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2025 News, General Articles and Discussion

bundyrabbit said:
Who needs the official website . All the experts on player's contracts are on here. 😉
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So, that being said, how absolutely lucky and blessed we are to have the only person on gods green earth who knows absolutely everything about absolutely everything rugby league. Thankfully, he is willing to share a sprinkling of this otherwise unattainable fountain of knowledge to us mere football mortals.
 
Pplspoet said:
For those appreciating Jamie Humphreys so far, you can thank Mark Ellison apparently. Credit where credit is due.

Telegraph: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/s...s/news-story/e25a8b25450dcb1977deb020a5b858d9

Mark Ellison had his eye on Jamie Humphreys for two years. Maybe longer.
Ellison, South Sydney’s head of recruitment, saw something in Humphreys long before the playmaker arrived at Heffron Park and snaffled the No.7 jersey.

Funnily enough, his failed pursuit of Humphreys two years ago only made Ellison more determined to land his signature.

At the time, Humphreys felt he owed Manly some loyalty. He wanted to take his shot at the Sea Eagles, where his father Steve was the former chief executive.

So as hard as Ellison tried a couple of years ago, he couldn’t convince Humphreys to leave.

“We were close,” Ellison said.

“He considered it. At the time I understood why he wanted to stay. He wanted to have a crack. It said to me that he is a loyal kid.

“There’s no BS about him.”

Humphreys stayed on Sydney’s northern beaches, sat behind Daly Cherry-Evans, spent some time training at hooker and got one shot at the big time – against Newcastle in round 19 last year.

He produced an eye-catching performance but by then, a determined Ellison had already worked his magic. About a fortnight or so before Humphreys showed he could handle the big stage, Ellison shook hands on a deal with Humphreys over a meal at The Oaks Hotel in Neutral Bay with Humphreys’ manager George Mimis.

They ordered a steak, chewed the fat, and talked about Humphreys’ time in England, where he spent time with the London Broncos academy, moved to halfback and played against Rabbitohs half Lewis Dodd in the lower grades.

They also spoke about how Humphreys’ window was closing at Manly – Cherry-Evans had been re-signed and the club invested in young halves Joey Walsh and Onitoni Large.

Steak polished off, Ellison finally had his man. That decision, which came after the club had already signed Dodd to a long-term deal, has turned out to be a masterstroke.

Two games into the NRL season and Humphreys has been a lifesaver for South Sydney. He has stepped into the breach and saved their bacon.

Not that you would know it. Last week, as his game-deciding field goal sailed through the sticks against St George Illawarra, Humphreys almost self-consciously raised a hand in the air and then just as quickly turned around and started walking back towards the halfway line.

Contrast that with the reaction of Dragons winger Christian Tuipulotu, who celebrated his try earlier in the game by performing a show-me-the-money celebration.

If anyone had a right to suggest he deserved a bigger pay cheque, it was Humphreys. He is on a modest deal at Souths, far less than his coterie of star-studded teammates.

It isn’t necessarily about money for Humphreys.

The move to Souths was about opportunity and the chance to work with coach Wayne Bennett. If he fell short, it wouldn’t be through lack of trying.

Humphreys’ journey has been one of grim determination and good genes. As a kid growing up in Sydney’s shire, he would run the famed Wanda sand hills from the age of 10.

He was born with a work ethic and the DNA to be a rugby league player – father Steve and grandfather Kevin both played in the premiership.

When the family moved to England for Steve’s job, he found himself in the London Broncos system. His parents worried it may stymie his development.

Jamie was determined not to let that happen. It’s the same determination that has caught Bennett’s eye so early in his return to Souths.

Bennett knew little about Humphreys before he arrived at the club but a couple of weeks before Christmas, he knew had a footballer on his hands.

“I think I said to him, ‘You’ll be in the 17’,” Bennett said.

“He’s a wonderful trainer, a very, very well-mannered young man. He has a lot of lovely attributes besides playing football.

“But, you know, you have a background that’s full of a football life, so he kind of gets it around the club and the players.

“He’s a great trainer. He’s up in the top 10 per cent of trainers in the club. Look, he does everything right.”

The field goal showed as much.

“In all fairness to the game, he was the only one thinking about it,” Bennett said.

“They had just gone to the other end and they didn’t even attempt a field goal. Then we came back down and we weren’t attempting one either.

“ (Siliva Havili) just picked the ball up and threw it to him.

“No one was thinking field goal except him.”

Asked what that moment told him about Humphreys, Bennett said: “I think he’s got a brain that operates under pressure. That’s what I think.

“I think he’s got the footy smarts and his mind’s in the right place most of the time.”

Humphreys has managed to keep Dodd at bay through the early rounds of the season.

Dodd was suspended in round one but was back in the NSW Cup in round two and showed some encouraging signs.

No doubt, the Englishman won’t give up without a fight. Nor will Humphreys.
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What stood out for me watching young Humphreys in that Manly game deputising for DCE was his passing game. He didn’t dilly dally….it’s a rifle like pass out wide so the attack has that half second edge in progressing the play. The last 2 games here we’ve seen that again plus his astute kicking game and defence. The kid has a fair bit in his kit bag.
 
Gazman said:
What stood out for me watching young Humphreys in that Manly game deputising for DCE was his passing game. He didn’t dilly dally….it’s a rifle like pass out wide so the attack has that half second edge in progressing the play. The last 2 games here we’ve seen that again plus his astute kicking game and defence. The kid has a fair bit in his kit bag.
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The 10 minutes he dominated in the trial he put on a running solo try, a try off a kick and a try off a pass. Triple threat.
 
olBj said:
Possibly a better time for this discussion later in the year ...but...

What a dogfight it's going to be when teams 18...19...20 come on board
Where will the next 30+, 60+, 90+ players come from?

Long term Dylan Brown type contracts could become commonplace in the future?

Really need to work hard on our pathway grades...

As i said before ... a real sellers market
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They'll come from Melbourne, they're really doing some good stuff down there after 25 years.... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
But seriously, is the NRL going to put some sort of conditions on new clubs making them produce their own, either with or without the NRL's help, or are they just going to twiddle their thumbs?
 
Pplspoet said:
For those that it bothers, I take it it’s bothered you the entire time you’ve watched rugby league?

Cause we’ve been arguing about whether a pass was forward or not throughout my time watching the game.

The concern with having tech decide, is that when you have tech calls that don’t pass the eye test due to physics, people will be just as mad at that as they are now.

It would also be pedantic.

The number of forward passes in a game that are missed that actually provide a competitive advantage are far less than one a game.

If a ball goes marginally forward from dummy half, it doesn’t matter. Really. No one is winning game unfairly on the back of a marginal forward pass.

That’s where tech goes too far. It takes the context and common sense out of the game, and makes it robotic rule checking nonsense.

I want the referee to occasionally adjudicate based on flow (like they do in Origin well).
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I remember in the 80s when League commentators would make snide comments about Union and their big floating passes were somehow not forward.
Now we are doing it on steroids.
 
Gazman said:
What stood out for me watching young Humphreys in that Manly game deputising for DCE was his passing game. He didn’t dilly dally….it’s a rifle like pass out wide so the attack has that half second edge in progressing the play. The last 2 games here we’ve seen that again plus his astute kicking game and defence. The kid has a fair bit in his kit bag.
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Yes I liked some pf his passes last week .... fast flat and on target
 
brend said:
So what type of player do you see him to be?

Like Poet, I had hoped he was a bit of a Nikora/Olakuatu player. Athletic with offloading skills and a great line runner. I feel mostly disappointed when I watch him because I’m not sure that hope is coming to fruition which leaves us very impotent on the edges.
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brend said:
So what type of player do you see him to be?

Like Poet, I had hoped he was a bit of a Nikora/Olakuatu player. Athletic with offloading skills and a great line runner. I feel mostly disappointed when I watch him because I’m not sure that hope is coming to fruition which leaves us very impotent on the edges.
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He was that type of player but he he has changed his game.

I miss him being that type of backrower to the version he is now.
 
Sonic Star said:
He was that type of player but he he has changed his game.

I miss him being that type of backrower to the version he is now.
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He’s acclimatising to the new physique.

Give him a few weeks to settle into the new rig.
 
Pplspoet said:
He’s acclimatising to the new physique.

Give him a few weeks to settle into the new rig.
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I hope you’re right. There are a few things this team needs to get the squad balance right before we do anything outside of scrap for a lower spot in the 8 and a strike edge is one of them.
 
So, this morning I got up nice and early to take my son to Mascot oval as the NRL had organised Channel Nine's Today show to talk to kids who are playing a trial game there today.

I get there and low and behold they have ****ing Sam Walker there in his roosters logo to talk with the kids and be on TV! Us parents we're all wondering why he was at a Souths juniors ground? I ask the lady from Mascot juniors why Sam Walker was there and she it was because he was injured, now explain to me why one of our injured Souths players couldn't have been there? She said the NRL had organised it.

I'm pretty pissed off to say the least. Why would the NRL have a roosters player there? Did they not ask Souths? If they did why have our club not provided a player? I don't know what the answer is but I was pretty pissed off.

Have a great day.
 
I don’t blame you for being pissed off, looks like something channel 9 organised
I made a complaint to the club last year after our last home game when a lot of the supporters making the tunnel after half time were roosters supporters, didn’t even get a response,
 
Marcel said:
I don’t blame you for being pissed like something channel 9 organised
I made a complaint to the club last year after our last home game when a lot of the supporters making the tunnel after half time were roosters supporters, didn’t even get a response,
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You got to ask yourself why Cameron Murray couldn't have been there this morning? He played there as a Mascot juonior, he's injured.
 
Roosters always find a way to get in on the action.
I doubt you would ever see a Souths player turn up to a promo for any junior team in Bondi…guaranteed if that happened even once im sure uncle nick would never let it happen again..
As another example, after all the work and promos that Russell Crowe has been involved with re Souths and NRL, it’s actually the roosters who have taken advantage of the promotion in the USA with the LA Roosters…this is compete bullcrap…seriously how much would it have cost us to get an existing team in the US, especially in LA, to put our logo on their jersey…maybe Russell needs to start up the Hollywood Rabbitohs and create the cross town rivalry again over there
 
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