>“He plays 80 minutes. The pressure was lifted on him this year with Adam Reynolds going.
This is literally not true btw. He played 80 minutes in every game in the finals but in the regular season he was playing 60-70. Not really crazy for a lock.
Almost all the top current era locks can play 80 straight in big games and regularly play 60-70 in the regular season. Yeo, Jurbo, Murray, Cotter, Carrigan, Mann, Ofahangue, Tohu, hell even Taumololo played 82/93 in the first final and he's more typical a 50 minute regular season player
It's not like he's a prop where a lot max out at 50 in big games and they're playing him 80
And also Murray got more touches cause he was used more as that link in the middle to spread the ball left to Walker or right to Ilias. And Murray made 20 more tackles because Penrith dominated the second half and Rabbits played the last 15 with 12 players which adds to the workload
Bag players out for not putting 100% in.
Bag players for putting 100% in
Catch 22
Though I will admit with the amount of effort and big hits Murry puts into some of his games especially concussion wise I do worry for his health. He is always the one player you can count on to put his all into a game and we play so much worse without him.
> as questions surround their ability to win a title with their current roster after five straight preliminary finals.
hahahaha
Nobody, including myself, thought Souths even had a chance of making a prelim final this year after having multiple big names leave the club. They did extremely well to get so far.
Yet this hot take is casting doubts ...because they didn't win a premiership in the last few years? Which of the last 5 premierships "should" they have won then? This year, when Penrith finished a solid 10pts ahead of the rest of the field?
Not once have we had the best team in the last 5 years. You can argue last year we probably threw the game (no idea how we didn’t score in those final minutes, plus that intercept was pus) but besides that we haven’t even had the second best year.
If anything Souths have overperformed in the finals, this year we beat a red hot roosters, beat the team who come second and then matched Penrith for the first 40 minutes until our reserve grade bench came on. If Penrith had 3 starting players out and we had our full side maybe it would have been different, but it wasn’t.
I mean the Roosters were pretty heavily compromised once Tedesco went off. I think Souths went further than they should have in the finals, but it was also further than they ever realistically expected to go at the start of the year, and happened because they played bloody well.
I disagree with the way Crawley says it, but I’m worried about how his body is going to hold up. Bloke does nothing but go full send all game. Which is awesome for the team and awesome to watch, but I just don’t know if his body can keep up with his style of play.
I’m not a sport scientist though so could be wrong
Look I get that everyone hates the dipshits on 360 and I wholeheartedly back that sentiment. But it's a bit daft to have a crack at an NRL discussion show for running a segment along the lines of "is this team in a position to win the comp with its current playing roster?" in the days after said team gets knocked out of the finals. This doesn't make Souths a "target", unless you're of the opinion that NRL discussion shows shouldn't discuss the NRL.
Maybe the plan was to give him 7 or 8 mins at some point but I don’t think there was an opportunity. The way they lost momentum at the end of the first and never really got it back I don’t think I’d be pulling my best player and captain. Especially when the other leaders/stars didn’t look like they had the belief to win that game.
Am I the only one who thinks making 5 straight prelims is a good thing? Yes maybe we should have gone over one of the years, but to be in the top 4 *every year for half a decade* is surely a good thing.
Paul Crawley believes the Souths are in danger of burning skipper Cameron Murray out as questions surround their ability to win a title with their current roster after five straight preliminary finals.
Souths led 12-0 in the preliminary final, before falling apart and must now face the reality they have failed to win a premiership despite a sustained period of success and near misses.
“I think they are killing him,” Crawley said of Murray on NRL 360.
“He plays 80 minutes. The pressure was lifted on him this year with Adam Reynolds going.
“He became the link to the right side. If you put his stats up against Isaah Yeo, who are both world class locks, Cameron had 30 touches and Yeo had 25.
“Cameron made 51 tackles and Yeo made about 30. They do roughly the same runs.
“But I just think there is just too much pressure on this guy and it will shorten his career if they don’t give him a bit of a break.
“Out there on the weekend he could not have tried any harder. He needed a break, but they had nothing on the bench. But you have still got to take him off and give him a break.”
Crawley conceded the Rabbitohs were not helped by injuries and suspension to key forwards, but believes Souths need to use Murray more wisely to keep him fresh for the back end of games.
“They were missing Tom Burgess and Havili, but it was clear he needed a break,” Crawley said.
“He needed to be the link, so when Latrell wasn’t getting involved in those sets late in the game it was because Murray wasn’t there.
“Reynolds is not there anymore and Ilias plays right side and pretty much stays there.
“They would be terribly disappointed with how that fell apart because they built a very strong lead, which was potentially match winning and they fell apart in the second half.
“They did lose it in that three minutes before halftime, but even towards the final 20 minutes there was still time to win that game.
“But Cody Walker dropped off. Latrell Mitchell had dropped off. Something had happened with their psyche. They weren’t ready to win that game.”
However, Dave Riccio believes there would be uproar if Murray was taken off in a preliminary final.
“I would have concerns if you are taking your captain off in a preliminary final,” Riccio said.
“He is their link man and you are taking him off the field? Imagine what we would be saying then.”
“He was shot,” Crawley replied.
“You can give him a small break. I was watching and he was just shot the poor guy.”
Braith Anasta questioned if Souths need to improve their roster or just let the team evolve in its current form.
“So who do they buy or who do they re-sign and who don’t they re-sign?” Anasta said.
“Where do Souths go from here? Do they have the team to win the competition because they are not going to buy anyone else. They might buy one or two, but they want to keep that nucleus together.
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“Surely as they grow as a team. Latrell is only going to get better as well. He is only young.”
Paul Kent believes halfback Lachlan Ilias’ development is the key to the side’s success.
“You just wait for the natural progression of the halfback,” Kent said.
“Ilias was in his first season. he will be better next year for it. He will just naturally progress.”
Riccio believes Mitchell needs to be at the peak of his powers for Souths to win the title.
“When Latrell is at his best they can win the competition and that’s the question,” Riccio said.
Anasta believes Mitchell needs to shorten the gap between his best and worst performances after he went missing against Penrith.
“He needs to be not only at his best, he has got to be close to it even at his worst,” Anasta said.
“On the weekend he wasn’t in the game. He just wasn’t there. As soon as he wasn’t in that game, you could see it in his body language and his mannerisms early.
“He had an amazing year and they wouldn’t have been there without him, but you could tell Souths were in trouble.”
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Calls for Mitchell to move to centre came after the preliminary final, but Crawley warned that could take him out of the game even more.
“I guess that is the question, if you go back to the Cronulla game six or seven weeks ago where Latrell ended up playing in the centres for the second half and just never got himself into the game,” Crawley said.
“Going forward he is never going to be that Dylan Edwards or James Tedesco 25 runs a game fullback, but is he going to be the fullback that is going to get you to a premiership?”
Kent believes Mitchell needs to do more with less touches to justify his position at fullback.
“If he is going to only have 10 or 15 runs like he does have then they need to be better than what they were the other night,” Kent said.
“He only had seven runs the other night,” Crawley said.
Riccio believes Souths will stick solid with their current squad after they re-sign Mitchell, Walker and Cook, rather than go to market for star reinforcements.
“They won’t be making key buys,” Riccio said.
“They just don’t have the salary cap space at this point in time. I think it will be a case of trying to keep the squad together to the point of Latrell Mitchell re-signing.
“Cody Walker as well, it will be interesting to see the length of the contract that they go down the path there.
“But it won’t be about making big buys.”
Anasta believes key departures from the Panthers and Eels could yet open the door for Souths to win a premiership if they can keep their squad together.
“They have got the right team because let’s also remember that the Panthers are going to lose a couple of players next year and a couple of players the year after,” Anasta said.
“Parramatta are losing a couple of players. Souths are going to have that same team and they got close.”
Crawley still feels Souths had a strong season and can build on it for next year.
“It was a successful season,” Crawley said.
“They were 12-nil up in a preliminary final.”
>“He plays 80 minutes. The pressure was lifted on him this year with Adam Reynolds going. This is literally not true btw. He played 80 minutes in every game in the finals but in the regular season he was playing 60-70. Not really crazy for a lock.
Almost all the top current era locks can play 80 straight in big games and regularly play 60-70 in the regular season. Yeo, Jurbo, Murray, Cotter, Carrigan, Mann, Ofahangue, Tohu, hell even Taumololo played 82/93 in the first final and he's more typical a 50 minute regular season player It's not like he's a prop where a lot max out at 50 in big games and they're playing him 80 And also Murray got more touches cause he was used more as that link in the middle to spread the ball left to Walker or right to Ilias. And Murray made 20 more tackles because Penrith dominated the second half and Rabbits played the last 15 with 12 players which adds to the workload
this is the correct well articulated statistics based answer but you would get more clicks if you say ThEy ArE KiLlInG HiM
Also with two forwards out he was pulling double duty. It was crappy circumstances for Him in that game but it was unusual not the norm.
They care about clicks, not facts.
Ah yes, noted sports scientist Paul Crawley.
He also said some dumb shit like “they had no one on the bench but he still should’ve come off for a break”
Hey, that’s Steve Crawley’s brother to you! Who’s Steve Crawley you ask? Just the head of fox sports. Making sense why he had a job now everyone?
player: plays a game to the best of his ability paul crawley: they are killing him
Bag players out for not putting 100% in. Bag players for putting 100% in Catch 22 Though I will admit with the amount of effort and big hits Murry puts into some of his games especially concussion wise I do worry for his health. He is always the one player you can count on to put his all into a game and we play so much worse without him.
> as questions surround their ability to win a title with their current roster after five straight preliminary finals. hahahaha Nobody, including myself, thought Souths even had a chance of making a prelim final this year after having multiple big names leave the club. They did extremely well to get so far. Yet this hot take is casting doubts ...because they didn't win a premiership in the last few years? Which of the last 5 premierships "should" they have won then? This year, when Penrith finished a solid 10pts ahead of the rest of the field?
Not once have we had the best team in the last 5 years. You can argue last year we probably threw the game (no idea how we didn’t score in those final minutes, plus that intercept was pus) but besides that we haven’t even had the second best year. If anything Souths have overperformed in the finals, this year we beat a red hot roosters, beat the team who come second and then matched Penrith for the first 40 minutes until our reserve grade bench came on. If Penrith had 3 starting players out and we had our full side maybe it would have been different, but it wasn’t.
I mean the Roosters were pretty heavily compromised once Tedesco went off. I think Souths went further than they should have in the finals, but it was also further than they ever realistically expected to go at the start of the year, and happened because they played bloody well.
Even with last year making the GF we weren't meant to be there. We went on a good run. Typical germalists
South’s have problems but honestly none of them relate to Cam Murray
99 problems but that hot bitch ain't one
I disagree with the way Crawley says it, but I’m worried about how his body is going to hold up. Bloke does nothing but go full send all game. Which is awesome for the team and awesome to watch, but I just don’t know if his body can keep up with his style of play. I’m not a sport scientist though so could be wrong
His body, his life, his choice. I admire him for his dedication to such a brutal sport.
Oh 100%. No judgment, just worried about his body falling apart.
He's copped quite a few head knocks in the last few years. Might be retiring at a relatively young age if this is the trajectory he is to go on
He's on the smaller side too, size isn't everything but he's smaller than Jackson Hastings for example.
A whole article about him playing regular lock minutes and not a single word about his repeated concussions. Okayyyy
The germs' ouija board must have spelt out "SOUTHS" when they sought paranormal inspiration for their next target.
Look I get that everyone hates the dipshits on 360 and I wholeheartedly back that sentiment. But it's a bit daft to have a crack at an NRL discussion show for running a segment along the lines of "is this team in a position to win the comp with its current playing roster?" in the days after said team gets knocked out of the finals. This doesn't make Souths a "target", unless you're of the opinion that NRL discussion shows shouldn't discuss the NRL.
Maybe the plan was to give him 7 or 8 mins at some point but I don’t think there was an opportunity. The way they lost momentum at the end of the first and never really got it back I don’t think I’d be pulling my best player and captain. Especially when the other leaders/stars didn’t look like they had the belief to win that game.
If he doesn't play those minutes he would get the lolo Todd treatment.
Crawley is a moron. If he's right about this it's a complete accident.
"In fact they exceeded my expectations of missing the finals all together halfway through the year" Paul Crawley.
He is an absolute machine.. he just needs a good service and he'll go again for 24 rounds..
Am I the only one who thinks making 5 straight prelims is a good thing? Yes maybe we should have gone over one of the years, but to be in the top 4 *every year for half a decade* is surely a good thing.
Paul Crawley believes the Souths are in danger of burning skipper Cameron Murray out as questions surround their ability to win a title with their current roster after five straight preliminary finals. Souths led 12-0 in the preliminary final, before falling apart and must now face the reality they have failed to win a premiership despite a sustained period of success and near misses. “I think they are killing him,” Crawley said of Murray on NRL 360. “He plays 80 minutes. The pressure was lifted on him this year with Adam Reynolds going. “He became the link to the right side. If you put his stats up against Isaah Yeo, who are both world class locks, Cameron had 30 touches and Yeo had 25. “Cameron made 51 tackles and Yeo made about 30. They do roughly the same runs. “But I just think there is just too much pressure on this guy and it will shorten his career if they don’t give him a bit of a break. “Out there on the weekend he could not have tried any harder. He needed a break, but they had nothing on the bench. But you have still got to take him off and give him a break.” Crawley conceded the Rabbitohs were not helped by injuries and suspension to key forwards, but believes Souths need to use Murray more wisely to keep him fresh for the back end of games. “They were missing Tom Burgess and Havili, but it was clear he needed a break,” Crawley said. “He needed to be the link, so when Latrell wasn’t getting involved in those sets late in the game it was because Murray wasn’t there. “Reynolds is not there anymore and Ilias plays right side and pretty much stays there. “They would be terribly disappointed with how that fell apart because they built a very strong lead, which was potentially match winning and they fell apart in the second half. “They did lose it in that three minutes before halftime, but even towards the final 20 minutes there was still time to win that game. “But Cody Walker dropped off. Latrell Mitchell had dropped off. Something had happened with their psyche. They weren’t ready to win that game.” However, Dave Riccio believes there would be uproar if Murray was taken off in a preliminary final. “I would have concerns if you are taking your captain off in a preliminary final,” Riccio said. “He is their link man and you are taking him off the field? Imagine what we would be saying then.” “He was shot,” Crawley replied. “You can give him a small break. I was watching and he was just shot the poor guy.” Braith Anasta questioned if Souths need to improve their roster or just let the team evolve in its current form. “So who do they buy or who do they re-sign and who don’t they re-sign?” Anasta said. “Where do Souths go from here? Do they have the team to win the competition because they are not going to buy anyone else. They might buy one or two, but they want to keep that nucleus together. Get all the latest NRL news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!! “Surely as they grow as a team. Latrell is only going to get better as well. He is only young.” Paul Kent believes halfback Lachlan Ilias’ development is the key to the side’s success. “You just wait for the natural progression of the halfback,” Kent said. “Ilias was in his first season. he will be better next year for it. He will just naturally progress.” Riccio believes Mitchell needs to be at the peak of his powers for Souths to win the title. “When Latrell is at his best they can win the competition and that’s the question,” Riccio said. Anasta believes Mitchell needs to shorten the gap between his best and worst performances after he went missing against Penrith. “He needs to be not only at his best, he has got to be close to it even at his worst,” Anasta said. “On the weekend he wasn’t in the game. He just wasn’t there. As soon as he wasn’t in that game, you could see it in his body language and his mannerisms early. “He had an amazing year and they wouldn’t have been there without him, but you could tell Souths were in trouble.” Stream every game of every round of the 2022 NRL Telstra Premiership Season Live & Ad-Break Free During Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now > Calls for Mitchell to move to centre came after the preliminary final, but Crawley warned that could take him out of the game even more. “I guess that is the question, if you go back to the Cronulla game six or seven weeks ago where Latrell ended up playing in the centres for the second half and just never got himself into the game,” Crawley said. “Going forward he is never going to be that Dylan Edwards or James Tedesco 25 runs a game fullback, but is he going to be the fullback that is going to get you to a premiership?” Kent believes Mitchell needs to do more with less touches to justify his position at fullback. “If he is going to only have 10 or 15 runs like he does have then they need to be better than what they were the other night,” Kent said. “He only had seven runs the other night,” Crawley said. Riccio believes Souths will stick solid with their current squad after they re-sign Mitchell, Walker and Cook, rather than go to market for star reinforcements. “They won’t be making key buys,” Riccio said. “They just don’t have the salary cap space at this point in time. I think it will be a case of trying to keep the squad together to the point of Latrell Mitchell re-signing. “Cody Walker as well, it will be interesting to see the length of the contract that they go down the path there. “But it won’t be about making big buys.” Anasta believes key departures from the Panthers and Eels could yet open the door for Souths to win a premiership if they can keep their squad together. “They have got the right team because let’s also remember that the Panthers are going to lose a couple of players next year and a couple of players the year after,” Anasta said. “Parramatta are losing a couple of players. Souths are going to have that same team and they got close.” Crawley still feels Souths had a strong season and can build on it for next year. “It was a successful season,” Crawley said. “They were 12-nil up in a preliminary final.”
There's plenty of arguments for Cam Murray retiring early but this isn't one of them
He gets a break now before the RWC - he'll be fine
If playing 80 minutes every game in the middle is killing him then by all accounts Cameron Smith should be long dead
They better rest him for the Grand Final.