Themis
12-04-08, 08:17 AM
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/sport/nrl/story/0,26799,23520093-5016307,00.html
By Ray Chesterton
IF SOUTHS do not beat the Sharks this week their premiership chances are as dead as the carcasses local men carried through Redfern 100 years ago shouting "rabbitoh" and looking for hungry customers.
Souths have lost four in a row.
No team in 100 years has won the premiership after losing their first five games. Few, if any, even made the semi-finals.
This year Souths are borderline comatose. From semi-finalists last year they have plunged into a last-place abyss of uncertainly and lack of confidence. The absence of injured Craig Wing is relevant but not the sole reason.
All clubs lose players for long periods. Think Benji Marshall (Tigers), Wade McKinnon (Warriors) and Anthony Minichiello (Roosters).
Souths' problems are more basic than just losing Wing.
It's as if the whole bells and whistles, bass drum beating, trumpets blaring, whiz-bang media, marketing and publicity extravaganza has suddenly become an unbearable weight of unfulfilled expectations for Souths players and the club.
The ugly duckling is not becoming a swan any time soon. The balloon of foolishness has been exploded.
Four halfbacks in the first four games - Wing, Eddie Paea, Ben Rogers and Jeremy Smith - does not suggest conviction in selections.
The subsequent lack of cohesion imploded the attack and Souths average just 14 points a game. They concede 26.
Players who led the way last season in enthusiasm, such as Roy Asotasi, are not the same force this year, although he is still the best of the forwards.
Against Manly, Asotasi was the only only Souths forward to make more than 100 metres. The others should be ashamed.
More and more Souths look like a side yet to find its character. Yet to commit to each other. Yet to bind for a united effort.
Which leads to deeper analysis of the problem Souths have become.
Coach Jason Taylor's verbal self-flagellation in public is an indulgence the club could do without. If mistakes were made, shut up and fix them.
Taylor has not suddenly become a poor coach but he is facing his first crisis. How he reacts will determine his future.
Of course, the Mongol hordes among supporters who swept Holmes a Court and Crowe into power are quieter now as full knowledge dawns of what they exchanged for selling out the club's heritage, history and century of emotion. Precious little, it seems.
Redfern Oval, the repository of Souths' bloody history of courage and success, is no more.
Nor is the leagues club where supporters could gather to talk about matches they had seen.
Instead, Souths' owners have banished the team's home games to the vast soullessness of a quarter-full ANZ Stadium - the home games that will not be played in Perth, that is.
And the chasm between club legends such as John Sattler and Souths' new owners continues.
Sattler's animosity is aimed more at the shallow characters who used the annual meeting to bitterly criticise the club legends.
It costs $10 million a year to run a football club. Based on similar results at other clubs, Souths lost at least $4 million last year although full details are not available.
The days ahead will test the commitment of players, coach and especially the owners' pockets.
At least the emails from the ferals are quieter
By Ray Chesterton
IF SOUTHS do not beat the Sharks this week their premiership chances are as dead as the carcasses local men carried through Redfern 100 years ago shouting "rabbitoh" and looking for hungry customers.
Souths have lost four in a row.
No team in 100 years has won the premiership after losing their first five games. Few, if any, even made the semi-finals.
This year Souths are borderline comatose. From semi-finalists last year they have plunged into a last-place abyss of uncertainly and lack of confidence. The absence of injured Craig Wing is relevant but not the sole reason.
All clubs lose players for long periods. Think Benji Marshall (Tigers), Wade McKinnon (Warriors) and Anthony Minichiello (Roosters).
Souths' problems are more basic than just losing Wing.
It's as if the whole bells and whistles, bass drum beating, trumpets blaring, whiz-bang media, marketing and publicity extravaganza has suddenly become an unbearable weight of unfulfilled expectations for Souths players and the club.
The ugly duckling is not becoming a swan any time soon. The balloon of foolishness has been exploded.
Four halfbacks in the first four games - Wing, Eddie Paea, Ben Rogers and Jeremy Smith - does not suggest conviction in selections.
The subsequent lack of cohesion imploded the attack and Souths average just 14 points a game. They concede 26.
Players who led the way last season in enthusiasm, such as Roy Asotasi, are not the same force this year, although he is still the best of the forwards.
Against Manly, Asotasi was the only only Souths forward to make more than 100 metres. The others should be ashamed.
More and more Souths look like a side yet to find its character. Yet to commit to each other. Yet to bind for a united effort.
Which leads to deeper analysis of the problem Souths have become.
Coach Jason Taylor's verbal self-flagellation in public is an indulgence the club could do without. If mistakes were made, shut up and fix them.
Taylor has not suddenly become a poor coach but he is facing his first crisis. How he reacts will determine his future.
Of course, the Mongol hordes among supporters who swept Holmes a Court and Crowe into power are quieter now as full knowledge dawns of what they exchanged for selling out the club's heritage, history and century of emotion. Precious little, it seems.
Redfern Oval, the repository of Souths' bloody history of courage and success, is no more.
Nor is the leagues club where supporters could gather to talk about matches they had seen.
Instead, Souths' owners have banished the team's home games to the vast soullessness of a quarter-full ANZ Stadium - the home games that will not be played in Perth, that is.
And the chasm between club legends such as John Sattler and Souths' new owners continues.
Sattler's animosity is aimed more at the shallow characters who used the annual meeting to bitterly criticise the club legends.
It costs $10 million a year to run a football club. Based on similar results at other clubs, Souths lost at least $4 million last year although full details are not available.
The days ahead will test the commitment of players, coach and especially the owners' pockets.
At least the emails from the ferals are quieter