News Reports & comments

[Berkeley_Eagle]

News Reports & comments

Idiot 'fan' ruins Rabbitoh win

By Steve Jancetic
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/sport/nrl/comments/0,26800,24195012-5006066,00.html


HE will be the South Sydney fan every Rabbitohs player will today despise.

Rather than discuss Souths' wonderful 40-32 upset win over arch-rivals Manly yesterday at ANZ Stadium, a Rabbitohs supporter will steal the headlines for a blatant act of imbecility.

The fan, sitting in the South Sydney members' area, threw a metal object at Manly centre Steve Matai, who was walking from the field after being sin-binned in the 37th minute.

It narrowly missed Matai and Manly trainer Simon Keith with an angry Souths chief executive Shane Richardson threatening to find the culprit and ban him for life.

Police intervened yesterday but the man was not found. Souths and ANZ Stadium management will view closed circuit television footage today in attempt to identify the culprit.
We will go through the video and talk to our members," said Richardson. "He is not a person we want as one of our fans.

"It's not the character of this club. It's disappointing. We will find out who he is and ban him for life. I apologise to the Manly club."

Keith said the object - a metal socket the size of a five cent coin - could have caused significant injury had it hit someone in the head.

"A piece of metal came flying over," he said. "Security saw it. It missed me by about 30cm.

"If they are the supporters of the game, then what hope do we have? It's sad. You don't expect that from rival fans."

Matai did not want to comment but Manly coach Des Hasler added: "We are aware of it. We'll let the authorities handle it. If you are asking whether it was a concern, yes it is a concern."

But the fool who threw it should not hog the limelight from Souths' exciting win.

Souths deserved the victory, scoring seven tries to six in an entertaining match.

It was the first time Manly have conceded 40 points since a qualifying final against Parramatta back in 2005.

Manly skipper Matt Orford claimed the loss was the worst he had been involved with at the club - a defeat which could also cost the Sea Eagles this season's minor premiership.
The Sea Eagles looked lethargic yesterday - no doubt suffering a hangover from last week's loss to Melbourne at Brookvale.

Souths led 22-10 at halftime after a thoroughly committed first half. But a sloppy start to the second half allowed Manly to score three quick tries and snatch the lead.

The Rabbitohs, though, refused to buckle and stormed home with three late tries to overwhelm Manly.

Fullback Nathan Merritt scored three tries while Chris Sandow, Roy Asotasi and Luke Stuart were also impressive.

Manly scored a bizarre final try when it appeared prop Josh Perry knocked on. Asotasi allowed the ball to roll around on the ground - thinking it was a knock-on - with Perry coming through to ground the ball.

Video referee Steve Clark ruled the ball came off Perry's head and awarded the try.

"It was a rookie mistake," Asotasi conceded.

Asked about the loss, Orford said: "It was attitude, plain and simple. We need to have a good hard look at ourselves."

Asked if he thought Manly would be down after the Storm game, Souths coach Jason Taylor said: "We thought that was a big chance of that happening. Everyone watched the (Melbourne) game and knew how much Manly put into it and that it would be hard to back up."

Latest Comments:

   

    Go the eagles, after that display Melbourne will finish minor premiers 100%. You eagles better hope that Saints don't finish 7th coz you know what will happen there!! Brookie, or as its known to Saints supporters (club med) perfect relaxing weekend away with an easy 2 pts!! Do you remember BK's last game?? This time Saints will fix the beaver up and send him packing too!!

Posted by: bubs of sydney 9:13pm today Comment 36 of 36

    That Souths fan that threw the steel object at Matai should go and sit with the drop kicks from Parra that threw the coins at Manly last time.....Matai didn't even deserve the sin bin, there was nothing wrong with that tackle. Refs just assume he is guilty. Good luck to you today Bunnies fans, well played but......look at the table!!!

Posted by: Diane of Sydney 9:12pm today Comment 35 of 36

    I'm all for fans being passionate, but throwing metal objects at players? Holy hell that is stupid, not to mention freakin dangerous. I hope this chap or chapette is found and punished - a life ban would be more then appropriate. Go the green and red - good times await in the next few weeks.

Posted by: J.J. Rambo of Brisbane 9:08pm today Comment 34 of 36

    Minor premiship gone but really who cares...no one remembers the minor premiers unless they go on to win the GF! Top four is all we need bring on the semis...and Souths fan you didnt win we played our worst game in two years..see ya in 09..haha

Posted by: brad of syd 8:51pm today Comment 33 of 36

    Its good for a team to lose one or two before heading into the finals so that they don't get too cocky. However this loss is not good for Manly. It would be great if Beaver Menzies left the comp with a premiership but as long as Melbourne don't win I'll be happy. Go the TIgers.

Posted by: Sam of Sydney 8:40pm today Comment 32 of 36

    Wins all round,Pokies will stay in LC only two voted to dump the pokies.

Posted by: Fay Stone of sydney 8:39pm today Comment 31 of 36

    Where is motor mouth Keith of Brookvale now? Probably mowing Steve Menzies lawn! Talk about chokers!!

Posted by: Peter from Coffs 8:39pm today Comment 30 of 36

    Life long manly supporter, but they were not at the game today. Bunnys played well. However, will we see them in the finals. Hmmm, maybe not.

Posted by: Mark from Sydney's North 8:37pm today Comment 29 of 36

    Manly were lucky to be within 8 pts, they were thoroughly outplayed

Posted by: Kel of Brookvale 8:32pm today Comment 28 of 36

    ha ha ha. you call yourselfs a premiership contender manly. Embrassing, pathetic, mentally weak would be good way to describe that performance. Now are you ready to conceede that you only making up the numbers come finals time. Melbourne will win the premiership by the length of the flemington straight. Remember might and power and how far he won the melbourne cup storm will do the same. enough said

Posted by: chardy of melbourne 8:19pm today Comment 27 of 36

    what the hell happen there????

Posted by: chris walster of sydney north 8:06pm today Comment 26 of 36

    Congratulations Souths, great! I'm sure all your supporters are very proud of you!

Posted by: Amanda NRL Fan of Sydney 8:01pm today Comment 25 of 36

    Unfortunatley i think every team in the NRL bar Melb is playing for 2nd place,the gap between the Storm and the rest is increasing.The way they disposed of Easts on Fri night was very impressive,with Slater,Folau,Inglis,Cronk,Smith,Crocker and Dallas Johnson they are just full of big game players and match winners,i can't see anyone beating them.

Posted by: matt 7:58pm today Comment 24 of 36

    Mick the Dragon, are you talking about the same Dragons team that lost last week to the Tigers? Umm, alrighty then.

Posted by: Brian of Bulldogs Central 7:41pm today Comment 23 of 36

    how can the manly boys keep playing the way they are and expect us to keep turning up 3 loses in 4 weeks

Posted by: David Fry of Oakhurst 7:33pm today Comment 22 of 36

    Manly cannot win the comp. Too many self doubts now after last two games. They know they can't beat the Storm and now they can't even beat the Bunnies.

Posted by: Fingers of Sydney 7:28pm today Comment 21 of 36

    guys melbourne are so far ahead of anyone i mean if it wasnt for the state of origin wherewe had to field our under 20 team we would be 6 points ahead of everyoen even now quote of the week\" you guys arent good wnough to hold the melbourne storms jock straps you wannabes...you all wanna be the mighty melbourne storm\" hahaha

Posted by: ken of brisbane 7:11pm today Comment 20 of 36

    I don't follow Souths, but geez they show some ticker.As for Manly, who are you going to pinch, to replace your hapless halfback, Orford or should that be awful. Timmy Smith, I hear you say.Nooooooo, he's not at Parra now.Oh well, I guess like me, you'll be waiting a while for your next premiership. WELL DONE SOUTHS! GO PARRA, TOMORROW NIGHT.

Posted by: Paul Whelan of Wyong NSW 7:08pm today Comment 19 of 36

    We were terrible, we will never win the comp this year. Bye bye Manly.

Posted by: Manly Boy of Manly 7:03pm today Comment 18 of 36

    Manly,what a joke!No wonder you guys are THE most hatted in the comp!Pathetic try hard wanna bes,just like there small brained supporters!HA!

Posted by: ben of shangers of china 7:01pm today Comment 17 of 36

    I just don't rate hasler,big cheque book club,star studded team but he'll never get them a premiership.

Posted by: kev of umina 6:54pm today Comment 16 of 36

    WTG Souths you sure know how to make your supporters hearts race. The future certainly looks bright for our club and we didn`t have to pay the overs to get a competitive team. to Manly born O N watch out for us next year

Posted by: Daisee of Redfern Oval 6:43pm today Comment 15 of 36

    Oh Manly born of Narrabeen and all you silvertails. Jezza has been saying that after the Mighty Saints towelled you up at Brooky that you were PRETENDERS. And gues what You STILL ARE PRETENDERS. Teams 2,3,4 and 5 got flogged this weekend.Saints are coming to get all of you. Just wait until we get our 4 major strike players back. Gee. Melbourne are worrying about us..Go Saints.. Manly and their supporters need to go to the doctor and get their prescription medicine..Jezza

Posted by: jezza of sydney 6:37pm today Comment 14 of 36

    Manly will make the finals but unfortunately they played their grand final last week - and lost.

Posted by: Jethro 6:30pm today Comment 13 of 36

    I'm a little upset. I owe my neighbour $50 on a bet we make each time manly and souths play. It's the least i can do giving him the money, seeing how he has payed me thousands over the years.!!

Posted by: George of of granville 6:29pm today Comment 12 of 36

    what can i say? AHAHAHAHAHAHA manly what a joke to let in 40 points in against SOUTHS. manly the chokers have now lost 3 of past 4 games!! DOWN GOES MANLY...ROOSTERS TO WIN 08!!!

Posted by: RoosterMan of Sydney 6:18pm today Comment 11 of 36

    and people say the roosters are chokers, pretenders, jokers. what happened today? saying manly were tired from winning all year is a poor excuse, melbourne have won almost all of their games and continue to do so. i don't mind if the roosters don't make the grand final just as long as eagles and sharks aren't there. come on melbourne vs broncos! now THAT will be a match to remember.

Posted by: J. 6:17pm today Comment 10 of 36

    A truly brilliant win, played hard and strong. I think the future is looking very good for this club and team, especially with Sandow the new whiz kid

Posted by: Fay of Sydney 6:06pm today Comment 9 of 36

    The mighty sea eagles were simply tired from winning all year. Im going to the hairdresser to get some 'corn rows' of my own tomorrow! I love you MANLY! bring on the finals!

Posted by: gary orford of brookvale 6:06pm today Comment 8 of 36

    J.J. Rambo & John Mcgee - pull your heads in - \"pretenders\" don't make finals back to back, do they???? But then I guess your jealous because your teams aren't there....

Posted by: Manly born of Narrabeen 6:00pm today Comment 7 of 36

    What a game Souths you know how to keep the hearts racing.So proud of you and Jason good work.Get that up ya bunnie haters

Posted by: BUNNIEGAL of QLD 5:42pm today Comment 6 of 36

    Manly suck on that cows blood hahahahahah pretenders

Posted by: John Mcgee of Belmore 5:38pm today Comment 5 of 36

    Do I detect some shaky times coming up for the Roosters and Eagles?. Stay tuned. Like I said last week, the only teams that have any hope of beating Melbourne are Dragons, Raiders

Posted by: MicktheDragon 5:37pm today Comment 4 of 36

    What the hell Manly?? Dont choke again.. Not again. I Cant believe ya fools bloody lost to the Rabbitohs.. What the HELL!!! And Souths... well played boys.. its too bad you left your run a bit late...

Posted by: Kevin Rudd of Alice Springs 5:37pm today Comment 3 of 36

    Terrible terrible terrible!!

Posted by: Bob Sacomano of Ryde 5:24pm today Comment 2 of 36

    Hahahaha victory! Manly are pretenders.

Posted by: J.J. Rambo of Brisbane 5:15pm today Comment 1 of 36

 

[Berkeley_Eagle]

Re: News Reports & comments

Eagles pay price of shattering loss

By Ray Chesterton
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24196265-5001023,00.html
August 17, 2008

THE see-saw in the decades of feuding between Souths and Manly tilted decisively yesterday.

Souths can't make the semi-finals this season but they managed to extort a ridiculous price from Manly, who will.

Like old-time bushrangers, Souths came from nowhere to rob Manly of:

 The chance of a minor premiership and its guarantee of survival in the first round of playoffs;

 The $100,000 prizemoney for winning the minor premiership; and

 Finally, the result makes an impact on Manly's morale so close to the big games coming up.

Manly have now lost three of their past four and yesterday's often lifeless performance underlined the need for refocusing and revitalisation by the players.

In Manly's three weeks of struggle before yesterday, they lost to the Roosters 34-12, beat the Panthers 30-10 and lost to the Storm 16-10. The intensity of the build-up to the Storm clash looked to have taken a toll on Manly physically and mentally _ but coach Des Hasler said it did not.

In fact he said "No" quite emphatically.

"That wasn't it," he said, preferring to think professional players could handle such situations.

Half and Manly captain Matt Orford thought it was simply attitude - or lack of it.

"It's the only thing I can put my finger on," he said.

"We have to take a hard look at ourselves tomorrow."

There's no excuses for equal leaders Manly producing such a patchy performance and conceding seven tries against a team running 13th.

Manly kept getting into a hole and playing their way out of it (they scored three tries in nine minutes to open up the second half). But Manly couldn't harness the application and energy long enough to take charge.

Even getting to the lead 26-20 with 20 minutes to play after trailing 20-10 at halftime could not stiffen Manly.

Souths were a delight.

Fearlessly adventurous in attack, they ran the ball unconventionally, trusting to sometimes luck and more often good judgment.

Halfback Chris Sandow continues to make a big impact and his crossfield kicks produced two tries. He was also a menace with his open running in the rucks.

Fullback Nathan Merritt bagged three tries and Roy Asotasi was strong and scored a try from a crossfield kick by a winger - a rare achievement for a prop.

Letting in six tries took some of the polish from Souths' performance but it was still a win full of enthusiasm, confidence and some daring.

It conjures up visions of what might have been if Souths had not been dragging the anchor of seven successive losses to open the season this year and Craig Wing had not been injured for so long.

"The win today came off our good field position, much better attack and hard running by the forwards," Wing said.

"It was all pretty good."

 

[Berkeley_Eagle]

Re: News Reports & comments

Bunnies dent Manly's top-four hopes

    By Steve Jancetic
    August 17, 2008
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,24195022-23214,00.html


MANLY skipper Matt Orford labelled their 40-32 loss to South Sydney as the worst defeat in his time at the club as the Sea Eagles handed top spot and minor premiership favouritism over to defending champions Melbourne.
Orford was dumfounded by his side's inept display in which the Sea Eagles conceded 40 points for the first time in almost three years, especially as it came just a week after they pushed the Storm all the way in a brutal contest at Brookvale Oval.

Not since the 2005 preliminary finals loss to Parramatta have the Sea Eagles leaked as many points as they did with Orford claiming his side was in desperate need of some time in front of the mirror.

“We've just got to have a good hard look at ourselves come tomorrow and clean our act up quick smart,” Orford said.

The Sea Eagles have stayed equal with Cronulla on 32 competition points, two behind the Storm who are gunning for their third straight minor premiership.

“Attitude plays a big part in this game and you've got to turn up each week, it doesn't matter whether you're playing Souths or whether you're playing Melbourne.”

Asked if he could remember a poorer performance, Orford said “It's been a while, I can't remember, it's probably the worst I've seen.”

Four of the top five teams on the ladder all suffered defeats over the weekend, leaving as many as 13 sides in the hunt for the finals ahead of Parramatta's home game against Wests Tigers.

It will be curtains for the Eels should they go down to their western Sydney rivals, but a Parramatta victory will mean just three points will separate sides sitting fifth through 13th on the ladder with three games remaining.

One of those sides is Canberra who maintained sixth spot on the ladder with a classy 38-18 win over Newcastle in the nation's capital.

But not only did the seven tries to three win consolidate a finals berth ahead of their last three games, which are against the bottom trio on the ladder, but it also gave them a sniff at a top four position following losses for fourth-placed Sydney Roosters and Brisbane, who are one point ahead of the Raiders in fifth.

“That's a possibility, that's for sure, but the next two weeks are very important,” Raiders coach Neil Henry said.

“Next week's important in the context of where we are so if we can get those six points then fourth could be a possibility for us but again that's three weeks away.

“We're not a side that can be complacent about anything, and it's been proven that there's certainly been some upsets ... the competition is like that and Souths will be tough next week.”

AAP