Uncool Dad’s Bunnies TV Round 25 Recap
The regular season is very much coming to a close with only 2 rounds of footy to go. The week that was Round 25 really was a terrible week to be a Souths fan though. Of course, we stunk things up again to slump to another defeat against Newcastle this afternoon. But these things need to be put into perspective as we lost another son at the Rabbitohs over the weekend. I’m still coming to terms with the death of Kyle Turner.
I never met Kyle, but he was a favourite of mine as he always gave his all when he was on the field for our team. Seeing the photos on social media over the weekend of Kyle with players from Souths that we all love has been hard to take. Particularly those with obviously close mates in Chris McQueen and Dave Tyrell…It all makes no sense that a well-liked, popular and respected ex Rabbitoh could pass at such a young age. But here in the land of the living, what do we really know? Farewell Big Dog.
In a tough week, let’s have a look at the round of footy with a close look at our disappointing loss at McDonald Jones this afternoon.
Cowboys v Sharks
In a game that was vitally important to the eventual makeup of the Top 8, we travelled to Townsville for the round opener. It was a hard game to find a winner as the Cows were at home and desperate whilst the Sharkies had been looking good. The match was tight early but late in the first half, Cronulla struck the front. It was all the Sharks after that with the Cowboys not even firing a shot.
After being played back into form by Souths a few weeks ago, Cronulla are looking the goods. No doubt their fans are looking forward to a promising finals series. On the other hand, North Queensland couldn’t have been more disappointing with so much on the line.
Warriors v Sea-Eagles
No matter which team you follow, it’s a great sight to see a packed Mt Smart Stadium cheering on a winning side. It’s been a long and difficult road for the Warriors but their fans really have something to cheer about now. In this match, I think most were expecting NZ to make light work of a Manly side whose season was over.
The Sea-Eagles had other ideas though and like they do sometimes, put in when you least expect it. It wasn’t until the final 20 that the Warriors kicked clear, much to the delight of their massive home crowd. A decent effort from Manly though considering they had little to play for.
Eels v Roosters
In Game 2 of Friday night we had another one of these crucial matches to see who would be playing finals. Basically, whoever lost this would be out of the running so there was plenty on the line. The Eels started well with an early try, giving the Commbank crowd hope that Parra was back to their best. It wasn’t to be as the Roosters ran in 4 unanswered tries to put the game away.
In the end, the Chooks cruised to a big win and would be really fancying their chances of playing finals after doing next to nothing for most of the year. With games against the Tigers and a terribly out of form Souths side, they’d be very confident. The Wests game might be the harder one. It would be disappointing for Parra fans that they’ve gone out in this way after making the grand final last year. I suppose they always looked a few players short in 2023 and injuries and luck haven’t helped their cause.
Tigers v Dolphins
Benji Marshall’s first game as head coach was a surprisingly entertaining one as two very much understrength sides went head to head. The Dolphins had a stack of players pull out before kick-off putting the Tiges into favouritism, only for them to lose Brooks also. This was a real to and fro clash with both sides exchanging the lead. I have nothing against the Dolphins but I was cheering on the Tiges in this. It must be tough for their actual fans as I found watching them very frustrating as they butchered attacking opportunities for fun.
In a super-tight finish, Wests got the win after an amazing kick from the sideline from Api Koroisau. Api was the difference between the two teams with a masterclass in a position he doesn’t normally play. Wests would be looking forward to the Roosters clash next round as would the Dolphins who would be keen to upset the misfiring Cowboys.
Titans v Panthers
Things went more or less to plan at CBus Super Stadium in game 2 of Super Saturday with the Panthers having a big win over the Gold Coast. The Titans surprised everyone with an early try but then Penrith responded with 4 of their own.. Not much else to say here really. The Panthers look as ominous as ever and the Titans were never really in the fight.
Dragons v Storm
Despite being out of contention for weeks, the Dragons refuse to give in. They don’t win very often but they always seem to be competing. After putting the Raiders to the sword last week, Melbourne were really only interested in just getting the result here. This is what happened in the end with the Storm running out 10 point winners. The game was in the balance with less than 10 minutes to go though. St George-Illawarra even had the chance to tie the scores with a sideline kick but missed.
It doesn’t get much easier for the Dragons next week as they face the Warriors. I’m sure they’ll still put up a fight. Melbourne host the Titans.
Knights v Rabbitohs
I now have the unfortunate task of writing about the Souths game. What was once a fun thing to do has turned into a real grind of late as our season plummets. Anyway, here we go..
A sell-out crowd was on hand for the huge Sunday arvo clash between two of the NRL’s most popular sides – Newcastle and South Sydney. After years of pissing in the wind with their team, the Newcastle faithful finally had a team to really get behind. A win today against Souths would push those claims even further. Souths were desperate to get their season on track after a disappointing few months. I thought that maybe coming up against the red hot Knights may be the tonic that we needed…
The Rabbitohs started well enough. It may have only been a few minutes but the side looked committed and willing to complete sets. I wondered how long it would last? Not long, it turned out. Just a couple of poor kicks and options were enough to have us on the back foot. Ponga split us out wide with ease and had Marzhew over in the corner. This was the first of three tries the big winger would score as the Knights scored the sort of 4 pointers that we used to at the start of the season. The worst one of these was a try just before the half, 8 – 0 at the break would have been an ok result. Ponga was electric and quite simply we had no answers but his 3 misses at goal had kept us in the game, I still had hope. We had been all at sea defensively in the backs but our forwards had been much better.
On The Board
Cookie, who was one of our best today, scored early in the second half. Here we go! Soon it would be 12-6 and we’d be on our way to victory. Not so, as Latrell missed a kick from right in front. This pretty much summed up our star’s game today. Still, 12-4 we were on the board and back in it. Tries to Saifiti and Clune to the Knights not long after though had us hanging our heads. After this, it was great to see Shaq Mitchell get a try, he is certainly a talent, but I had visions of a typical late finish from Souths for another close loss.
We couldn’t even manage that as Bradman Best ran away for the winning try off yet another error from the Bunnies. Reserve half Clune kicked the field goal to rub it in.
8th Tackle
Ultimately, we were better today. I thought the forwards worked hard and will hopefully get better with Sele and Tatola now back on board. We also didn’t have much luck with apparently a Knights try scored on the 8th tackle and our old mate Grant Atkins playing his part in another Newcastle try. I also saw quite a few passes that could be called forward but weren’t.
Refereeing complaints aside, our execution in the backs and halves was once again very poor. Our kicking game has never been great since Adam left but it’s particularly noticeable these days. The lack of confidence in our kicking sees us shifting the ball instead and we all know how that’s been going of late. The frustration levels of some of our players is another worry. We now have a nervous wait to see if Latrell is even available in coming weeks…
It’s hard to believe we’ve come to this after such a fantastic start to the year. We now face the prospect of trying to beat the Roosters to make the semis. Even if we did happen to get past them we’d be in the bottom of the 8. I’ll be at ANZ cheering our boys on as always hoping we can salvage our season with a complete form turnaround.
Raiders v Bulldogs
In the final match of the round, Canberra kept their finals hopes alive with a win over the Dogs. It was a relatively easy win by Canberra’s standards too, winning by a massive 12 points. Still, it was a decent victory without Wighton and will give them confidence for the coming weeks. They have two tough ones coming up with the Broncos and the Sharks scheduled.
As for the Dogs, they were better this week. They scored a few tries and scores were even for quite a while, however, they lost touch of the match in the second half. They have two potentially winnable games in Manly and the Titans to finish the season.
The recap will be having a break next week to coincide with the Rabbitohs’ bye. I’ll be back for a last round extravaganza, hoping that I’ll be reporting a big win against the Roosters. There’s a big emphasis on that word ‘hope’ but I won’t be giving up just yet.
Uncool Dad’s Bunnies TV Round 25 Recap.
Greg Allan
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