We go head-to-head for round two of Top Moments with an individual performance to remember up against one of the Rabbitohs greatest point-scorers!
Adam Reynolds 3 x Field Goals Semi Final, 2018 vs Dragons
Finals Week 2, 2018 - A do-or-die Semi Final against the St George Illawarra Dragons.
Both teams claimed a win apiece when coming up against each other in the regular season, but there was no more important game than this, being only one win away from the Preliminary final.
Trailing by a converted try at the break, South Sydney were first to score; crossing and then converting through Adam Reynolds.
In fact, Reynolds scored every one of the 13 Rabbitohs points that night, while bringing up 200 career points. None more important than those three field goals at the death.
With the scores locked at 10-all with under 12 minutes remaining, some would argue Reynolds first field goal was a little premature; especially when you consider Zac Lomax kicked a penalty goal for the Dragons to regain the lead in the 75th minute.
The little general kept composed however and with a cool-head, squared the game up with under three minutes remaining.
The most impressive of the lot came in the last few seconds after wrong-footing a shooting defender to kick the field goal off-balance, while running in the opposite direction. A truly memorable win for the Club and Reynold’s career.
Eric Simms’ Record Career Field Goals with 87 (1975)
The Rugby League Laws of the Game state that a Drop Goal, sometimes referred to as a Field Goal, is a goal scored by propelling the ball on the full, over the crossbar, by drop kicking it. Currently it’s worth only 1 point and as a result teams only attempt them at the end of a close game or in extra-time golden point games.
Since NRL was formed in late 1997, Andrew Johns holds the record for most field goals in a career, with 20. But before 1971 there were many more matches which were decided by a field goal because they were worth 2 points. The most famous exponent of this was our former Rabbitohs golden-boots, Eric Simms, who kicked 8 field goals in his stellar career between 1965-75.
Ecca (or Ecka) Simms was a member of Souths’ Presidents Cup winning-side of 1965 that beat Parramatta in the final by 20-2, when he kicked 7 goals. He made his first-grade debut in 1965 against the great St. George side in Round 17 at the Sydney Cricket Ground, kicking 4 goals from 6 attempts in Souths’ 17-8 victory. Simms did not kick his first field goal until 1967, when the NSWRL introduced the four-tackle rule to replace the unlimited tackle rule. This new rule encouraged more attacking play and increased the speed of the game considerably. It also encouraged all teams to kick for a field goal on the last tackle if they were inside their opponents’ half.
Simms’ ability was highlighted in a match against Penrith in 1969 at Penrith Park (Round 18) when he booted five field goals. Between 1967 and 1970 he kicked 81 field goals in the premiership, and it was his extraordinary ability to put over field goals with ease that resulted in them being reduced to only one point in 1971, when the NSWRL also introduced a six-tackle rule, to allow a more structured attacking play to develop.
Simms’ field goals scored in each season: 13 in 1967, 29 in 1968, 19 in 1969, 20 in 1970, 1 in 1971, 2 in 1972, 1 in 1973, 0 in 1974, and 2 in 1975.
