Round 21 South Sydney Rabbitohs v Wests Tigers

[TITAN PETE]

SUNDAY

South Sydney Rabbitohs v Wests Tigers at ANZ Stadium, 3:00pm (local). #NRLSOUWST

RABBITOHS: Nathan Merritt, Justin Hunt, Matt King, Dylan Farrell, Andrew Everingham, John Sutton, Adam Reynolds, Eddy Pettybourne, Nathan Peats, Sam Burgess, Chris McQueen, Dave Taylor, Michael Crocker. Interchange (from): Jason Clark, Dave Tyrrell, Luke Burgess, Ben Lowe, Shaune Corrigan, Josh Starling

TIGERS: Tim Moltzen, Matt Utai, Blake Ayshford, Chris Lawrence, Beau Ryan, Curtis Sironen, Benji Marshall, Aaron Woods, Robbie Farah (c), Adam Blair, Liam Fulton, Gareth Ellis, Chris Heighington. Interchange: Junior Moors, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Matt Bell, Ray Cashmere

[TITAN PETE]

Souths confident of coping without Inglis

RSS
Ian McCullough AAP Tue, Jul 24, 2012 - 6:32 PM

South Sydney are confident suspensions will not lead to their NRL season coming off the rails as they look to lock-up a top-four spot and first finals appearance since 2007.

The third-placed Rabbitohs face a injury-hit Wests Tigers side on Sunday at ANZ Stadium without Issac Luke, who is midway through a three-match ban, and Greg Inglis who will serve a ban for his shoulder charge on St George Illawarra's Dean Young.

Inglis has pleaded guilty to dangerous contact but will front the NRL judiciary on Wednesday where he will look to downgrade the charge to reduce his four-game suspension.

Co-captain Michael Crocker admitted should he fail, the Queensland and Australia superstar's lengthy absence would be a big blow to Souths' end of season run in, but one the side would overcome.

"It will hurt us if he's out for sure as he is a great player," Crocker said.

"However, Nathan Merritt is playing fantastic at the moment and is a great player to bring in at fullback and has played there heaps of times."

Fellow front-rower Sam Burgess agreed that losing Inglis would be a blow, but said the mood around the team, following a run of nine wins in 11 games has built confidence.

"A winning team is a happy team that's for sure," Burgess told AAP.

"Whenever you are on a good run, everyone has a smile on their face and winning breeds confidence.

"But in this league that can change very quickly. We back ourselves to carry on this form, but the coach is very good at keeping us grounded and making sure we don't get carried away."

Crocker added his voice to an ever-growing list of players to speak out against banning the shoulder charge from the game and said the current outcry was slightly over the top.

"There's been four or five players injured this year from 700 tackles a week," Crocker said.

"We all know when we cross that white line it's a physical game and things like that can happen and you can never rule it out.

"People don't go into a game thinking `I'm going to use a shoulder charge.'

"We don't train for it, it's just in certain situations when it happens, someone may step inside you and you put your arm up and lead with your shoulder. It's something that is very limited in the game."

[Rage]

James MacSmith and Ed Jackson AAP Sat, Jul 28, 2012 - 5:08 PM

Wests Tigers are confident adversity will bring out the best in their injury-hit side as they cling to an NRL top eight spot.

Centre Blake Ayshford says the Tigers believe they can wrest back the momentum that has been a large part of their season, starting with Sunday's match against South Sydney.

Wests suffered five successive losses before winning seven straight. Three losses then followed before a win over Penrith, then last weekends's loss to North Queensland.

Sitting in eighth spot at the beginning of round 21, the Tigers have a battered roster but Ayshford remains upbeat.

"The same thing happened last year," Ayshford said.

"Chris Lawrence and Lote Tuqiri were injured and we stood up and went on a run and won a lot of games in a row and made the semis.

"I think this team plays better when we have a bit of adversity facing us. If we can win games while those guys are out, it will be a statement and we will be in a position to make a charge at the finals and make an impact when we get there."

Lawrence, Tim Moltzen, Curtis Sironen, Ben Murdoch-Masila have joined Keith Galloway, Tuqiri and James Tedesco on the sidelines as the Tigers face a desperate bid to keep their season alive.

On Sunday at ANZ Stadium they face an in-form South Sydney side minus suspended superstar Greg Inglis but nonetheless closing in on their best regular season finish since 1989.

"They have lost a couple of players too, and we still owe them for earlier in the year when we lead by 10 points or so and they came back and beat us in golden point," Ayshford said.

"They are in the top four and that is where we want to be so these are the sort of games we need to win if we want to do that."

[TITAN PETE]

Sky the limit for high-flying Bunnies

Joe Barton AAP Sun, Jul 29, 2012 - 6:37 PM


Try as he might, Michael Maguire is having a hard time keeping a lid on expectations at South Sydney.

The rookie NRL coach has transformed the Rabbitohs from a team that had made the finals just once in more than two decades into one charging into September football and challenging for the minor premiership with five rounds remaining.

Sunday's 32-6 demolition of Wests Tigers, without suspended duo Issac Luke and Greg Inglis, long thought to be the key elements to any South Sydney victory, stamped Maguire's outfit as one of the competition's favourites.

And it gave their success-starved fans any number of reasons to cheer, prompting respected rugby league figure Phil Gould to declare this the best Rabbitohs outfit in half a century - a period that includes premierships in 1967, 1968, 1970 and 1971.

"I think this is the best South Sydney team I've seen in 50 years," Gould said in commentary.

"And they can get excited."

Maguire laughed off comparisons with some of the club's all-time great teams, saying his men aren't even playing as well as they can with the finals looming.

"I'm not that old, so I don't know," Maguire said when told of Gould's comment.

Co-captain Michael Crocker has been with the club since 2009, but is well-versed in the history and is all too aware of the passion of Souths fans.

"They're solid fans. They've been through some tough times and to give back to them is a joy for us," he said.

Star English import Sam Burgess also thought anything could be possible.

"Who knows what we are capable of?" Burgess told AAP.

"The longer we keep working as a group the further we'll go. Everyone's really bought into the process we've put in place and the things that we're doing to improve."

The Rabbitohs never looked troubled, despite the absence of Luke and Inglis, with their replacements scoring all of the home side's first-half tries.

Fill-in hooker Nathan Peats scrambled over for a double from close range before Inglis's replacement at the back, try-scoring machine Nathan Merritt, chimed in after 33 minutes, backing up a John Sutton line-break to score his 12th try of the season.

Not to be outdone, Souths' halves showed off in the second half, delighting the 29,863-strong crowd.

Rookie halfback Adam Reynolds ran circles around debutant Tigers winger Marika Koroibete to set up Dylan Farrell while Sutton continued his hot form in the lead-up to Jason Clark's second-half four-pointer.

The Tigers loss pushes them outside the top eight on for and against, falling to tenth as the top eight squeeze starts to kick in.

Manly's remarkable 24-22 comeback victory over the Warriors in Perth moved them to sixth spot, and closer to safety, while the Warriors and Canberra have fallen two points behind the chasing pack with losses.

St George Illawarra's upset win over the freefalling Melbourne put them within touching difference of a top eight berth, while Cronulla's season is on life support after a shock 21-20 loss to Penrith.

Newcastle kept their finals hopes alive and effectively extinguished Canberra's with a 36-6 victory over the Raiders at Canberra Stadium.

[TITAN PETE]

Wests Tigers' NRL finals hopes take a hit

By Joe Barton AAP Sun, Jul 29, 2012 - 7:13 PM


Tim Sheens accused his Wests Tigers of lacking desperation as their run to the NRL finals hit another skid on Sunday.

The Tigers looked lifeless as they capitulated 32-6 to a rampant South Sydney side making a serious charge for the minor premiership.

Coming up against a Rabbitohs outfit missing gun hooker Issac Luke and superstar fullback Greg Inglis, the Tigers were meant to be a fair chance of strengthening their finals aspirations.

Instead they fell apart in front of 29,683 fans, unable to overcome their own personnel losses that included fullback Tim Moltzen and centre Chris Lawrence.

On top of that, Sheens said his players were guilty of having one eye on the draw and were praying for results to go their way rather than focusing 100 per cent on game day.

Sheens said it came down to desperation - something the Gold Coast, who moved into eighth spot with Friday night's win over the Sydney Roosters, have been playing with for nearly two months.

"It's amazing the strength you (can) find when you're in that position," Sheens said.

"Gold Coast and others are playing with that desperation (and a) 'we've got to win, we've got to win' mentality.

"That's where we're at now."

The Tigers have slipped outside the top eight on for-and-against, with captain Robbie Farah admitting they were now chasing the pack - and no longer in control of their own destiny.

Farah lamented the below-par performance, singling out himself and makeshift halves partner Benji Marshall, who scored a late consolation try, for criticism.

As the Tigers' two best players, many expected their union would ensure the attack did not skip a beat.

It could not have been further from the case, the Tigers playing too much side-to-side football and struggling to create chances.

"We just didn't play the way we liked (to)," Farah admitted.

"That's probably the worst game I've played in a long time and I don't think Benji would be too happy with his game.

"We control that team (and) touch the ball the most out of any other player and when we play poorly, we're not going to win games.

"I've been around a while and thought I could handle it (positional changes) but obviously I didn't do as well as I would have liked."

Moltzen (hamstring) and prop Keith Galloway (shoulder) could be available for the next clash against Parramatta, but Sheens warned that wouldn't be an instant solution.

"We're not going to offer any excuses. We just weren't good enough today," a dejected Sheens said.

"People tried hard but we didn't work together as a unit ... it was pretty disappointing."