Hey BYSO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • We had an issue with background services between march 10th and 15th or there about. This meant the payment services were not linking to automatic upgrades. If you paid for premium membership and are still seeing ads please let me know and the email you used against PayPal and I cam manually verify and upgrade your account.

Matabele

Journey Man
He who laughs last, laughs loudest. ;)

South Sydney's on-field package proved just as impressive as the one off it with the new look Rabbitohs beat arch-rivals Sydney Roosters 18-6 as Monday night football made a return to the NRL at a wet Aussie Stadium tonight.

Dubbed the new silvertails of the competition following several big-money off-season signings, the Rabbitohs were never headed, racing in three tries to one to totally outclass a Roosters side still on 999 top grade wins.

The new recruits all justified their hefty price-tags by playing key roles in the win, but just as vital was the effect they had on Joe Williams, Shannon Hegarty and Peter Cusack all showing the benefits of playing with some high class teammates.

Playing behind a dominant pack led by Roy Asotasi and David Kidwell, Williams finally showed signs of living up to the hype that greeted his introduction to the NRL three years ago.

His untested halves combination with Jeremy Smith was impressive as they played a leading role in all three of the Rabbitohs tries.


The Roosters played into the hands of the opposition with their controversial one-marker policy proving a dud, hooker Daniel Irvine and Hegarty making easy metres straight up the middle throughout the match.

It didn't take long for the Roosters to be stranded on their own line and Williams made them pay in the 15th minute, the diminutive halfback ducking between Anthony Minichiello and Danny Nutley to score the opening try.

Not content with that he backed it up with a 40-20 two minutes later from where Smith went to work, his grubber allowing Nigel Vagana to score his first of the night with an acrobatic put down.

Even the simple task of bringing the ball out from their own line posed the Roosters problems, a second half penalty against Danny Nutley for an obstruction handing the Rabbitohs a gift two points and a 14-0 lead.

The Rabbitohs were unlucky to be denied what would have been a match-winning try on the hour mark when Dean Widders was ruled to have obstructed a Roosters defender in the lead-up.

It proved a crucial call, the Roosters going 100 meters from the resulting penalty to score under the posts, halfback Josh Lewis cleaning up following a fumble by Nathan Merritt.

It spurred the Roosters and the 24,127 strong crowd to life but Vagana sealed the deal with his second 12 minutes from time, the Rabbitohs winning their first season opener since being re-admitted to the competition in 2002.
 
Bit early to portray him as the next great thing Matas, although he did play well tonight.
 
Williams got man of the match I believe. Byso has needled me for the best part of two years because I said I'd rather have Williams at halfback than Monaghan.

My rationale is that he is young and always played behind a useless pack.
 
One swallow doesn't make a summer - however any NRL half back will look good playing behind a dominant pack.
 
yeah yeah I know. :doh:

I was amused that they'd used the same wording I did a few years ago about playing behind a dominant pack. 8)
 
Agreed Williams looked good last night as did souths in general but how pathetic were the roosters it was like watching park football all they seemed to do was pass from one side of the field to the other and back again without really going forward and then put up a bomb. And there defence was pathetic particuarly with that peter cusack no try which incidently i thought should have been a fair try
 
Williams got man of the match I believe. Byso has needled me for the best part of two years because I said I'd rather have Williams at halfback than Monaghan.

My rationale is that he is young and always played behind a useless pack.

Even the Sun Shines on a Dogs Arse some Days :D
 
Agreed Williams looked good last night as did souths in general but how pathetic were the roosters it was like watching park football all they seemed to do was pass from one side of the field to the other and back again without really going forward and then put up a bomb. And there defence was pathetic particuarly with that peter cusack no try which incidently i thought should have been a fair try

Good news for Round 3 then.

Great quote by GK BTW. A legendary writer.
 
Williams has a good game and he's Matabele's superstar. Recalling last year, his defensive efforts made Matai's efforts seem superhuman. He was dropped plenty last year for his stupid decisions in attack, weak kicking game and poor leadership. Let's judge a guy over games, plural, not over 80 minutes. Easts efforts last night would have made an under 7 team look good. The one marker system was a complete farce giving Souths an easy ten metres every tackle and when applied in their own twenty metres was a complete joke. The whole team looked disinterested with their 'superstar' Minichello playing like a duck. A better team would have posted 40 on the Roosters. They looked stuffed at half time, just not fit. And their half/5/8 combination were babies who should be in the flegg still. All in all, we'll have little difficulty picking up points from Easts and Souths (even if Matai plays).
 
Mata, I agree with your point that Williams behind a decent pack would be/ is better than Monas, but that's not saying much because having Monas as half back in your side is like signing your own death sentence IMO.
Roosters were average last night and also got a few dud calls from the ref.
Souths will need to do more than beat an underdone Roosters trying a few new things (unsuccessfully)to impress me.
 
Comparing Williams and Monas, line ball for mine. Monas shaves Williams on his defense. Monas tackles OK and can concentrate for the full 80, Joe can't. Mona's problem is that he thinks to hard.
 
Oh my and I thought this was going to be interesting.

1 passable game in 3 years over a very ordinary team.

Whoop it up Mata............ Time you start sending Peter Homes a Court your business plans ;) --------------
 
One swallow doesn't make a summer - however any NRL half back will look good playing behind a dominant pack.

Monnas? Jye Mullane? Craig Field? Luke dorn? Adam Brown? Teasea Levea? Adam hayden?
 
Williams got man of the match I believe. Byso has needled me for the best part of two years because I said I'd rather have Williams at halfback than Monaghan.

My rationale is that he is young and always played behind a useless pack.

:clap:
 
DVS.. there is a thread in the general section called the "one of your best" thread.

That needs to go in it.

In fact, if you haven't already done it i will.
 
Don't, it may send Mata over the edge. He loves that bloke.


God knows why, he's f-ing useless.
 

Latest posts

Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
3 2 1 45 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 22 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
3 2 1 10 4
2 1 1 6 4
3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
Back
Top Bottom