Feast your eyes on the all the key talking points from our first 40 minutes of football against the Melbourne Storm.
Murray at home in the middle
Cameron Murray’s return to his familiar role in the middle third of the field has had an immediate impact. Not only does it provide the local junior with the opportunity to get his hands on the ball more frequently, his creativity in the middle of the park has caused problems for the Storm, creating space for the spine on the edges of the Storm’s defence.
Line Speed on point
South Sydney haven’t been afraid to get in the face of the opposition. Time and time again they’ve bent the Storm backwards and looking to own the ruck. As a result Melbourne have come up a number of uncharacteristic errors.
Latrell Chiming in Nicely
Mitchell’s looking hungry out on the paddock, bringing the ball with power, speed and aggression. What’s looking even better is his involvement close to the Storm’s line, chiming in nicely to deliver quality ball the outside backs. His most quality involvement came from a perfectly timed cut out ball for Alex Johnston to score in the corner and open our account.
Challenge Successful
There was no need for the third umpire to use hot spot following our first successful Captain’s challenge. To the naked eye it would have been almost impossible to notice the touch from Bromwich, but Reynolds and company saw the deviation on big Jesse’s pinky from a mile away.
Reynolds the Dominant Half
Captain Reynolds has taken it upon himself tonight to lead the team around utilising his short kicking game along with numerous bombs for the Storm’s outside men. Troy Dargan on the other hand has been left to play his natural game, instead opting to run the ball more often than not.
Momentum Swings
It has been a back & forth affair at AAMI Park with momentum swinging between the sides on multiple occasions. Initially it was the home side who dominated territory, but the afore mentioned line speed of the visitors provided the opportunity for the Rabbitohs to work their way into the game. Momentum would shift back & forth on several occasions for the remainder of the first forty, & is likely to for the remainder of the match. The interchange will play an important role in providing the ascendancy for the eventual victors.
