New member post: thoughts on footy

[Guest]

Fist of all, yes I am a Souths supporter. I have been reading this forum for several months, & was inspired to join the pen by a roosters mate of mine who works on the same floor as me. We often talk footy & seem to agree on many things. I wanted to see if other pen members have similar views, & I can report with little surprise that Souths are not very popular on the pen.

A little about myself. I grew up in Maroubra & started following Souths because my junior club wore red & green. I've always liked Easts truthfully, & was glad when they beat Manly to win in 2013.

Thoughts on the recent history of league

League was clearly a very violent game in the 1970s. You only need to watch docos like Fibros vs Silvertails to see the regular acts of bad violence in the game.

It took a determined & supported judiciary under Jim Cowans to clean up the game in the early '80s. Long suspensions were handed out to Bob Cooper & Les Boyd among others, & this led to a cleaner & more attractive game to watch.

In my humble opinion the golden years were between 87 & 94. The wozzaball era between 84-86 led by Warren Ryan's very defence orientated footy was shelved, by the referees policing the then 5 metre rule & some wonderful attacking footy followed.

The great Canberra, Brisbane & to a lesser extent Manly & Penrith sides played some wonderful matches. The Canberra/Manly semi in 91 won 34-26 by Canberra is, I think, one of the greatest club matches ever played. If you compare the 91 GF to 2012, the Penrith/Canberra match was superior in every sense.

The super league fiasco then proceeded to wreck the game for a number of years. One reason I admire Easts was the way they adjusted to these changing times. They were professional, ruthless & became a powerhouse after a pretty lean time in the early 90s and the transit era beforehand. Souths,*conversely, did nothing in the 90s being run very uunprofessionally by Piggins. In all honesty, it was probably justified to expel Souths in 1999.

The early 2000s saw some good footy, but the wrestle has wrecked & continues to wreck league as a spectacle. Bellamy & Melbourne didn't invent wrestling, but I firmly blame them for perfecting it & making other teams copy it. All teams coach the wrestle these days I'd say, & I think it again requires a tough judiciary that will consistently hand out long suspensions for chicken wing etc tackles before coaches change their tactics.

2014 review

I genuinely thought Easts would defend their title this year. Perhaps the hunger wasn't quite there, & the impact of the World Cup shouldn't be underestimated. Easts did very well to finish 1st after 26 rounds.

In hindsight Souths peaked too early in 2013. The 3/4 line was also poor, & Merritt/Goodwin were exposed by Manly when it mattered. In 2014 I was not convinced until Souths beat Manly in round 22, & Walker & Johnson developed well.

To be honest, in the prelim several calls went Souths way that changed the momentum. I think Souths were hungrier & deserved to win, but the penalties & key calls definitely helped.

In the GF Souths were clearly the better team & deserved to win. Had Easts made the GF, I am certain a similar scoreline would have occurred.

Happy to hear your responses & honest feedback. I can assure the pen I'm not here to troll. Thanks for reading.

P.S: I can confirm that I still have almost all my teeth & visit the dentist regularly!

[The Brain]

lol...............
Fair call mate.
I wish Easts were in Souffs position and never lost a penalty count half ours were real the other half the refs pulled them out of their asses.Unfortunately our guys have been defending hard for two years and wore out in the end. On Paper I would clain Chooks to have the better side but Souffs now are emerging finally having a shit hot backline.
Then next year we have Fergo ...lets see where that takes us.

[stephenj]

your honest intelligent opinion is well received by me, we do need to consider the impact of penalties along with wrestling wrecking the game, the impact of the referees is the ukltimate decider, remy casty no try called against Penrith , called honestly we win, probably meet souths in the gf, not as busted team but also rested just like souths were, although im sure the refs would have determined the result souths way then too?not sour grapes but it would have been a better matched grand final, so im not sure the score would have been similar easts seemed to be able to keep gi under control when it matters sbw shadowed him constantly

[Johnny Tobin]

It doesn't matter.

They got a leg up.

We blew it.

[The Axe]

Good balanced post BWT.
But the refereeing at present is determining too many matches. Add to this that no matter how many combinations of refs that are assembled, we get smashed in the penalties received.
Ultimately the penalties Souffs got that we didn't ultimately wore us out after a long campaign.

Souffs were the freshest and the best team in the finals and deserved to win, however in my heart of hearts, we have been belted by the refs for too long. See my avatar for Robbo's quote.

On top of this Souffs milk too many penalties - it is a slight on the game, especially for a team receiving more than their share of penalties anyway. As Premiers, I'd like to see some leadership and Macquire take a stand like Robbo. Sadly, I don't feel Madge has it in him.

[Guest]

mmm maybe the bait has been lain..

[Guest]

South's looked nervous to me and would have been doing a lot more goal line defending against easts, for sure.

Oh I miss the swagger that comes with being the champs

[Johnny.]

[Guest]

Thanks for your feedback; there is no bait being laid.

Actually I was trying to say that if Easts had beaten Souths in the prelim final and played Canterbury in the GF they would have beaten Canterbury like we did. Had Souths played Easts in the GF with Easts being rested, the result would have been a toss of the coin job I think.

[Tommy Smith]

Nice post, BWT.

There's no doubt that you guys were a lot hungrier than us. And the classy youngsters in Walker, Johnston and Keary transformed your backline into a major weapon, rather than the weak link it was in 2013.

And with the Burgess brothers and Issac Luke rolling through our tired forwards, you guys were very strong and worthy Premiers.

Having said that, I have some major gripes with the refs. Some mother****ing seriously major gripes with them and the staggering influence they can have on a game. And the staggering influence they DID have on our finals series.

The hapless Casty no try call, which received zero media attention, cost us a GF match up with you guys. BUT, we still were our own worst enemy in that game. The 1/7 completions to start the match were a disgrace and summed up our teams attitude all year.

Having said that, regardless of our own performance, we still have the right to fair officiating just like everyone else. And the FACTS are that we regularly get officiated out of games and it's been happening for years.

Given the increased ruck speed in 2014 there is NO legitimate reason as to why a team with our dominant forward pack should receive so few penalties. Roughly 25 fewer than anyone else in the regular season? And 80 fewer than Souths? Those stats are a disgrace.

The regular 10-3 penalty counts we're on the end of are a disgrace. The fact that we lose the penalty count to you guys roughly 10-5 every ****ing time we play you is a disgrace. The fact we NEVER win a penalty count by a similarly big margin is a disgrace.

I remember back in March/April we went almost a month without receiving a 10m offside penalty. We were regularly receiving only 2 or 3 a game at the time, almost exclusively from high shots or accidental offsides.

And there's just no fair and reasonable explanation for it.

In the Prelim we were dominating at 12 nil. And then the refs went crazy blowing the whistle - totally changing the momentum. And that's what they do with repeated innocuous and subjective calls in the ruck, dramatically change the momentum of games. And then the 6-1 count in the second half was the nail in the coffin. We didn't get a shot at your line as a result. But they made sure you guys got a shot at our line multiple times.

I mean the clincher was the soft high shot penalty to Keary which led to Te'o's try. And then 10 min later SBW gets smashed in the face by Burgess and the ref is like " check that please... oh no he's up, no need to check it now!" ****. OFF. You cheat.

I'm ranting now and having traumatic flashbacks.

But the facts are irrefutable. They clearly show that the refs play favourites and have a major gripe with the Roosters. Getting a penalty out of them in 2014 was like getting water out of a stone. It was so overt that, in essence, it was cheating.

And it'll continue in 2015 just like it has for almost 10 years. We'll lose the count to you 10-5 in rnd 1 no matter what, because that's the pre conception the refs already have in their heads before even stepping onto the field.

And that's why we're all so disillusioned. A disillusionment not based on some myth in our heads, but rather on very real and mind bogglingly lopsided stats that are clear for all to see.

And so I hope all the refs catch Ebola.

[Thirteen]

Nice thread from an intelligent South fan with teeth.
Look forward to future contributions from you.

[TheLoneRooster]

I applaud Tommy Smith's post. Bravo mate, well said. EASTS.

As for the OP, welcome to you. I'm afraid I don't have it in me to be magnanimous towards the team you support and their results this year. The thing is, I thought the team you support was good enough and didn't need the massive leg up from the officials - alas we'll never know.

In regards to the way the game is going, it is changing and not for the better. My interest in the game has waned dramatically, I didn't watch the GF and won't be watching much next year except for the odd Rooster game. Why? See Tommy Smith's post in this thread for some of the reasons. Add in the wrestle and the game isn't what I call a compelling spectacle any more.

[Guest]

Some of us have had this "pride of the league" crap rammed down our throats for too long.
2014 hurts for a lot of reasons, but above all the FACT that it wasn't a level playing field sucks most.

Phuc souths.

[Tommy Smith]

I thought I'd do a little research just to emphasise my point:

Number of times less than 5 penalties received in 2014:-

Roosters - 10
Souths - Zero

Number of times 9 or more penalties received in 2014:-

Roosters - 1
Souths - 13

How is that not match fixing? And how are we as Roosters fans supposed to love the NRL when this happens?

[Johnny Tobin]

Nice post, BWT.

There's no doubt that you guys were a lot hungrier than us. And the classy youngsters in Walker, Johnston and Keary transformed your backline into a major weapon, rather than the weak link it was in 2013.

And with the Burgess brothers and Issac Luke rolling through our tired forwards, you guys were very strong and worthy Premiers.

Having said that, I have some major gripes with the refs. Some mother****ing seriously major gripes with them and the staggering influence they can have on a game. And the staggering influence they DID have on our finals series.

The hapless Casty no try call, which received zero media attention, cost us a GF match up with you guys. BUT, we still were our own worst enemy in that game. The 1/7 completions to start the match were a disgrace and summed up our teams attitude all year.

Having said that, regardless of our own performance, we still have the right to fair officiating just like everyone else. And the FACTS are that we regularly get officiated out of games and it's been happening for years.

Given the increased ruck speed in 2014 there is NO legitimate reason as to why a team with our dominant forward pack should receive so few penalties. Roughly 25 fewer than anyone else in the regular season? And 80 fewer than Souths? Those stats are a disgrace.

The regular 10-3 penalty counts we're on the end of are a disgrace. The fact that we lose the penalty count to you guys roughly 10-5 every ****ing time we play you is a disgrace. The fact we NEVER win a penalty count by a similarly big margin is a disgrace.

I remember back in March/April we went almost a month without receiving a 10m offside penalty. We were regularly receiving only 2 or 3 a game at the time, almost exclusively from high shots or accidental offsides.

And there's just no fair and reasonable explanation for it.

In the Prelim we were dominating at 12 nil. And then the refs went crazy blowing the whistle - totally changing the momentum. And that's what they do with repeated innocuous and subjective calls in the ruck, dramatically change the momentum of games. And then the 6-1 count in the second half was the nail in the coffin. We didn't get a shot at your line as a result. But they made sure you guys got a shot at our line multiple times.

I mean the clincher was the soft high shot penalty to Keary which led to Te'o's try. And then 10 min later SBW gets smashed in the face by Burgess and the ref is like " check that please... oh no he's up, no need to check it now!" ****. OFF. You cheat.

I'm ranting now and having traumatic flashbacks.

But the facts are irrefutable. They clearly show that the refs play favourites and have a major gripe with the Roosters. Getting a penalty out of them in 2014 was like getting water out of a stone. It was so overt that, in essence, it was cheating.

And it'll continue in 2015 just like it has for almost 10 years. We'll lose the count to you 10-5 in rnd 1 no matter what, because that's the pre conception the refs already have in their heads before even stepping onto the field.

And that's why we're all so disillusioned. A disillusionment not based on some myth in our heads, but rather on very real and mind bogglingly lopsided stats that are clear for all to see.

And so I hope all the refs catch Ebola.

There was another try when Mini was called for knock-on when replays showed Souffs knocked on the bomb. Those are constantly overruled but not this time.

I don't see how this clown can say the result would have been the same if we were there. They couldn't get away until the very end against the worst side to play a GF in living memory that was playing terribly. If the Casty try is awarded we end up against them in the GF fresh and on a confident winning streak. I think, even though we were 50% the side of last season, we dust them.