Souths Peaking Too Early, Manly No Where Near Peaking

[Ralphie]

Yes Souths look strong at the moment, Inglis and the Burgess brothers look good. But its a long year and im not fazed about them winning the comp as i tend to think they might be peaking too early. Virtually ALL of our Sea Eagles boys know what is required to go deep into the finals. It might take Souths a few years to get it right..

Souths: winning consistently in April, May = peaking too early? Doubt they can maintain it all the way through the finals series - can they really get any better than this??

Manly: no where near our peak. Gifty still needs another month of solid footy to be a force again. When he starts hitting form our right side attack will be smoking teams again, just like last year. Perhaps we are playing to 75% of our ability at present?

scum: always tough and even if they were 'peaking' now, im not sure they would ever have an 'off' time

My point is fellow Silvertails, have faith in the fact that Souths will slip up come August, September. They came close in last years comp, then flew out of the blocks this year and started strong, but maybe too strong, too early. They dont strike me as the kind of team that can maintain brilliant form like Manly or Melbourne.
Toovey will time our run to the finals very well so that we will be peaking the way that Souths are now - except better. Its all about the finals series and it will be a pleasure seeing Souths run their race too early and f'k it up again this year

Thoughts?

C'mon, get with it

 

[Phantar]

Souths are progressing. Normally they are February favourites. Now they are May favourites. Assuming the current rate of progress continues, they should be October favourites by around 2015/16.

 

[Ralphie]

I agree with Kiwi on this. Souths seem to spring from the blocks early in the second half when opposing teams take their time to get back into the groove. That's what happened to us and to the Bongoes last night. We should have been 12 to 18 points in front when we played them at half time but the bounce of the ball didn't go our way.. Souths can be beaten by teams that concentrate for the full 80, a thing the scum do week after week. That's a coaches job, and I'm sure Toovs will be aware of this in the games to come. No more time to ease yourself back into games.

You called the North of the Border team bongoes, so why not call the scum what they are.......scum.

 

[COMMANDER]

They will get a few in the origin team, lets see how they go without them.

Was exactly the same this time last year with Souths.

I'm more worried about how it's going to go for us over the next month.

 

[KOMORI]

I've kinda always had a soft spot for $ouffs, kind of considered them our "brothers in arms" in the Super League war.... plus there's the "pity" factor for a team that's rarely threatened for a premiership for longer than I've been stealing oxygen...

However...

The unbelievable one-eyed RUBBISH that my $ouffs supporting co-worker has dribbled ALL WEEK has burned that out of me. He even went so far as to print out Paul Sheehan's drivel in bold, large type on an A1 format highlighting the "truth" about Manly (as he sees it)! I casually mentioned changing the title to "Souths and McGuire" and the same article applies, to which he ranted about how dangerous Matai is and how "we would never sink to that level".... WTF??

I was more than complementary towards his team, agreed with some of his more rabid points, and didn't push my opinion that with a little luck we win that by plenty... Sure I had to bite back a few choice retorts about his bull**** but they won, and I'm ok with with him gloating.... To a point!

I guess I expected a little better from him, but I also guess that a glimmer of hope after four decades in the wilderness can perhaps bring out the worst in people...

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

You are right Komori, what we would have to endure from Souths fans would test the patience, should they prevail this year.

On the other hand I would prefer to see them win than Storm, Roosters or Dogs. Moot point though, I'm sure Manly will win.

 

[The Who]

It's all about injuries and suspensions. With our full team, which we basically had against Souffs (except for Joe) we are certainly good enough to win the comp. I'd say we'd be close to favourites.
But this week we are down five (Matai, Richie, King, Buhrer and Snake - the last two are reportedly injured). I reckon this would drop us to fifth or sixth favourite.
Souffs, Easts, Storm and now Dogs are close to full fitness.
Winning comps is not about having the best team; it's about having the best team at final's time. There is a lot of luck involved.

 

[KOMORI]

You are right Komori, what we would have to endure from Souths fans would test the patience, should they prevail this year.

On the other hand I would prefer to see them win than Storm, Roosters or Dogs. Moot point though, I'm sure Manly will win.

Yeah that's about my stance on the matter too...

 

[silvertail]

Yes, totally agree that bunnies have peaked too early and are likely to fizzle out, poor bunny wabbits.

Only caveat is that all contenders, including us, are vulnerable to the impact of injuries and suspensions at the wrong end of the season.

 

[Bearfax]

They will get a few in the origin team, lets see how they go without them.

Was exactly the same this time last year with Souths.

I'm more worried about how it's going to go for us over the next month.

They'll still have the Burgess brothers, probably Merritt, Sutton, Luke, their two centres, Asotasi etc. They'll be strong still but its the half they will miss most if he gets selected.

Agreed about Manly. They've got one of those games that could surprise in the dragons. Then they've got the sharks and the storm, and I think the Roosters are tucked away in there as well. Heavy schedule.

 

[Technical Coach]

Very strong fit mobile pack with good footwork and sharpness in the red zone, improved in the wrestle this year and defensively get numbers around the ball when it counts.

Attack wise right side attack like most clubs is nothing special, they don't have the greatest backline plays, class or variations but what they do have his sharp running mobile forwards that are getting one on one with defenders that are hard to stop which also opens up gaps out wide.

Reynolds does not put enough fear or attacking options to the defensive line in my opinion(don't care about the stats if it shows the opposite) for the big games at the end of the year and the grind of scoring points in the back end of the season will take it's toll.

Sharp attacking plays with high intensity, good footwork and creativity up the middle will open most defensive lines and there is enough gaps in Souths to score plenty of points against them.

Early in the season attacks are not as well drilled and easier to defend against(your defensive line will look better than it really is) the last 8-10 games or so will show if they have what it takes, it is looking good for them so far but a long way to go, I still don't rate Souths attack wise.

They have a modern strong sharp mobile pack with size that is relentless which will fatigue teams that have to play really tough to match them in the physical sense.

Many of their forwards are a danger in the red zone which is good as they are not overly reliant on creating edge plays or outside back plays to score points like ourselves. The best defensive structures mean nothing if you can't stop a hard running straight runner and prevent them from going over the line, even Inglis from behind can do this so what they lack in attacking class they in some ways make up for it with strength.

Having two strong hard running forwards attacking a space and either hitting one of them or going behind is very dangerous if the defensive line fears their strength.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

BUT can we beat them next time TC??

 

[Technical Coach]

We should if we get our damn attack right and employ myself to rectify every issue, but we also need more from Brett he is not doing enough.

To be honest that tackle attempt on Inglis was poor in it's execution, yeah he did get stood up a little with some small footwork and yes Inglis one on one is hard to stop but going high or reasonably high was a poor choice of tackling technique that far away from the tryline.

 

[globaleagle]

I've kinda always had a soft spot for $ouffs, kind of considered them our "brothers in arms" in the Super League war.... plus there's the "pity" factor for a team that's rarely threatened for a premiership for longer than I've been stealing oxygen...

However...

The unbelievable one-eyed RUBBISH that my $ouffs supporting co-worker has dribbled ALL WEEK has burned that out of me. He even went so far as to print out Paul Sheehan's drivel in bold, large type on an A1 format highlighting the "truth" about Manly (as he sees it)! I casually mentioned changing the title to "Souths and McGuire" and the same article applies, to which he ranted about how dangerous Matai is and how "we would never sink to that level".... WTF??

I was more than complementary towards his team, agreed with some of his more rabid points, and didn't push my opinion that with a little luck we win that by plenty... Sure I had to bite back a few choice retorts about his bull**** but they won, and I'm ok with with him gloating.... To a point!

I guess I expected a little better from him, but I also guess that a glimmer of hope after four decades in the wilderness can perhaps bring out the worst in people...

Move to Qld and you get to experience that everyday. (obv replacing souffs with anything qld related)

 

[6/71]

Souths are genuine contenders this year. I believe the teams capable of winning it this year are Melbourne, Souths, Manly and, yes, the Rooters.

I don't think anyone else is really a viable threat.

Peaking early or not, those four teams have the personnel and systems in place to make it happen.

 

[KOMORI]

Lived in Brisbane for the last 10 years... I'm an expert at tuning out any Donkey's related news... (Or free to air sport report lol, same thing!)

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Oh we do become experts up here on Donkeys!!!!

 

[1947]

It's all about injuries and suspensions. With our full team, which we basically had against Souffs (except for Joe) we are certainly good enough to win the comp. I'd say we'd be close to favourites.
But this week we are down five (Matai, Richie, King, Buhrer and Snake - the last two are reportedly injured). I reckon this would drop us to fifth or sixth favourite.
Souffs, Easts, Storm and now Dogs are close to full fitness.
Winning comps is not about having the best team; it's about having the best team at final's time. There is a lot of luck involved.

Spot on. Well said.

It is May. Anything could happen in the months ahead. There is a long way to go plus the Origin factor..

 

[Pittwater Legend]

Souths are an even chance along with every other side in the top 4. They all look very good in their own right and it's impossible to pick a clear favourite at this stage.

The SOO period will be very interesting this year. Melbourne will be ravaged yet again and I think that Souths as well as the Roosters will have more players selected than us. If we're in good shape after our next three games then a top 2 finish is a real possibility.

 

[6/71]

I don't imagine we will lose much during origin.