What is wrong with the Bunnies?
It has all gone so terribly wrong for South Sydney over the last 12 months.
Leading the premiership midway through last season, the Rabbitohs have barely won a game since.
What are the problems and can a new coach solve them?
- Poor Coach Selection: Jason Demetriou clearly has not worked. He does not have the gravitas of a leader. He lacks tactically.
- Low Coach Confidence: Confident leaders surround themselves with strong assistants and deliver strong messages. They listen to advice and make decisions. Demetriou has failed on all fronts.
- Lack of Accountability: Latrell Mitchell has not been held accountable for his actions on or off the field. Star players get treated differently but when other stars are unhappy, the accountability is simply not there.
- Skillset Misidentification: While moving on from Adam Reynolds may or may not have been the right call, what the Rabbitohs failed to identify was the influence he had on making other players better and coaching them up in-situ.
- Poor Talent Identification: Blake Taafe and Lachlan Ilias were viewed as the future of Souths in the key positions even though both lacked size or stood out in any one area. Taafe is now gone and Ilias was dumped.
- Awful Roster Building: Jack Wighton is the flashpoint for this. He is a super-talented player. He is also completely surplus to needs. Souths needed a halfback. They needed middle forwards. Wighton was signed seemingly to appease Mitchell.
- Lack of Speed: Speed kills. Teams need pace. And they need to play with pace. Souths do neither. The persistence with using players like Taane Milne on a wing is unforgivable no matter the injury toll.
- Tactical Simplicity: Souths have not evolved tactically at all under Demetriou. They are still a left-focused, low-offload, block run attack that every team has figured out. The lack of variation is an indictment on the coaching staff.
Souths are in a deep hole which they aren’t getting out of very quickly.
But there is enough talent on the roster – even if it is skewed out of shape – that a smart coach can bring this team back into the finals mix soon.
NRL 360 Reboot: It has become quite apparent after events on the weekend that NRL 360 needs a complete reboot.
Paul Kent, one would imagine, is done for good from News Limited now with that footage certain to castrate any ambitions he has to pontificate about player behaviour in the future.
As he had only recently returned to his spot as co-host, we have an idea of what the show looks like without him and frankly, it is completely unwatchable.
As offbeat as he was with some of his views, he has a gravitas and understanding of both the game and its narratives that those around him do not.
So it is time to start again, NRL 360 is going nowhere.
The show cannot be allowed to retreat into its unwatchale format where Anasta and Tallis hosted with a parade of clown journalists around them.
It is time to start again and this is where they should begin:
- Offer $10m a year, a private jet, yearly tickets to Augusta and to move the show to Brisbane to get Ben Ikin back as host.
- A serious journalist with credibility should be his sidekick. That is easier said than done. The ideal candidate would be Andrew Webster but that is unlikely. Peter Badel is probably the only real fit though Brent Read could do a job if we disregard his NRL 360 views. Michael Carayannis has more common sense than the rest of the Telegraph lot put together and with the right training and more TV experience would be fine.
- Braith could sit on as a third regular though his conflicts of interest should mean he is a no go.
- More Michael Ennis. He rubs some people the wrong way but he is researched and forthright.
- They need to fine more people who know something about the game: Joel Caine and Jimmy Smith are two that immediately come to mind.
- Put Buzz on as a pure comedy segment – his moronic views only detract from the credibility of the show.
- No Paul Crawley or Dean Ritchie – ever.
- Show more independence by bringing in journalists from non-News channels.
- Completely ditch the ex-player segment – or at the very least vet them so they aren’t just old plonkers like Benny Elias, Steve Roach and Mark Carroll.
- There needs to be a coaching segment every night.
- Greater focus on the behind the scenes of Rugby League
- Use the callers more: Vossy, Ginnane, Waz … all much better.
Most Spiteful Sackings: For long-standing fans of the game who love a bitter coach, it brought back great memories on Saturday night when Ivan Cleary “rested” Sunia Turuva.
Cleary explained after the game that it was because Turuva was emotional and distracted but it certainly had the stink of a coach dropping a player for doing the wrong thing by signing with another team.
Here are the best.
- Jarrod McCracken (1995): Chris Anderson had no time for traitors and not only dumped international centre Jarrod McCracken, leaving him out of the side that went on to famously win the Grand Final, but fuelled such hate for McCracken that fans burnt his book in effigy on the Belmore hill. Anderson also threatened to make him walk home from a road trip to Wollongong.
- Darren Smith (1994): Anderson had form. In 1994 he dropped Queensland player Darren Smith because he had signed with the Broncos. From Round 19 onwards, Smith played just two games and missed the Grand Final.
- Justin Hodges (2001): Wayne Bennett had absolutely zero time for a 19yo prodigy signing with the Roosters after bursting onto the scene with the Broncos. Hodges was dumped immediately and barely seen. All was forgiven though when Hodges returned to Brisbane in 2005 to become a club legend.
Big Tom for the Blues: New South Wales are about as short on big middles as they ever have been, prop is no longer a Blues strongsuit.
So it is time to think wide and give the unheralded but highly effective Tom Hazelton a Blues jumper, who has been outstanding for the league-leading Sharks.
He is no-nonsense, goes forward and has footwork.
It is about time the Blues started picking players of his ilk rather than more showy types selected purely on body type.
Stupid Sivo: Maika Sivo is unquestionably one of the best finishing wingers in the NRL but his selfish act of stupidity that cost Parramatta any chance of victory will see him spend plenty more time in NSW Cup this year.
Players with such a lack of feel for the game have no business in first grade, the disdain Clint Gutherson had for Sivo post-game said it all.
Respect The Goalkicker: The lack of respect some teams are showing in not naming a recognised goalkicker each week is costing them – or going to cost them – plenty, coaches are showing no respect for goalkickers.
When the team’s top kicker goes down, adjust the side to fit in a replacement.
Parramatta persisting with a mix of Clint Gutherson/Shane Russell/Dylan Brown is ridiculous with Gutherson striking them like a blind donkey trying to backheel a feather.
Newcastle are going to pay if they are going to roll with Dane Gagai, teams need proper goalkickers because they are worth plenty of points.
Gough Joins Butler and Badger: Peter Gough has officially joined Chris Butler and Kasey Badger as a referee so bad that they are unsalvageable.
His decision to disallow Api Koroisau’s try from The Bunker summed him up to a tee: arrogant and clueless.
In the Sharks-Raiders game, he was in the middle and missed a forward pass that was so forward it invited itself over for dinner and then took a loud dump in the master bathroom, he should never be allowed in The Bunker ever again.
Betting Close Calls: This week’s betting close calls:
- Anyone who took the Titans at $4.60 for their first win of the season endured a torturous last 15 minutes but survived
- Manly minus and 13-plus bettors, along with over punters, seemed gone all game ubt thanks to Sivo’s stupidity scooped the pool
- Unders punters tip-toed home with the Tigers-Broncos clash going under by 1.5 points while the Sharks-Raiders fell under by just a single try
- The Cowboys +9.5 endured a wild ride and looked cast before a big Cowboys comeback and a tough finish saw the final margin finish at six
2024 Field Goal Update – 11: Much-maligned Titans half Tanah Boyd slotted one before halftime in the Titans’ first win of the season for the only field goal of the week.
Fun Fact #1: Matt Duffie of 62-game Storm fame is an All Black, supposedly (and laughably) one of the elite sporting teams on the planet.
Fun Fact #2: Joe Tomane of not-being-able-to-tackle fame played 17 Tests for the Wallabies.
Fun Fact #3: Decorated Wallaby Garrick Morgan was the South Queensland Crushers’ major signing on $600,000 per season but played just two games.
Willie M Team of the Week: This week’s team of jokers, jesters and jackasses:
1.Scott Drinkwater (Cow) 2.Maika Sivo (Par) 3.Jack Wighton (Sou) 4.Morgan Harper (Par) 5.Taane Milne (Sou) 6.Te Maire Martin (NZ) 7.Isaiya Katoa (Dol)
8.Reagan Campbell-Gillard (Par) 9.Danny Levi (Can) 10.Francis Molo (Dra) 11.Samuela Fainu (Tig) 12.Simi Sasagi (Can) 13.Tom Eisenhuth (Dra)
14.Latu Fainu (Tig) 15.Ata Mariota (Can) 16.Kelma Tuilagi (Par) 17.Peter Mamouzelous (Sou)
Coach: Jason Demetriou (Sou)
Rumour Mill: Justin Holbrook has been heavily linked to taking over as Parramatta head coach in 2025, the Eels are in the process of shortening their list of replacements to take over from Arthur with Holbrook favoured by many.
Jahrome Hughes is shortening by the day to be out of the Storm with Melbourne fully committed to Jonah Pezet and Hughes looking for a big payday.
Lachlan Ilias is likely to be shopped with the Dolphins or Dragons looming as potential fits.
The Coaching Crosshairs: The hottest rumour doing the rounds this week is that Wayne Bennett has agreed to a deal to coach South Sydney in 2025, he was reportedly sounded out by both parties on the Lewis Dodd deal.
While he won’t publicly accept the job until Souths move on from Jason Demetriou, which will likely be after the Rabbitohs get hammered by Penrith this week.
Despite some absolutely hysterical claims that Mal Meninga would be brought in as an interim coach, Ben Hornby will take over the club in an interim capacity.
Given how badly Souths have fallen, don’t expect Demetriou to be in the mix for any NRL head coaching jobs anytime soon.
Moronic Coaching Decision of the Week: Kevin Walters’ decision to leave injury-prone Adam Reynolds and Reece Walsh on the field late in the big win against the Tigers was a ridiculously unnecessary risk.
While both turned out to be cramping – and Walsh vomited – it could have been much worse.
The Broncos played the final few minutes short but his decision to rest Brendan Piakura inside the last 10 minutes was utterly moronic.
If the Broncos lose either, they are zero chance of winning it all.
Watch It: Taane Milne has remarkably played 73 games across nine seasons for three clubs in the NRL, despite seeming to have little understanding of the rules, zero speed and a penchant for thuggishness.
Thanks to NRL Laughs for this wonderful compilation. Watch it here.