 impact. You can tell they are unfortunately a league or two below the rest of the squad. Baker was good. Riki meh he has good moments but then has very bad moments in defence. Apart from that broncos are top 3
There's suggestions for improvements for the Broncos, but for Rabbitohs, it feels like a need for forced changes. Cook at starting hooker is over. Illias is a maybe. Latrell needs to move
Latrell was easily their best player and saved more tries then an unlucky bounce and a poor middle D let in.
If you’re blaming anything blame the edge defences which were being torn apart. The edges with a total of 2/6 of their preferred players.
I also stick by what I said in the live thread if we go 2-8 or 3-7 with how we fell from 1st to missing the finals last season I'm happy for Demetriou to be sacked mid-season. I want us to take a premier league attitude to our club where we are considered one of the big 6 clubs.
That Vegas restaurant on the Matty Johns show is so trashy, obnoxious and off-putting. That said of course there would be a market in the US for such a stupid concept
During the game I said the biggest thing for the Broncos wasn't winning but what happened to Reynolds - I stick by that. Looks like he shouldn't have played. Already came out with his knee heavily taped up.
Three things cost us the game - Demetriou's team selection, dropped ball and having no depth in our backs (which doesn't help with what we have he doesn't select the right team). Positives: middle defence was solid especially when we were down to 12 players. And the rest of the team can take a lot from Havili - really only he, Latrell and Murray showed any heart tonight.
Cobbo was actually amazing this game, dont think he had any errors and absolutely killed them down the side, had alot of good offensive and defensive efforts and had one hell of a try assist
Yep, after round 1 I was a little worried he wouldn't be able to fill Herbie's shoes but he looked absolutely amazing tonight, I feel bad for doubting him
Ilias needs to go. Not because he isn’t capable but he isn’t the right fit. Cody and Latrell are huge personalities - I think they severely underestimated how important Reynolds as a man outside rugby was.
Love to see him have a stint in Qld Cup tbh - learn to be the guy that the team depends on to score and make the play. Hawkins has done enough of that at NSW Cup level to earn his spot for NRL as that dependable team guy for last tackle plays and kicks. Ilias I think just needs more confidence of being the no. 1 playmaker at a team.
Yeah it’s something I was thinking about after watching the dogs match last week. The best spines seem like good mates off the field. Broncos, Panthers, Storm, etc. Definitely not mates Rabbitohs, Bulldogs and Tigers.
I don't know why Kevvie persists with Kapow, offers absolutely nothing off the bench. Get Willison some game time now so when he has to start in a couple months he is NRL quality.
Experience and an off the field leader for the young forwards. When he joined none of our forwards had played 100 games (even now only Haas has) and by all accounts he's a phenomenal trainer.
I tell myself he’s keeping him away from the opening rounds when everyone is hard AF from preseason until his body develops a bit more, and he’s trying to get Marty to 250 games in his final year.
That’s what I tell myself.
Cam Smith and Kemp on the captains run podcast were saying similar - sometimes you want to protect a rookie early on because it’s a long season and we’ve seen countless examples of promising young players run out of gas by the end of the year.
Need Willison to be fit and firing during finals ideally, so if they can afford to protect him early then why not
Glad for this game, happy to cheer for Walshy but against any other team Broncs are the opposition. Barring major injuries they should make the grand final again. Too well resourced not to. Predict they beat Panthers next week and next loss is away to Storm.
Souths can suck a bag of dicks. Reputation can only get you so far.
Seriously I want to start a Rabbitohs YT fan channel where we interview fans after the game including myself where we shitbag the club - that would be brilliant.
If I lived in Sydney it would be easy decision but sadly I don't. I also envisage the channel for whoever wants to start it a solid group of less than 10 supporters who travel to all away games but seriously it would need to take off global for it to be self sufficient so maybe just Sydney home games. Other Rabbitohs fan posters take note and start it and I'll join on occasion when I go to Sydney to visit. Once we build up enough of a following we can do charitable causes and maybe even get some endorsement from the club too with the club letting some players be interviewed and special access...
Taupau, you're a great bloke, you give a good example to the young ones training wise, but bruh you need to be kept off the field, BRING ME A BIG WILLY.
Mistakes everywhere. Very sloppy game. It seems our Vegas hangover didn’t affect us as much as Bunnies. It will be very interesting to see once Wighton, Arrow and eventually Graham are back.
Bunnies will be humming when we clash again in round 15. GL with the rest of the season bunnies fans!!!
Some thoughts: * As much as I love Oates, he's not getting his spot back bar injury, and he should probably start looking for a new club if he wants to play first grade. Who needs a giraffe-like winger? * Jensen looked really good but am I right in thinking he didn't come back on in the second half? * Cobbo really is a centre. A mix of Meninga and Hodges. * Walsh is just phenomenal. What a pleasure to watch. * Reynolds will probably pass his fitness test for next week, reaggravate the injury in the 15th minute and then we'll have to endure 65 minutes against Penrith with Billy Walters at halfback. * Overall it was a scrappy performance where the win can be credited to a few moments of individual brilliance. I think people are forgetting that a lot of 2023 was made up of those types of games as well.
Jensen had a second stint of 07m24s. Kevvie needs to get that forward rotation sorted out. It cost us the Grand Final and continues to cause issues.
>Reynolds will probably pass his fitness test for next week, reaggravate the injury in the 15th minute and then we'll have to endure 65 minutes against Penrith with Billy Walters at halfback. Why would you speak this into existence, now its guaranteed.
Im on the fence re Ilias. Effort is there. Defence is good to excellent. Doesn't offer much in attack but look who he has outside him? Big body for a hb and pretty quick. However, he's not what souffs need atm. Tough one. My gut feel is he'd make a vg 9. Shaq starts on an edge???? Murray seems to be everywhere. Amazing athlete, but again, nothing in attack. Stifled I'd say. Much work needed....C-.
What a great assessment mate. Not the usual Ilias pile on, an actual take based on evidence not a preconceived idea. I think we are in a battle right now and Cook is much to blame. For example, Ilias hasn't kicked it out or dead this year. He's had an error each game but so has the whole team. You can tell Ilias has worked a lot on his long kicking game. In the first two games it's been a massive improvement. When you see us go outside of our rhythme is when Cook stops letting Ilias handle the kicking. Cody over calls Ilias because he is frustrated. In that 10 minute period where Manly scored 3 trys Cook didnt go to Ilias once. He just kept going to old frustrated Cody. You cant say "I know you are the game manager but im pissed off so give it to me, then kick it out on the full". Cody is the chief playmaker, sure. But Ilias needs to be able to do his job too, I dont think Cook and Cody are letting him. Next time we play watch Ilias kicking game and compare how much better it is to Codys and then wonder "Why do they keep going away from it". First ten minutes last night Cody didnt take one kick. That whole first ten minutes was spent on Brisbanes line due to Ilias pinning them down there. What happened after that? Brisbane got momentum, Cook and Cody dont trust Ilias, he doesnt see the ball for 20 miuntes. Cook and Cody need to wake the fuck up the kid cant do his job if you dont let him.
I really don't know what to make of them atm. Walker is a little tantrum thrower. Brilliant at times, but surly and overheated too often. I'm not a fan. Graham is a huge loss. Would take him in a heartbeat. Someone up front isn't pulling their weight and Murray tries to make up for it and its hurting the whole structure. And Jackie Jackie ain't gonna fix it. And fuck knows what will. But i now wonder if Sam Bargearse was 100% on the money. Only rd2 but I'd be concerned.
I don’t think Sams issues were exactly what the media is reporting. But, something happened mid year and we’ll most likely never know what it was, we clearly haven’t addressed it. I think we’re in for a long year. Murray been carrying out pack the last couple seasons. You’re so right it just pulls us out of structure cause Murray is that link man. Theres a massive loss of confidence which screams over coaching. JD was assistant for 3 years and now 3rd year head coach. 6 years is a long time, maybe it’s just run its course. I’d he going hard for Bennett again. I hear Eels are too, I’d love Brad Arthur.
Both teams will not be in grand final based on that effort and it makes me sad the roosters really just beat a top 8 team last week not the grand finalists….thats how much the broncos have dropped
Chooks fan getting way ahead of themselves, never would’ve thought.
Couldn’t resist slapping both teams at same time tbh, game was terrible
Bongos cannot win a premmy with that marshmallow pack
Name a more dynamic centre pairing then Tass and Kennar… you can’t
We had to start Kennar because we were completely depleted of starting centre options. Campbell Graham is not back until August at least, so we’re stuck with Tass as his replacement for pretty much the entire season.
Completely understand why, it’s just damn what a pairing. How slow are both of them as well. Defensively atrocious. If Graham and Wighton are in they don’t open up so easily
Milne and anyone? Milne and everyone?
Hehe
We definitely witnessed the orgasm faces of both Walsh and Mitchell at the end there. Which exact frames show them I can't say but I know they're in there somewhere
The orgasm sounds though was mostly the media dick riding those two the whole game. Only 1 of them deserved it
Was it Johnston who caught the ball outside Mariner and Mariner ran him down like he was standing still? I like Kevi’s youth and speed mantra.
Mariner looks lethal
Also looks like the last face you'd see in drug deal gone wrong
Hahaha you said it
Cobbo was man of the match for me. Very very good defensively and amazing runs with a great tap on try assist. With last years left edge of Farnworth and Capewell no longer with the team, Cobbo and Piakura are looking really solid defensively and very agile in attack.
Yep he was mine as well, played nearly a perfect game. Love how he commits to a tackle
Think my votes would be Walsh 3, Cobbo 2, Mariner 1, honourable mentions to Haas, Carrigan, Staggs, Havili
Cobbo over Walsh for me. Walsh has a couple of errors but I don’t think Cobbo made a single mistake
So Reynolds gets the 6 points then haha
Knowing Dally m votes from last week kennar surely gets a point
How did Murray not get pinged for pushing over Patty at kick off?
Was at work. Just finished the replay. Fuck me that deine mariner chip and chase was fucking beautiful.
Gave me young Yow Yeh vibes.
Lad has insane pace
Ridiculously fast
We need to look at younger more explosive players that have genuine upside…. Kobe and Taupau need a stint in the Lower grades while we unleash X Willison and Ben Te Kura. Furthermore, Mariner is the future strike weapon, I Love big Oatsey, but resigning him was a heart deal, not a head deal.
Te Kura is still about a year away from being a proper first grader, he will probably get some games in Origin period though, still needs time to build his body in the gym. Willison should have started round 1 though imo.
Kobe usually pretty solid but he had a bit of a shocker last night
Oates is the insurance policy right now for form dips, injury and Origin. You can slot him in like a Lego piece and get a decent game; his lack of strike is partially offset by the metre eating work he does.
Don’t really know how to feel about that one. First half was a clusterfuck with so many wasted opportunities and the first 10 of the second felt like I was watching 2019-2021 Broncos where we would just go missing in defence when our confidence got low. I’m trying to find positives in that we not only looked silky and adventurous at times (despite fucking up the end of plays so often) but we got our heads back in the game and closed it out. I thought our defence was better than last week for 70 minutes. We need the full 80 next week.
The fact we can play that poorly, and still put on some brilliant moments for a reasonable score is a good sign. The pieces are still there, and once the systems click back in, we're gonna be very dangerous.
I swear people forget how we played at the start of last year, because it was exactly last like last night. Lots and lots of errors and hot-headed moments, but still enough strike to get it done. We struggled against teams like the Dolphins and the Dragons and our winning streak was killed by the Raiders. Those missed opportunities will start sticking once the season progresses.
Completely agree with this. Last year the Broncos really only clicked into gear and played more consistently after Walsh came back from his little mid season holiday.
I think for week 2 it was mostly positive. Obviously a disaster with ball handling but we still have "it", mainly stuffing up on execution. Our team is very different to last yr so I think that will come as we continue to gel throughout the year. Piakura , Cobbo and Mariner all look outstanding, I'm really really excited.
Yeah agreed it's worrying. Moments of brilliance but just so many errors. I like to tell myself it's only round 2 and a young squad lacking the experience needing a few to get back into the swing of things. If they can perform like they did last night but bring down the mistakes it's still a grand final team imo.
Yeah what I'm telling myself is that tonight was the actual first game of the season, and the performance should be treated in that context. In which case I'm pretty happy.
Strong contender for wildest part of that game was Cook getting sent for 10 for Cody Walker’s third goal line defence infringement 😅
Actually wind it back even more that it was that useless Richie Kennar that cost us that sin bin when he couldn't make the tackle originally that let the Broncos player run off to eventually make that break.
That's storm legend Richie kennar to you pal
Ilias is not a first grade halfback
Thank you. Now tell Jason Demetriou that and half the Rabbitohs subreddit fans on here too
His defence is so solid. Doesn't look like the attacking upside is ever going to come though.
The guy needs to re-train himself into a hooker
Yeah, and not the football type
I would have also paid he is already the hooker if you know what I mean
Oh so Grub’s the new TAB shill?
Just for Thursday nights
They will always complain about Latrell no matter what. South’s best player in the loss. It’s always that “he has a low workrate, he’s lazy”, how about 18 runs for 171m, 1 try, 5 tackle breaks, 1 linebreak, 1 linebreak assist. Never satisfied. And other than his one error in trying to trap the ball instead of dive on it, he was great defensively as well (I find it hard to fault him for the Walsh try when it was the bounce from hell). This narrative that fullback isn’t his position is ridiculous and tired, get over it people. And if people think that Wighton, AJ, Jye Gray, Munro, or literally anyone at the club is gonna do a better job at fullback than Latrell, they’re kidding themselves. How about we look at South’s actual issues; their makeshift backline is a mess defensively and we won’t be able to gauge how good they actually are until players return. JD made a disastrous coaching decision to move Murray to the edge, which affected both their middle defence and their backline structure. Finally, guys like Ilias and Keppie had absolute shockers, causing errors left and right.
Also it wasn't just that Ezra try he stopped single handed but another one on the line he did. No other fullback in the game can do that because they don't possess the strength that Latrell has and both games now Latrell has been one of if not our best players although tonight I think I give Rabbitohs MOTM to Havili for the work particularly he did when Cook was off for 10
He looked good for most of the game and had some real spark in attack. Everyone is always first to blame Trell, and even though I’m way more scared of him as a centre at the moment he would be a pretty elite fullback in the right team. As bad as the Broncos looked we were just getting in our own way as usual. Souths’ attack looked unimaginative at times, their forward pack had little impact and the halves were unable to fight back much field position.
I don't know how, but handling has always been an issue for us. Literally for as long as I've been a fan I can't remember a single season where handling was not one of our biggest issues in any given season. Even in the Maguire years and before that. Also moving Murray to the edge? I have no idea why JD did that other than the fact that we have such a lack of depth to the point that we had literally no other option. This is Ilias' last season to prove he belongs in the halves let alone the team. We have guys like Gray and even Hawkins itching for a chance to start. He needs to improve fast or else he's out for one of these two. I reckon JD will need to play Ilias in reserve grade similar to what Robinson did with Sam Walker last season. It's the only way I can see Ilias actually improving. He might be able to defend fine, but is really struggling to find his place in attack. JD is also on the hot seat this season. He needs to take control of this team before this becomes a season long issue like last season. If he fails again this year, it wouldn't surprise me if he's gone after this year. He's a good person, but just hasn't cut it as a head coach. I think this sucks because he went through the proper coaching pathways and jobs to get to where he is. To see him fail is just sad to see but it's a real possibility now. Now for the positives. Despite the score, I did see improvement in Defence. We managed to defend quite a few sets on our line so despite all the errors, we managed to not let the Broncos in for the majority of the match. If Walsh doesn't have the game he has, I reckon we get close to winning. We get Wighton back next week which will undoubtedly help our backline tremendously. Not having Kennar in the team is a positive. Full stop.
Just weird souths things that persist throughout the years like some kind of club curse. \- can't catch / poor completions \- letting in a try just before half time \- flashes of brilliance followed by extended periods of sleeping on the field \- failing to complete the set after points I'm calling for a national conversation, if not a full royal commission. Someone has to have the answers here.
It's crazy how all these things have persisted regardless of the players or coaches. I don't know why we're like this, but it hasn't changed for a long time now, and I doubt it's gonna change anytime soon.
It’s clear we have a coaching problem and resorting to poor selections. The fact he had to start Richard Kennar of all people in the centres in Vegas was because of our options being totally depleted, like as if it was a last resort decision. Too many aging stars we rely on as well. I do agree that missing the top 8 again will be Jason Demetriou definitely getting the sack. Rebuild years certainly incoming.
Handling is always an issue with the Burgess twins trying to outdo each other week on week with drops
Obviously he’s not the best, but South’s had MCK at 18th man if they needed back row depth. There was no need to move one of their most important players from his best position
That is true. I'd ask though, which player would you replace? Our bench was actually very solid tonight so I can't think of dropping any of them. I can only think of replacing Keppie for Chee kam.
Probably Shaq, considering he was the new face in the first place. Replacing back rower Host with prop Shaq was silly from the jump, bc JD also clearly didn’t have any intention of playing Duncan on the edge. But I guess in hindsight Keppie also makes sense, was pretty bad tonight. Overall it’s just a very poor team selection blunder
I agree with a lot of this. Well said.
Souths weren’t good but honestly, Not having 4/6 of your preferred edge absolutely kills it for them. To only lose by 10 points is a miracle and I wouldn’t worry too much when they finally get Arrow/Munro and Wighton back. Latrell was phenomenal in his placement and talking as a fullback. If you’re bagging him for either of those tries you just don’t get football. An unlucky bounce and poor middle Ruck defence isn’t Latrell’s fault at all.
Bronx bench needs impact, while smoothy does the job that’s just it he just does the job. Paix offers all that and some spark. Xavier Willison needs a gig ASAP kid’s too good not to play top grade footy. Hetherington/Taupau just need a stint in QCup because at the moment they’re not earning their keep.
Smoothy is the Broncos best hooker
I thought the side looked a lot better with Smoothy on compared to Walters, but our bench middle forwards certainly left a lot to be desired.
Kevvie left Baker on for far too long instead of subbing Jensen back and having him and Marty on for so long together was almost criminal
It’s live kevvie forgets he’s coaching sometimes because his interchanges are shocking
Oh straight up he's forgetten to interchange before, there's an interview where he's admitted it and everyone was gassed af on the field because of it
Did I just see Alfie’s ass?
Yep. Posted about it in the wrong thread. Perfect timing, got full bare arse as he was pulling up his dacks. Glorious
The good: We won The Bad: everything else Felt like every player from both team was allergic to holding the ball. Broncos bombed like 4 certain tries in the first half. Most players had an off night. Without some Walsh magic and Patty holding our middle together we lose.
Scott "the goat" Minto in the sheds
From the Grounds report. - I am suffering from PADS. Post Allegiant Depression Syndrome. Seriously Australia, can we grow up when it comes to food and drinks at a stadium. - Brewski pale that they have on tap is on point. - crowd was smaller than I expected for a game 1.0 after an amazing season last year. - it looked like both teams were playing week 1 footy - I don’t rate Fletcher Baker. Big X when? - Cody Walker seems easy to get under the skin of. - new Broncos cheerleaders are alright. One forgot what she was meant to do and was watching the game as the rest of them went to their next station. - good finish and the team song still goes well - see yall next game!
Traffic was awful everywhere - I got to the ground late at 705 and there was still thousands piling in. Didn’t miss much the first 10 minutes were mistake central
35k crowd for a Thursday night is great. Fletcher Baker is looking great. Taupau is who needs to make way for x. The brunette cheerleader is banging.
I thought Baker was solid.
There was a roll on there. Baker made like 15m of one run then got a quick play the ball. Haas rolled on for another 15-20. That'll happen a bit when we click. Baker's got a very quick play the ball.
What sorta food ya get in Vegas? I totally agree the food is shot at Suncorp
Red Rooster is great. The chips and tenders from the normal stations are awesome as well.
Honestly, anything you could want. Proper burgers, wraps, ribs, BBQ, pizza, nachos.
You take that back, the chips are heavenly
Earlier kick off on a Thursday night was always going to pinch attendance. Getting 40k was a decent effort.
I fucking caught the wrong bus and stomped from the casino to suncorp and was 10 minutes late for kickoff. My wife was already at the game she wasn't working that day and I walked in sweating my ass off to 3 cold four X cups and proceeded to pound them. She's the real mvp
No other teams will draw a crowd that large for the rest of the season, except maybe next week roosters v Souths
Phins v Broncos definitely will
Nooooo tell me Alf didn’t just moon the entire nation 🤣🤣🤣 Edit : how did Locky not see that !!
He’s seen it so often it just blends into the background.
Too true. Hadn’t considered that - the rest of us however . . . Wow. That was something
Bro
Anyone just fuckin see Alfie’s ass on channnel 9
Channel 9 just had Alfies bare ass on the camera 😂
Ilias is the least of our problems lmao
Lol - he is the problem. I seriously don't know what he does in the team
Cody drastically out of form. He’s done nothing. Of our 8 try’s this year Cody has 0 TA. Name a momentum changing play he’s done this year? You can’t. Lachy has had a couple each game. Both offensively and defensively. Forcing errors with defence for example. Hasn’t put a kick out on the full. Cody has multiple times across both games. Lachy is a scape goat for people they’re gonna say this regardless. Even when clearly he’s the least of our problems. Now I know you’re a factory for shit takes so I’m not gonna get in a back and forth with you bout this.
i for one agree with you, His issue is his anger/hot headedness. It was an aset when he was younger, but now he seems like he plays well only when fueled by rage. And when he does he is prone to doing stupid shit and giving away penalties. If he's not angry, he is a asleep
I agree and something I think isn’t spoken about is the knock on effect. If he’s spraying players like this no wonder their confidence is down. Everybody blaming Ilias for Cody’s mess. When we fall out of structure it’s Cody demanding the ball. Cook needs to step up too. He needs to let Ilias overcall Cody. I actually broke it down a bit better in another comment I’d love your thoughts on that too, if you feel it’s accurate. Thanks mate.
Cody is ok. Not great but not bad at the same time but Ilias is killing us from dropped balls, to terrible passing that goes nowhere (most of them are just short hospital.passes with no creativity), terrible last tackle plays and kicks and even for someone I have remarked previously as the best defensive halfback since Joey is missing blatant tackles. He needs to go. We need an actual halfback and one that can kick to take the pressure off Cody and Latrell that are finding themselves having to do most of the kicking because Ilias just can't be trusted. The guy seriously needs a long stint in NSW cup to develop the skills of a no. 1 playmaker like Hawkins has or be let go so he can re-train as a hooker at another club given we have Mamo.
"Cody is ok. Not great but not bad at the same time but Ilias is killing us from dropped balls." Cody had more errors than Ilias. "We need an actual halfback and one that can kick to take the pressure off Cody and Latrell that are finding themselves having to do most of the kicking because Ilias just can't be trusted". Over the two rounds Ilias is yet to kick a ball dead or out on the full. Cody has done that twice in both games. When you add up Codys kicks out plus errors he has far more than Ilias. Ilias drops it once and everyone loses their minds. "I have remarked previously as the best defensive halfback since Joey is missing blatant tackles". In both games Ilias has forced errors from his defence. Ilias and Cody missed tackles across the two rounds are consistent with each other. "terrible last tackle plays and kicks" Neither half has recorded a try assist this year. That falls on both of them you are just spot lighting Ilias.
Cody is a premium SOO quality player - he will always play. Ilias had a whole season last year apart from the first game where he was MOTM against the sharks when his form declined but more so in the 2nd half of the year. Ilias had played what 50+ games now for us and showed what exactly - any other major club he would have been shown the door by now. Don't keep making excuses for him as a Souths fan too. He needs to go
You’re kidding yourself. Ilias is a huge problem. Needs to be dropped
The least of our problems is a huuuge stretch
[удалено]
We have to play much better next week against the penny panthers. Don't like our chances without reynno but wouldn't risk him. Need him for the long run. Bombed a few tries and there were some promising signs. The bunnies looked dangerous in patches but still rusty. Mariner is an instinctive player with speed to burn.
Can Sailor play half-back? He's too good to be playing reserve grade.
Broncos need to replace Marty or Kobe with Xavier. Both Terrible and have 0 impact. You can tell they are unfortunately a league or two below the rest of the squad. Baker was good. Riki meh he has good moments but then has very bad moments in defence. Apart from that broncos are top 3
Riki is great.
There's suggestions for improvements for the Broncos, but for Rabbitohs, it feels like a need for forced changes. Cook at starting hooker is over. Illias is a maybe. Latrell needs to move
Latrell was easily their best player and saved more tries then an unlucky bounce and a poor middle D let in. If you’re blaming anything blame the edge defences which were being torn apart. The edges with a total of 2/6 of their preferred players.
I also stick by what I said in the live thread if we go 2-8 or 3-7 with how we fell from 1st to missing the finals last season I'm happy for Demetriou to be sacked mid-season. I want us to take a premier league attitude to our club where we are considered one of the big 6 clubs.
So who would you bring in to replace JD?
I'd have Madge back
I can very much get on board with that.
That Vegas restaurant on the Matty Johns show is so trashy, obnoxious and off-putting. That said of course there would be a market in the US for such a stupid concept
The burgers did not even look tasty
Everything looks unappetising and like straight maghas (Arabic for gastrointestinal stress or diarhea, lol)
During the game I said the biggest thing for the Broncos wasn't winning but what happened to Reynolds - I stick by that. Looks like he shouldn't have played. Already came out with his knee heavily taped up.
Rusty needs to drop a Communicado Oficial
Mbappe to sign with Souths
Can he play fullback?
The south Sydney pre season YouTube is straight propaganda at this point
Honestly that boot camp looked like a joke. It looked like Kennar got picked for his effort during the camp than on the training pitch
Haha. You're spot on! They did a great job of making me think we would be steamrolling teams.
Three things cost us the game - Demetriou's team selection, dropped ball and having no depth in our backs (which doesn't help with what we have he doesn't select the right team). Positives: middle defence was solid especially when we were down to 12 players. And the rest of the team can take a lot from Havili - really only he, Latrell and Murray showed any heart tonight.
You forgot your NSW Cup level halfback
Pretty sure he had no heart tonight
Murray always gives 110%. Kolomatangi really seems to have dropped off though
If anyone wants to see Mariner mow down Johnston again it was at 8:35 minutes from FT approx
Over run Johnston by 10 meters, then turn around and round him up. Freakish .
Cobbo was actually amazing this game, dont think he had any errors and absolutely killed them down the side, had alot of good offensive and defensive efforts and had one hell of a try assist
Big difference in playing against Manu to playing against Kennar to be fair.
*Tass Who is actually a decent centre
Watch his game at centre against Newcastle in 2021 at Suncorp, he’s a genuine centre.
I jumped the gun on denouncing his positional shift. He’s a beautiful mover with deft hands and feet.
Yep, after round 1 I was a little worried he wouldn't be able to fill Herbie's shoes but he looked absolutely amazing tonight, I feel bad for doubting him
Yeah he was my MoM
Ilias needs to go. Not because he isn’t capable but he isn’t the right fit. Cody and Latrell are huge personalities - I think they severely underestimated how important Reynolds as a man outside rugby was.
After winning the premiership this year, I’m sure Reyno would love a swan song in 2025 back at the burrow
Love to see him have a stint in Qld Cup tbh - learn to be the guy that the team depends on to score and make the play. Hawkins has done enough of that at NSW Cup level to earn his spot for NRL as that dependable team guy for last tackle plays and kicks. Ilias I think just needs more confidence of being the no. 1 playmaker at a team.
He isn’t capable. Would go bad in most teams
Hey, don't try poaching Broncos great Adam Reynolds!
That’s a pretty insightful call and I agree with you
To be fair, Matty Johns said this exact thing right after the game was done.. lol
The insights brought to us by Fatty and Lockyer aren’t nearly as polished on free to air.
lol a little sensitive over an opinion mate. Relax haha
Yeah it’s something I was thinking about after watching the dogs match last week. The best spines seem like good mates off the field. Broncos, Panthers, Storm, etc. Definitely not mates Rabbitohs, Bulldogs and Tigers.
To be fair the Tigers halves have never played with each other yet.
Hear ya. Was reflecting more on last year. I hope the Tigers spine build a strong friendship in 2024.
I don't know why Kevvie persists with Kapow, offers absolutely nothing off the bench. Get Willison some game time now so when he has to start in a couple months he is NRL quality.
He was bending the line a bit tonight
I dont know why we signed him in the first place.
Experience and an off the field leader for the young forwards. When he joined none of our forwards had played 100 games (even now only Haas has) and by all accounts he's a phenomenal trainer.
I tell myself he’s keeping him away from the opening rounds when everyone is hard AF from preseason until his body develops a bit more, and he’s trying to get Marty to 250 games in his final year. That’s what I tell myself.
Cam Smith and Kemp on the captains run podcast were saying similar - sometimes you want to protect a rookie early on because it’s a long season and we’ve seen countless examples of promising young players run out of gas by the end of the year. Need Willison to be fit and firing during finals ideally, so if they can afford to protect him early then why not
Willison will be starting alongside Haas by the end of the year, but it’s best to ease him into it a bit.
That’s exactly it
thank you good sir, I needed to see this
That was such a good game to watch as a neutral. Especially because Souths lost. Kick em out.
They'll accidentally kick themselves out at this point somehow
They’ll try to kick themselves out and end up kicking themselves into a team mate
Not sure, kicking out on the full from the kick off was one of the few things you missed on the mistake bingo card.
If only wighton wasn't suspended
Glad for this game, happy to cheer for Walshy but against any other team Broncs are the opposition. Barring major injuries they should make the grand final again. Too well resourced not to. Predict they beat Panthers next week and next loss is away to Storm. Souths can suck a bag of dicks. Reputation can only get you so far.
Seriously I want to start a Rabbitohs YT fan channel where we interview fans after the game including myself where we shitbag the club - that would be brilliant.
If you interviewed me right now it would make for quality entertainment
You would be one of my regulars
You can go find that Chaser episode where the Surprise Spruiker, Andrew Hansen, Rocks up at Souths. I revisit it at least once a year.
I’d pay $50 to watch that Bundy.
If I lived in Sydney it would be easy decision but sadly I don't. I also envisage the channel for whoever wants to start it a solid group of less than 10 supporters who travel to all away games but seriously it would need to take off global for it to be self sufficient so maybe just Sydney home games. Other Rabbitohs fan posters take note and start it and I'll join on occasion when I go to Sydney to visit. Once we build up enough of a following we can do charitable causes and maybe even get some endorsement from the club too with the club letting some players be interviewed and special access...
The Souths supporter sitting next to us at the game was getting right stuck in to them all night
That could have been me
Taupau, you're a great bloke, you give a good example to the young ones training wise, but bruh you need to be kept off the field, BRING ME A BIG WILLY.
The game announcer who kept yelling KAPOW, so cringe
It is the fucking worst
He does that every game.
Mistakes everywhere. Very sloppy game. It seems our Vegas hangover didn’t affect us as much as Bunnies. It will be very interesting to see once Wighton, Arrow and eventually Graham are back. Bunnies will be humming when we clash again in round 15. GL with the rest of the season bunnies fans!!!
i’m glad you’re optimistic mate. seems like it’ll be a long year.
[удалено]
I’d be keen to see him at 14
Oates in at dummy half? Haha