DIEHARD
20-02-06, 01:21 AM
We're nobody's bunnies any more
By Dean Ritchie
South Sydney coach Shaun McRae believes the Rabbitohs now have genuine respect within the NRL thanks to success in the Charity Shield and their barnstorming finish to last season.
The Rabbitohs' dramatic 14-12 win on Saturday night gave them back-to-back victories over the Dragons in the annual event for the first time since 1989.
Even though it was only a trial McRae believes the result underlines that Souths have moved on from being easybeats.
"You have to earn respect. Last year it took us a while because of the seasons before but we're earning respect now," the Souths coach said.
"I think you've earned respect when you know other teams are preparing to play you and not just thinking they can turn up, go through the motions and play to 75 to 80 per cent and win.
"In the past, teams playing Souths could get away with that."
The Rabbitohs were behind 12-0 at half-time but fought back with three unanswered tries.
It coincided with St George Illawarra coach Nathan Brown resting a host of star players during the second half including Trent Barrett, Shaun Timmins and Jason Ryles.
But McRae was unperturbed and admitted the club had set high expectations for the season ahead.
Souths' fans are buoyant this season after winning six of the club's final eight matches last season.
"We want to be a play-off team. In previous seasons you have had to get 28 points to get there," McRae said.
"We finished on 23 points last year and clearly no one wants to go backwards. We improved 50 per cent on the year before [16 points to 23]. Possibly another 15 per cent this year could see us into the finals."
The match was a victory for South Sydney off the field as well with a healthy crowd of 24,566 turning up for the Rabbitohs' first game at their new home of Telstra Stadium.
The other key issue out of the game was the on-going debate over the grapple tackle rules.
For the second week in a row coaches were concerned about the new interpretation of the rule and the amount of penalties that were awarded.
But Brown was left perplexed by several rulings from referee Steve Clark.
"Clarky was told anything near the head penalise, so he did the right thing, it's not that he did the wrong thing," Brown said.
"But Shaun Timmins would be sitting there thinking, 'what have I done wrong that I haven't done for the past 20 years since I've been playing'."
The Daily Telegraph - http://www.news.com.au
By Dean Ritchie
South Sydney coach Shaun McRae believes the Rabbitohs now have genuine respect within the NRL thanks to success in the Charity Shield and their barnstorming finish to last season.
The Rabbitohs' dramatic 14-12 win on Saturday night gave them back-to-back victories over the Dragons in the annual event for the first time since 1989.
Even though it was only a trial McRae believes the result underlines that Souths have moved on from being easybeats.
"You have to earn respect. Last year it took us a while because of the seasons before but we're earning respect now," the Souths coach said.
"I think you've earned respect when you know other teams are preparing to play you and not just thinking they can turn up, go through the motions and play to 75 to 80 per cent and win.
"In the past, teams playing Souths could get away with that."
The Rabbitohs were behind 12-0 at half-time but fought back with three unanswered tries.
It coincided with St George Illawarra coach Nathan Brown resting a host of star players during the second half including Trent Barrett, Shaun Timmins and Jason Ryles.
But McRae was unperturbed and admitted the club had set high expectations for the season ahead.
Souths' fans are buoyant this season after winning six of the club's final eight matches last season.
"We want to be a play-off team. In previous seasons you have had to get 28 points to get there," McRae said.
"We finished on 23 points last year and clearly no one wants to go backwards. We improved 50 per cent on the year before [16 points to 23]. Possibly another 15 per cent this year could see us into the finals."
The match was a victory for South Sydney off the field as well with a healthy crowd of 24,566 turning up for the Rabbitohs' first game at their new home of Telstra Stadium.
The other key issue out of the game was the on-going debate over the grapple tackle rules.
For the second week in a row coaches were concerned about the new interpretation of the rule and the amount of penalties that were awarded.
But Brown was left perplexed by several rulings from referee Steve Clark.
"Clarky was told anything near the head penalise, so he did the right thing, it's not that he did the wrong thing," Brown said.
"But Shaun Timmins would be sitting there thinking, 'what have I done wrong that I haven't done for the past 20 years since I've been playing'."
The Daily Telegraph - http://www.news.com.au