RABBITOHS v TITANS 25/4
Well, after that game I need to reassess how much I put into my football viewing. At half time during the Rabbitohs v Titans match last on Friday night I was a seething, angry mess. I'm not usually like that. I'm a peace-loving child of the Sixties.
The score was 24-10 to the Titans, so obviously I wasn't going to be happy. But I wasn't prepared for the sheer nastiness I felt after after David Fifita had scored a first half hat trick for the Gold Coast strugglers.
So furious was I that I avoided human contact during the entire halftime break.
Fifita is one of the giants of the NRL, both gifted and exciting. But my fanatical Rabbitohs brain wasn't having any of it. "His first try should have been disallowed (tackle complete),"I ranted to myself. "The second would have been stopped if our own players didn’t get in each other's way," I doubled down. And, "there was a blatant forward pass leading up to Fiifita's third". God, knows what my wife thought was going on with all the talking to myself in the isolation of my study.
Also, I was furious at the slack Rabbitohs defence that let their vulnerable opposition escape from behind their own goal line ... twice. A few eff bombs might have flown.
But, I took a deep breath and a dram of good whisky and settled back in the loungeroom with my son Callum (much calmer than me) for the second half.
And, after 20 minutes or so, watching football seemed a much healthier prospect. From the kick-off Souths played champagne football.
Veteran playmaker Benji Marshall stole the show with two tries and some brilliant all-round play. I was breathing better.
But it was the breathtaking edge play of giant Keaton Koloamatangi that really caught my eye. At only 22 years of age he has a huge future in the game. His stirring bursts, and dare I say, deft steps, were spectacular.
With these two at the fore and the rest of the team throwing everything at the Titans, it was almost inevitable that we wore them down and surged ahead, eventually triumphing 40-30.
The win makes it six victories in a row for the mighty men in red and green, but I think it was much easier in a cardiac sense back in the day when we expected them to lose.
So, now the big question is: Can we keep the run going against Canberra on Thursday? You bet we can: My tip is another 10 point victory. Let's go Rabbitohs!