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View Full Version : Round 10: Wests Tigers vs South Sydney Rabbitohs



DIEHARD
12-05-09, 02:26 PM
Wests Tigers vs South Sydney Rabbitohs

DIEHARD
12-05-09, 02:39 PM
SOUTHS

1 Luke Capewell
2 Nathan Merritt
3 Colin Best
4 Beau Champion
5 Fetuli Talanoa
6 Craig Wing
7 Chris Sandow
8 Luke Stuart
9 Issac Luke
10 Roy Asotasi (c)
11 David Kidwell
12 David Fa'alogo
13 Michael Crocker

Interchange:
14 Jamie Simpson
15 Eddy Pettybourne
16 Jaiman Lowe
17 Scott Geddes
19 Shannan McPherson

DIEHARD
12-05-09, 02:42 PM
OMG Crocker is debuting for Souths!

/me hyperventilates.

Let's see if he hasn't lost his edge with his time on the sidelines. He has been training with the Storm to maintain fitness though.

DIEHARD
13-05-09, 09:27 AM
Wests Tigers: 1. Tim Moltzen, 2. Taniela Tuiaki, 3. Dean Collis, 4. Dene Halatau, 5. Beau Ryan, 6. John Morris, 7. Benji Marshall, 8. Bryce Gibbs, 9. Robbie Farah [c], 10. Keith Galloway , 11. Gareth Ellis, 12. Chris Heighington, 13. Todd Payten.

Subs: 14. Rhys Hanbury, 15. Corey Payne, 16. Rocky Trimarchi, 17. Daine Laurie, 18. Danny Galea (one to be omitted).

South Sydney Rabbitohs: 1 Luke Capewell, 2 Nathan Merritt, 3 Colin Best, 4 Beau Champion, 5 Fetuli Talanoa, 6 Craig Wing, 7 Chris Sandow, 8 Luke Stuart, 9 Issac Luke, 10 Roy Asotasi [c], 11 David Kidwell, 12 David Fa'alogo, 13 Michael Crocker.

Subs: 14 Jamie Simpson, 15 Eddy Pettybourne, 16 Jaiman Lowe, 17 Scott Geddes, 19 Shannan McPherson.

DIEHARD
13-05-09, 05:07 PM
STRIP 1909 TITLE OFF SOUTHS CLAIMS ELIAS

Balmain Tigers legend Benny Elias believes the 1909 premiership victory by South Sydney should be stripped from the record books.

In the lead up to the round 10 Heritage match between Wests Tigers and South Sydney at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday, May 17, the outspoken Elias has re-ignited the fued between the two traditional rivals.

The controversy erupted 100 years ago when Tigers fans claimed an act of treachery robbed their team of a chance of winning the 1909 premiership. The Rabbitohs still protest that their club acted honourably and won the title fair and square.

The trouble arose over the scheduling of the 1909 premiership final. Souths and Balmain won the right to meet in the final after achieving semi-final victories over Newcastle and Easts respectively. Both semis were played on August 14 and the final to determine the premiers was eagerly anticipated by supporters of both clubs.

But before the final could be played there was an international series between Australia and the Maoris followed by the momentous series of matches between the Kangaroos and the Wallabies.

The original plan was for three matches to be played between the Kangaroos and Wallabies over an eight-day period but the size of the gates did not match the substantial outlays of entrepreneur James Joynton Smith and the NSWRL so the decision was made to schedule a fourth game on the same day as the premiership final.

It was a controversial move and officials of Balmain railed against the League?s plan to relegate the most important game of the domestic season to ?undercard? status. Balmain officials foreshadowed a plan to boycott the final and when the team failed to show at the Agricultural Ground for the 2pm start, Souths kicked off, scored a farcical try and were then awarded the premiership by forfeit.

Angry Balmain officials claimed Souths had earlier agreed to the boycott but had reneged on their promise. The aggrieved officials threatened legal moves against the Rabbitohs but no further action eventuated.

There was no hard evidence of Souths? compliance to the boycott, but Balmain officials were convinced that they had been ?dudded? ? the genesis of a rivalry between two foundation clubs that lives on today.

And even though Balmain?s identity was partially absorbed by the Wests Tigers joint venture, modern-day matches between the Rabbitohs and the Tigers, especially those played at traditional venues such as Leichhardt Oval or the Sydney Cricket Ground carry a special sense of history.

Speaking in The Sun Herald on May 10, Elias said the Rabbitohs did the wrong thing and that their premiership should be taken away.

?People take gold medals away from Olympians who cheat ? I would say this is on par,?? Elias said.

?It?s clearly stated in the records they both agreed not to turn up ? one team did and they won the premiership.

?They weren?t honourable in our agreement. We were outsmarted, it was very cunning.

?The battle continues.??

http://www.ticketek.com.au

SOUTHS V BALMAIN
Head-to-head (1908-99): Played 178, Souths 95, Balmain 80, drawn 3
Finals Head-to-head: Played 10, Balmain 8, Souths 2
Longest winning streaks: Balmain ? 9 games (1943?47); Souths ? 9 games (1971?75)
Biggest wins: Balmain ? 43?7 at Leichhardt Oval, July 27, 1946; Souths ? 39?2 at Redfern Oval, April 20, 1975
Biggest crowd: 58,825 at Sydney Cricket Ground, September 20, 1969 (grand final)
Most points: Balmain ? Keith Barnes, 167 (1 try, 82 goals); Souths ? Eric Simms, 154 (4 tries, 63 goals, 8 field goals)
Most tries: Balmain ? Arthur Patton, 13; Souths ? Les ?Chic? Cowie, 15

SOUTHS V WESTS TIGERS
Head-to-head (2002?2008): Played 12, Wests Tigers 7, Souths 5
Finals Head-to-head: Nil
Longest winning streaks: Wests Tigers ? 4 games (2004?06); Souths ? 3 games (2003?04)
Biggest wins: Wests Tigers ? 56?6 at Leichhardt Oval, August 8, 2004; Souths ? 37?12 at Leichhardt Oval, August 26, 2007
Biggest crowd: 22,877 at Leichhardt Oval, July 24, 2005
Most points: Wests Tigers ? Brett Hodgson, 60 (1 try, 28 goals); Souths ? Justin Smith, 22 (2 tries, 7 goals)
Most tries: Wests Tigers ? Robbie Farah, Daniel Fitzhenry, 6; Souths ? Bryan Fletcher, Yileen Gordon, 3

Source: http://www.weststigers.com.au

DIEHARD
14-05-09, 03:05 PM
Tigers v Rabbitohs Preview
Sydney Cricket Ground Sunday 3pm

The traditional match-of?the-round games at the SCG may have originally fallen on Saturday afternoons but Sunday afternoon at the SCG is a reasonable timeslot for what shapes as an exciting blockbuster between two ?old school? teams this Heritage weekend.

Of course Balmain and Western Suburbs have become bedfellows in recent years but the rivalry they both shared with South Sydney lives on.

Balmain especially loved to take down the Bunnies, stemming from way back to 1909 when the Tigers claim the Rabbitohs reneged on a deal to not take the field for the premiership decider, and as such Souths claimed the premiership by forfeit.

Then there is the controversial 1969 grand final where the Tigers, as extreme underdogs, toppled the Bunnies with dubious time-wasting tactics.

Going back through the annals you see Balmain finished first and Souths second in 1915, 1916, 1917, 1920, 1924, 1939 and 1969, while Souths finished first with Balmain second in 1909. Souths won competitions ahead of Wests in 1918, 1925, 1932, 1950 while Wests won over Souths in 1952.

In 2009, the Rabbitohs and Wests Tigers are both sitting on 10 competition points with the Bunnies in seventh and the Tigers in ninth on differential. As such this game is all-important in terms of staying in or around the finals zone.

The Tigers had the bye last weekend and fell to the Bulldogs the weekend prior, making them hungry to get back into the winner?s circle.

Benji Marshall returns to the side which allows Tim Moltzen to return to fullback and sees Shannon Gallant miss out. Chris Lawrence hasn?t recovered from his ankle injury so Dene Halatau moves to centre and Daine Laurie and Rocky Trimarchi come onto a five-man bench.

South Sydney also had the bye last weekend after a loss against the Titans.

They have lost John Sutton after he broke his hand playing for City Origin; however they have a more than handy replacement in Craig Wing at five-eighth and new signing Michael Crocker at lock. Shannon McPherson has been added to a bench of five.

Watch out Wests Tigers: He?s been waiting a long time between games and may be a little rusty but Michael Crocker is a potential match winner.

The former Rooster and Storm back-rower finally returns to the playing field after months away during which time he tried to secure a UK visa to join Hull. His last game was the humiliating 40-0 grand final loss to Manly so you can imagine this enforcer has plenty of pent-up aggression just waiting to come out.

Defensively Crocker hits with the best of them and he has the ability to crack through a tackle with damaging runs. Just how much rust is in his game remains to be seen but if he is on, the Tigers could be in trouble.

Watch out Rabbitohs: Benji Marshall returns to the Tigers side bummed he led his Kiwi side to defeat in last weekend?s Test match. The elusive halfback wants nothing more than to once again get that winning feeling, which spells danger for the Rabbitohs.

Marshall is one of the NRL?s more devastating running no.7s, averaging 69 metres a match. He has four line breaks, seven line-break assists and 10 try assists. Look for him to get involved all over the park.

He loves switching the direction of the attack and targeting lazy defenders on the short side. Sometimes he has a tendency to run sideways too much but when he straightens, he can step past even the best defenders.

Where it will be won: Defence will be the key in this clash. Both sides enjoy a little bit of unstructured attacking football, which brings plenty of excitement ? but it?s in defence where both teams need to be on this Sunday. So far this season the Rabbitohs have been more rock solid than their rivals, with 17.5 points per match conceded compared to the Wests Tigers? 26.13 points per game.

The Tigers will try to get at Chris Sandow (a massive 31 per cent ineffective), Issac Luke (19 per cent ineffective) and David Kidwell (16.6 per cent ineffective) while the Rabbitohs will spot up Benji Marshall (25.3 percent ineffective), Chris Heighington (16.3 percent ineffective) and John Morris (14.1 percent ineffective).

The History: Played 12; Wests Tigers 7, Rabbitohs 5. The Wests Tigers have won six of the past seven matches between the two clubs, giving them plenty of momentum over their rivals. In the corresponding match last season, the only one between the two clubs and the SCG, the Tigers prevailed 30-10. In fact, the closest margin between the teams in the past seven matches has been 20 points, with the average victory margin being almost 31 points, so history suggests a blow-out score line.

Conclusion: The Wests Tigers have had the wood over the Rabbitohs in recent times and this could continue if Marshall is given space to work his magic.

The fact the Rabbitohs have lost John Sutton is also a potential problem. Craig Wing is a sensational player in great form but he hasn?t been working with Chris Sandow as often as Sutton has.

Either side could easily take the points here so don?t be afraid to go with your initial instincts when determining your footy tipping. Both sides might be coming off losses but they both had good chances to win those matches, so they take some momentum into the match. Toss a coin.

Match officials: Referees ? Jason Robinson & Ashley Klein; Sideline Officials ? Jeff Younis & Paul Holland; Video Ref ? Sean Hampstead.

Televised: Channel 9 ? Delayed 4pm; Fox Sports ? Delayed 6pm.

* Statistics: NRL Stats.

Source: http://www.nrl.com

TITAN PETE
17-05-09, 05:27 PM
What a fantastic game & lived up to the match of the round at the Original Home of Rugby League the SCG :D , it would've been awesome to be there to see the Rabbits come from behind to win 23-22 with a last second field goal from Merritt :)

dee13
17-05-09, 05:31 PM
THATS WHAT FOOTY IS ABOUT!!!!
What A Game!!!!

DIEHARD
17-05-09, 05:52 PM
That was amazing, Tigers looked home when Sandow went down injured. They are lucky to have Wing and Sutton who will be back soon to cover.

The entire day was awesome, with traditional jerseys, at the SCG. The crowd looked fantastic and they were treated to some awesome and exciting football.

Anyone know the crowd? It was huge. looked amazing. I'd love to see more games at the SCG but no one could pack them out like Tigers and Bunnies fans.

DIEHARD
17-05-09, 06:03 PM
And Merritt's field goal was amazing, most players cant get them from the middle of the field, let alone out wide. His first field goal in first grade.

Stunning win to top off a great Sunday arvo of footy. glad Souths won though! :)

Dragons
17-05-09, 06:17 PM
And Merritt's field goal was amazing, most players cant get them from the middle of the field, let alone out wide. His first field goal in first grade.

Stunning win to top off a great Sunday arvo of footy. glad Souths won though! :)

I tipped Souths but was cheering on the Tigers. Souths are the other team I hate other then the bonco's.

DIEHARD
17-05-09, 06:51 PM
Traffic is getting hectic at the bottom of the 8, we are 7th and the Bunnies have hopped above us. This is getting very serious.

TITAN PETE
17-05-09, 07:19 PM
Anyone know the crowd? It was huge. looked amazing. I'd love to see more games at the SCG but no one could pack them out like Tigers and Bunnies fans.

29,970, a record attendance for a fixture between the two old rivals.

Boofhead
17-05-09, 09:06 PM
Great Game, Great Atmosphere... Wish I could of been there.

WOW!