Uncool Dad’s Bunnies TV Round 15 Recap
We had a full round of NRL to enjoy over our King’s Birthday weekend which of course presented many great games and intriguing results. I viewed all the footy action in a bit of a strange location as I was in Melbourne for the weekend! I was there for the Bombers v Carlton clash at the MCG. My wife got me the trip as a birthday present and it certainly was an experience being amongst 86,000 fans at the MCG. I do follow the AFL and Essendon, but really, I’m quite casual about it when compared to Souths and league. Still, I had a good time down in sport loving Victoria even though I missed being at Kogarah on Saturday. I did however find time to catch up with Storm Man at AAMI Park. A nice bloke but not a patch on Reggie/Charlie! Let’s recap Round 15…
Titans v Titans
This was an interesting way to start the round with two of the lesser-lights of the NRL squaring up for the prime time Thursday slot. This was a tough one to pick and I made the fatal mistake of tipping the Tigers… I think it must have been years ago when I last got a tip right on a Tigers win.
Anyway, the Titans were pretty good here and for once they went on with the job at half time. The addition of Brimson and Verrills made a lot of difference to their talented but inconsistent side. Too many errors from Wests in what must have been disappointing for their fans in a winnable game. The loss of Koroisau and Brooks during the game didn’t help but I’m not sure if they were ever in this.
Raiders v Warriors
The early Friday match is often a bit of a graveyard shift in the NRL but not this week. A packed out Canberra Stadium was there to celebrate club legend Jarrod Croker’s 300th game in the lime green. The Raiders started on fire, feeding off their huge home crowd, but the Warriors were tough as ever. They showed the resilience that we’ve seen a lot of this year, repelling the rabid Raiders and keeping them to only 8 to NZ’s 6 at the break.
Given the ball the Raiders had the margin should have been much wider. Canberra can be brilliant but when challenged they can often struggle and I had a sense they were in trouble. The home side really had ‘spent their penny’ early and the Warriors responded by running in try after try. Yet another vintage Shaun Johnson performance and win against the odds for the Warriors.
Sea-Eagles v Dolphins
There isn’t much to say about this game so I won’t spend ages on it. This was an old school Brookvale ambush with the Dolphins being absolutely obliterated by the home side. The toughness that we’ve become used to with the new side was nowhere to be seen as the Manly racked up the points. Injuries look to have finally caught up with the Dolphins whilst Turbo seems to be getting back to his best. If he can fire weekly, the Sea-Eagles will be a difficult prospect.
Dragons v Rabbitohs
This looked like a classic afternoon of footy at a sunny Kogarah. I was jealous of my Rabbitioh friends and all the other league fans there while I watched in my hotel room in Melbourne. Regardless of the result, it’s great to see supporters getting out to their games. The product has been so good in 2023 and the people are responding.
With arguably our 5 highest paid players unavailable, this was always going to be a difficult one for Souths. Despite this, I was excited by seeing Dean Hawkins given a start and I was confident our club would be strong enough to prevail. Things got off to a great start with a try to Richie Kennar. Could this be a great day for Souths? Not quite. Two Dragons tries sent us back to the reality of our situation pretty quickly. A try just before the break to Keaon got us right back into it and feeling pretty good about things going into the 2nd half.
First try of the second half was an ugly one to ex-Tigers hooker Liddle followed by a Tass 4 pointer after a long break from Cookie. Things were very loose in this game but I was thinking our understrength side could outpoint the Dragons. It wasn’t to be though as St George-Illawarra ran in three unanswered tries and they were all pretty embarrassing to witness. We then had that brief period at the death where we ran in three tries of our own in the space of three minutes! It was all too late but I’m sure everyone here was thinking the same as me – Round 19 2012 v the Roosters…
Never Fun To Lose
In the end it was a disappointing loss. We had every excuse but it’s never fun when you’re losing to teams at the bottom of the ladder no matter the circumstance. It doesn’t take a rugby league expert to know that our defense is becoming a bit of a worry. Some of the tries scored against us over the last month have been hard to watch. As mentioned last week, I think we just need a rest and a reset. The Broncos and the Rabbitohs were the only teams up till this round who hadn’t had a bye and it’s really showing for us in particular.
There were still positives though. Our boys never gave up at any stage, Havili made a fantastic return and Keaon was dominant. No doubt he’s up in Brisbane now as I type this preparing for Origin. We all love him at Souths and wish him nothing but the best.. Let’s enjoy the week off and then get stuck in to the Cowboys at Accor. Looking forward to it as always.
Broncos v Knights
This was a great game where the Knights really turned up to play and threw everything at Brisbane. They looked sure winners until the Broncos ran them down late. They’re a classy mob at Brisbane these days and they seem to be getting better. I think the lack of byes may have caught up with Brisbane a little too here but as they had close to their best line-up on the park they were able to pull through. I’m sure it would have been the same for us if Cam, Latrell, Cody and the like were there for us. Great effort by the Knights but Brisbane very impressive again.
Roosters v Panthers
The rugby league sicko in me really enjoyed this dismantling of the Roosters. Even though I’m not at all keen on Penrith, I got a bit of a kick out of a Cleary-less Penrith doing it easily against the Chooks. Penrith were really up for this. Everything was precise about what they did but they didn’t get a whole lot of opposition from the Roosters. They offer little in attack which makes it impossible to get into the grind with a top side like Penrith. Penrith continue on their winning ways even without their star half whilst the Roosters look in dire straits with a tough one against Newcastle next week.
Storm v Sharks
In a strange turn of events, I was actually at this game and not the Souths one. It was my first ever game at AAMI Park and it’s an impressive stadium. What looked like a poor crowd early, built up heavily late and there was plenty of atmosphere for this one. I went along as ‘Random Souths Guy’ in my Bunnies jersey and caused a bit of a stir amongst the locals. They were all keen for a bit of banter and were really quite nice and friendly.
I was expecting a close contest but I was off the mark. This was just another routine slaughter at AAMI Park that we’ve all seen a million before except this time I saw it live. Melbourne were dialed in for sure but I thought Cronulla were especially poor. Their forwards were completely dominated, the errors were bad and there was a real unwillingness to compete.
Bulldogs v Eels
Silly me gave the Dogs a chance in the final match of the round but once again I was completely wrong! Canterbury don’t lack effort anymore but their attack is becoming very predictable. I suppose they don’t have the star power of other teams but they do the same things every set and don’t test opposition sides too much.
The Eels, on the other hand, were very good. They had plenty of reasons not to perform today but they were clinical in their performance. That’s three in a row for them now and are positioned quite well given their tough early draw and just having the solitary bye.
As there’s no Souths game next week, I’ll most likely take a break from the re-cap. I’m not sure if anyone on BunniesTV wants to read a detailed report on the Tigers v Storm clash! Enjoy the week off Souths fans and join me after Origin 2 in a couple of weeks for Uncool Dad’s Round 17 Recap on BunniesTV.
Uncool Dad’s Bunnies TV Round 15 Recap
By Greg Allan
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