A Special Night For South Sydney

A Special Night For South Sydney

What a special night Saturday night was for not only South Sydney and their members and fans, but for the game itself. That night the club showed the rest of the NRL how to pay tribute to not only a legend of the club, but a legend of the game.

Tears Flowed

There were plenty of tears in the crowd. So many things from the videos on the screen to the jerseys the players wore. Scott Sattler and family in the huddle on the field for the minute silence with the likes of JD, Sam and George Piggins to the 13th minute applause led by The Burrow.

Then to top it off after the victory the sounds of John Sattler singing the victory song one last time. That was where the tears started for me. Such a moving moment. I have never heard a crowd so quiet after a win. Such a beautiful moment and a fitting tribute to such an inspirational icon of our great club.

Well done to the club. 

The Game

With all this happening there was still a game to be played. 

A game where it wasn’t won by our attack, but our defence. Whether it last ditch efforts to save tries or putting their bodies in the way to block a field goal attempt. The boys kept digging deep to make sure they won it for Satts. They certainly looked at times that they looked to him for inspiration to put in one last effort. 

The tries we conceded were off a kick and intercept. 

Cookie

There was no bigger effort than that of Damien Cook right at the end of regulation. How often do we see DCE nail them? He wasn’t missing that one. Despite making 50 tackles, Cook put himself in a position to block the kick. Then chase the ball to give us that one last chance for a win in regulation. Had anyone other than Koula been chasing he wins the game for us.

Errors once again were a factor in the first half. A poor completion rate looked like it was going to be our undoing once again. Even early in the second half the boys hands let them down. Once we started holding on the ball we were able to get back into the game. Some of the errors were our own fault. 

Never Give Up

Our first try was a lesson in never giving up on a play. Cody Walker did brilliant to not only get there but somehow get the ball down for a try. I don’t think anyone thought it was a try live. Even Cody didn’t think it was. Then the replay showed a spectacular put down by Cody. 

The set after a try is important to complete your set and keep momentum. Unfortunately Host dropped the ball. Manly made us pay that next set. The momentum was back with Manly. 

Half Time Hoodoo

For the last 4 games we have played we have conceded in the last minute of the half. Surely it wasn’t going to happen again? We had the ball. On the halfway line putting on an attacking play. We were safe. Surely? Interception. Try to DCE. Like clockwork. We concede on the stroke of halftime. 

An area that is a real concern. In the end the previous 2 weeks it ended up being the difference in the results. It was almost the difference Saturday night. 

The 2nd Half

The second half at times it looked like we were out of the game and barely hanging on. At one stage Manly had several sets attacking our line. The boys kept repelling them. They kept digging to put in another effort. Tired and exhausted they would pick themselves up. The resilience they showed would have made Satts proud. 

A big turning point in the game was Tom in his second stint. He really got things going. It seemed to lift his teammates and start to give us field position. We had no right to still be in the game at that point. But like all our games this year we have managed to keep ourselves in the game. 

Cody Steps Up Again

Finally a chance appeared. Step up Cody Walker. 

Great work by Ilias in his ball-work and Campbell with his decoy. Cody saw enough of a gap to get through. Try. We were back in the game. Conversion missed and we were down by 2. 

Both teams at that stage were really struggling and were out on their feet. Still advantage to Manly on the scoreboard. 

Errors were starting to creep into Manly’s game now. Giving us opportunities. To their credit their defence was turning up. This game was turning into a real battle. Finally a high tackle and penalty right next to the posts. Latrell converted and the scores were level. 

What team was going to flinch first? 

Time was starting to count down and we were heading into a field goal shoot out.

Time Running Out

We get the first opportunity. Time was running down. It was under a minute to go. Last tackle. Poor pass to Latrell and even worse shot by him. Manly were given a 7 tackle set with enough time to get into range. 

They take it to the last play of the game only for Cook to prevent it.

Golden Point

We have had a poor record of Golden point of late. The nerves were kicking in. Manly were getting the first chance with the ball. Then tackle 3 they dropped the ball. 

This game was starting to get the vibe of the Sharks game from last year.

We were in great position to win the game. We win the scrum and the 3rd play we set up for the field goal to win the game. Another poor pass to Latrell. This time unlike against the Sharks he doesn’t go for it and it gives us another opportunity to set up.

Incredible Ilias

Finally the last play. This time Ilias is there. It’s his time to stand up. He doesn’t miss. That’s fulltime and a brave win.

That play would do wonders for the confidence of Lachlan. It is great that he finally put his hand up to be there to win the game for us. He certainly had a mixed game with his kicking. There were a few poor kicks. There was one long kick he did that was as good as it gets. Also chased with Cook to ensure we got the result of a repeat set. 

One thing about Lachlan’s game is he isn’t an eyes up player at the moment. He still struggled with changing his mind on the run when it’s the last tackle. When he does that he doesn’t get it right.

Keaon Massive

Keaon Koloamatangi had a massive game in the middle. Playing 78 minutes as a prop. I know there were a couple of drop balls, but he didn’t stop all game. Having him away from the right edge though didn’t help our attack down that side. 

It can be a funny with your thoughts of a player at the game, but the more you think about it the more you change your mind. I left the ground thinking Cam Murray had a poor game by his standards. He threw the interception. Our captain threw a poor pass to Cody which he dropped when we were on the attack. He even gave away a penalty and lost our challenge.

All very unlike Cam. Yet the work he did all game. Making 57 tackles. Playing the full 82 minutes. Even at the end it was him who did the last run of the game and still managed to get the quick play the ball to get us in great position to set up for the winning field goal. 

Tass On Top

Isaiah Tass really helped the forward out with his runs. He ended up running for over 200 metres. I know a few get frustrated with him not passing to AJ. I thought for most part him holding the ball was the right thing. The winger wasn’t committed to him. There were probably one or two times he should have passed. Ironically the time he did pass I thought he was through. 

That was a great effort by him to prevent Koula from scoring. There were other efforts by the likes of Michael Chee-Kam and Lachlan Ilias that prevented tries. Those effort areas are the difference between winning and losing. It certainly was Saturday night. Something we are getting right for the most part this year that keeps us in the contest.

Campbells Defence

Speaking of defensive efforts how good is Campbell in defence? He seems to be really hurting the opposition this year. 

Latrell was a tale of two halves for me. First half just wasn’t getting involved. The second half he started to step up. Some of his runs to get us out of trouble made a huge difference. This is what we need to see more of with Latrell. One area I think he needs to work on is his positional play at the back when we are defending our line. The try Manly scored from the kick he should have been in and around there. It isn’t a lone thing.

Love For Ben

It is always great to see a young player make his first grade debut. Ben Lovett didn’t let anyone down when he came on. Shows the coach has plenty of faith in him to keep him on when the game was so tight. Certainly will be seeing plenty more of him. We seem to have this next player up mentality in our club. 

Cody was the difference in that game. A couple of his kicks weren’t great but he troubled Manly in attack. Two great tries. Unlucky that he slipped as I thought he was going to get a third try. Still that run led to us getting the penalty as Manly were on the back foot right in their line and with Latrell taking it up they got the tackle wrong for us to get the penalty to level the scores.

A game where the stats suggest we probably shouldn’t have won. This team just doesn’t give up and is keeping in the contest. 

A great night and celebration of one of our most iconic players. Fitting that it ended with the voice of John Sattler belting out the victory song one last time.

A Special Night For South Sydney.

By Josh Kemp for Bunnies TV.