South mid season review

[flojo]

Obviously its a terrible start to the year. As someone who lives interstate can someone (i know the south supporters on safooty are limited) give a brief description and grading /10 of each of the "senior" players. As there is alot of talk of players having the talent but not delivering. Be very interested to see a quick summary of each player.

[am Bays]

AS much as I am unable to to comment on Souths performacnes flojo, I am shocked at how South have gone this year. I had them certainties for the top five and pushing for a top three spot.

[mal]

No Cupido no South Adelaide
You cant replace a 60 goal forward

[am Bays]

No Cupido no South Adelaide
You cant replace a 60 goal forward

More like No Davey No South.....I saw him chase and harrass last year in Rd 23 v Glenelg, Cupido did nothing except act as a target for Mouse and get in teh way of Macca's dive....

[Dirko]

Davey is the key...a bit like the Bays missing Bryce Gibbs.
You can't replace young talent with ex AFL wannabees as South have done this year (Prenda & McGrath)
Major disapointment for mine this year Souths. Thought they'd be a shoein for the three...

[Jimmy]

very disappointing for mine this year, but not more than the pies.

[the wonder elephant]

just goes to show you are better off devoloping young talent than going after ex afl blokes loking to top up there retirement funds there are exceptions though ex afl players heading home are a different story e.g.clay sampson, brett james, ben nelson,daniel schell etc..are all worth a crack but u have to run with the youngsters as well

[southee]

I will go into more detail on how players are travelling later but to put it bluntly, it's been a year so far where expectations were very high but we have not delivered.
We lost 2 players (Cupido and Davey). I agree with previous posters, Davey was the main loss.
No crumbing forward has hurt us.
We went out and recruited ex -AFL players , but so far this has not worked.
A few years ago we went to just recruit local players. This once again has not worked.
Seems we can do nothing right!!
I think this year, from what i have seen, some players attitudes have to be questioned.
That with some of the coaching moves and selections have sometimes bewildered me and other supporters.
I think on paper South have one of the strongest sides in the comp at the moment. I have no idea why it's not coming together.
So far, mid season , its been very poor. I dont know what can turn it around but it's obvious something has to be done - and done quickly!!
Sick of the same old excuses we have heard for many years........

[Cambridge Clarrie]

Seems like fair comments to me... After promising their supporters so much at the end of last season they have been a real let down. I feel for you South supporters as I doubt the next couple of seasons will be much better...

Cupido was not that big a loss for you. You have a couple of big guys up forward who should be offering more this year...

[Aerie]

Cupido is in the Clive Waterhouse category in that they get bagged constantly, but almost everyone would take them in their side. Cupido is a match winner and 60 goals + the value of his possessions make him high value. Losing Cupido and Davey has proved to be irreplaceable at South this year.

[LPH]

I repeat adnuisium...

PYMAN OUT !!!

[westcoastpanther]

Losing Cupido has had no impact. He wasn't a 60 goal forward mal, he only kicked 55. Take out the 11 he got against a hapless Sturt and he's a mid forties forward, that could not perform when it got tough. Here's his record, showing the games we won and lost, and the opposition, all important factors in his performance indicators.

1 - Bye
2 - 4 North Loss
3 - 7 West win
4 - 2 Port loss
5 - 3 Sturt win
6 - 0 Glenelg loss
7 - 2 Norwood loss
8 - 5 Central Win
9 - bye
10 - 2 Eagles loss
11 - 3 West win
12 - 1 Port win
13 - 11 Sturt win
14 - 2 North loss
15 - 0 Glenelg loss
16 - bye
17 - 0 Central loss
18 - 2 Eagles win
19 - 4 Norwood win
20 - 3 Sturt win
21 - 1 North loss
22 - 1 West win
23 - 2 Glenelg win

After seeing his effort, or lack of against North in the final last year I left the ground thinking he wasn't worth the coin he's on, but would give him one more year to hopefully find something when the going got tough. The club had a little less patience however and the rest is history.

[westcoastpanther]

28 of his 55 came against West & Sturt, about half!!!!!

[southee]

Spot on WCP!!!

As i said, Davey is the loss that hurts.
Cupido, well I was at the Sturt game last year with my Sturt mates when he kicked 11 goals.
I think my Sturt mates would agree that any tom , dick or harry could have on the day.
He's doing nothing at West.
Shinning lights this year - Sampson, few of the young kids like Hunter,Williams. Thewlis and Benno have been pretty good. Carlile as been up there too. Power will get him playing next year.
Average - Archard (played a few good ones but bit down from last year), Smith, McGrath, Mcglone (in parts - slow start), Prendergast (still finding it tough), Warren (unseen, kicking a few in the 2's),Ellis, Kenna(injuries costly to him), no fowards......
few players dropped to the 2's but i think this has not helped as we are low on confidence which I feel dropping players does not help their cause.

Hope this helps you get some idea of what going on this year.
This is just my opinion anyway,
Cheers

[saintal]

Certainly been a frustrating year

We've yet to beat a team that was in any sort of decent form at the time, and the majority of our losses have been down right terrible (apart from the recent doggies game which we should have won).

The lack of in form key forwards has been one of the obvious problems, as well as a general lack of accountability and hardness around the ball. Forward line defensive pressure has been non existent. (obviously davey was a huge loss).

Cupido would always take a good defender if nothing else. Iljcesen's 2 goals a week have been missed too.

as for player rankings/thoughts, just a few that spring to mind:

Good: Sampson, kenna, thewlis, maddox, carlile, mcglone, (have all been pretty consistent imo)
Decent to average: archard, prendergast, mcgrath, smith, bennett wright, elliott, king, parry, williams, hunter, calrke (have done some good things at times, but not enough)

havent got much from the rest.

[StrayDog]

....apart from the recent doggies game which we should have won

IMHO (FWIW) few seemed willing to take the game by the horns when it was there to be won - in stark contrast to Sturt (v CD) the week before.
Some easy goals missed - one set shot from 15 (?) metres out at the Northern end stood out.

[rochowi]

What a disappointing year. Last year we were very spoilt with 11 games kicking over 20 goals. From what I have seen the delivery to forwards has been poor and forward confidence has just got worse every week. Midfielders have been very weak this year. The defence has been reasonably good with Bobby Carlile has been very good.
They need to pack all there good forwards from last year along with anyone that can kick a goal into the forward 50 and let them loose. Twomey, Ellis, Kenna, Parry, Warren, Hunter, Iljecen. I don't think there has been one game this year that all of these have been in the forward line together. Don't have to be einstein to do this even if they have not got good form. We need goals. What the hell do they do at training. The likes of McGlone, Clark, Smith, Thewlis, Wright, McGrath etc practice there kicks to forwards under pressure. Sometimes I think Pyman outwits himself. Put Bennett and Prendergast in backlines they will both hold it up with Carlile. Wright, Clark, McGrath,Eliis,Warren , Smithy should be disgraced with themselves this year. They just jog around following the ball showing no ballgetting skills or improvisation. I'm sure if these players lifted and we put all the above forwards in we will start winning. Frustrating as all hell being a south supporter.

[southee]

What a disappointing year. Last year we were very spoilt with 11 games kicking over 20 goals. From what I have seen the delivery to forwards has been poor and forward confidence has just got worse every week. Midfielders have been very weak this year. The defence has been reasonably good with Bobby Carlile has been very good.
They need to pack all there good forwards from last year along with anyone that can kick a goal into the forward 50 and let them loose. Twomey, Ellis, Kenna, Parry, Warren, Hunter, Iljecen. I don't think there has been one game this year that all of these have been in the forward line together. Don't have to be einstein to do this even if they have not got good form. We need goals. What the hell do they do at training. The likes of McGlone, Clark, Smith, Thewlis, Wright, McGrath etc practice there kicks to forwards under pressure. Sometimes I think Pyman outwits himself. Put Bennett and Prendergast in backlines they will both hold it up with Carlile. Wright, Clark, McGrath,Eliis,Warren , Smithy should be disgraced with themselves this year. They just jog around following the ball showing no ballgetting skills or improvisation. I'm sure if these players lifted and we put all the above forwards in we will start winning. Frustrating as all hell being a south supporter.

Well said. I think Pyman complicates things. We seem to want to play like an AFL side in the SANFL but in reality - it does not work!!!
We are the side with the most handballs. Where is our kicking game to the forward 50m? Atttack, Attack, Attack I say. I agree, these players regardless of form should be there for a target at least. Some players this year have been embarrassing!!!To say the least!!!

[Wedgie]

I found out what's going wrong at Noarlunga this year on Sunday.

There's too much pulling of the panther!

My mates and I had a laugh at Noarlunga Oval on Sunday when it was announced over the loud speaker:

"Can people please refrain from pulling or punching the Panther"

Shake the snake no more.
Stroking the dolphin no more.

Thanks to the SAFC, mothers in the southern 'burbs will now be telling their teenage sons not to pull the panther!

Apparantley its a new rule that's been implemented because (and I quote) the Panther is getting worn out!

[johntheclaret]

I found out what's going wrong at Noarlunga this year on Sunday.

There's too much pulling of the panther!

My mates and I had a laugh at Noarlunga Oval on Sunday when it was announced over the loud speaker:

"Can people please refrain from pulling or punching the Panther"

Shake the snake no more.
Stroking the dolphin no more.

Thanks to the SAFC, mothers in the southern 'burbs will now be telling their teenage sons not to pull the panther!

Apparantley its a new rule that's been implemented because (and I quote) the Panther is getting worn out!

Gold. It's my panther and i'll wash it as fast as I want