Hello TCT Readers, and welcome to the return of Forum Folly. I’m in the process of tuning up (just like the Eels) for a shot at the GF, the big dance!!!

Forum Folly was a feature in the early months of TCT but has been absent of late. And for good reason! The supporter forums of many NRL teams are boring or even non-existent. The Rabbits, Dogs, Sea Eagles and St George are ok, but the rest are a barren wasteland and offer very little to comment on. You need to look for a team in trouble, suffering and in complete crisis to get that absolute gold we all crave from the scum that supports our opposition.

Therefore, I couldn’t resist a shot at South Sydney after their shellacking against Melbourne. Add to that, four of my good mates love the Rabbits. That means I am obliged to bag them at every opportunity. I’ve had a bet on the Souths vs Parra competition table result for the last 12 years and I just happen to be up a few cases against my goose of a mate, Charlie. He’ll be in the TCT box on Friday so we can give him a bagging. Even when we were wooden spooners he would foolishly offer me stupidly generous handicaps, such was his over optimistic view of the “Shabbytohs”.

(The TCT Box as shown on 9 when we beat the Rabbits last year – Charlie is on the far left with the embarrassed grin and souths scarf)

For our new readers, Forum Folly is a post that explores what’s going on with the fans of this week’s opposition, how they’re feeling and what’s on their mind. As evidenced below, using the term “mind” is at times incredibly generous.

The bullet pointed opinions come directly from their fan sites, and it’s presented to you in its original wording. In that way, you can enjoy the absurdity or crisis at its best.

Is there anything better than opposition fans completely losing the plot? As Eels fans we lap it up – mostly because it’s a feeling all too familiar to most of us.

This week, as you’d expect, Souths fans are spewing – mainly at the management, the coach and the playing roster.

So, let’s launch into the return of Forum Folly. The four topics to be covered all make for hilarious reading.

1) Parramatta Game

• Whatever happens Campbell Graham will be taken to school by Radradra…….
• my mate at souths said we are the worst team in the comp he was right i knew we were not far off that statement but after the last game it finally sunk in well and truly
• It all depends on how we defend as a team and what Radradra turns up on the night. Semi’s first try would’ve still been scored if they were playing touch for crying out loud! Brisbane were a lot more terrible than Parra were amazing.
• So what do we reckon, Parra 44 Souths 10 next week sounds about right……

• I AM FEELING SO SICK AFTER TYPING HERE I NEARLY THREW UP SO TELL ME SOMETHING HOWS OUR GREAT TEAM LOOKING AFTER WINNING THE 2014 GRAND FINAL?

1. Bryson Goodwin……..going to england should had stayed 2 more years at souths
2. Campbell Graham……looks promising and is already better than jennings/burns/talakai/nielsen/FACT!!!
3. Aaron Gray…………….off to the sharks bye bye
4. Tyrell Fuimaono………will only get better he can still hold his head up high
5. Robert Jennings………nsw cup player and is a dim shadow of his older brother michael
6. Cody Walker…………..good little player should be upgraded immediately
7. Adam Reynolds……….made of glass done nothing in 3 years sell him off injury proned cant take a hit
8. Thomas Burgess……..plays like a nsw cup dud forward sometimes no heart
9. Damien Cook………….needs to be kept at hooker indefinitely
10. Sam Burgess (c)……great player no contest
11. John Sutton………….will grab next years 300th game and the cash time to go to souths care johnny
12. Angus Crichton……..future kangaroo without doubt
13. Cameron Murray…….i am surprised how well he is going he is already made of 1st grade material
14. Robbie Farah…………should not had been bought in the 1st place by souths its a clueless signing
15. George Burgess……..can only get better cant get any worse?
16. Kyle Turner…………….nsw cup player ala dud
17. Dean Britt……………..give him a go another useless signing by our clueless/brain dead club
RESERVES
18. Jason Clark……………i cant stop laughing over here he is a nsw cup player
19. David Tyrrell…………..its getting worse over here i just rolled on my back with laughter
20. Siosifa Talakai………..Oh no not the jimmy the jet clone are you laughing i am too i cant stop
21. Luke Kelly……………..What can i say i think i am in a coma or dreaming is that luke kelly @#21

• He’s better not play dud Kelly…… f**k. What a shit line up….
• Goodwin showed on the weekend that he should never play fullback. In his time with us he has had 2 goes at fullback but has never finished a game there. once in the perth game in 2014 where he was replaced after 10 minutes by Johnston and again on the weekend cook closed the game out. When guys like Vunivalu get in the open you can’t really blame a fullback for not stopping them, but when Vuni and the fox got into the open goodwin wasn’t even in the frame, it was embarrassing.
• Lets see how Britt goes this week, we may not need James Graham
• We have proven in the past that we are capable of turning things around after a humiliation. We did it last season after we were humiliated by the Raiders and almost beat the Storm – Damian Cook gave away a penalty on fulltime and Cameron Smith kicked a field goal in extra time to win it! Parramatta are a decent side but they have their weaknesses. Hopefully we are astute enough to realise that kicking to Semi Radradra is not a sensible idea and that Mitchell Moses is still weak in defence.

(Great mug shot)

2) Nathan Brown

• Nathan Brown has just won the Ken Thornett Medal at the Eels—that’s how much he’s improved since escaping the clutches of Madge who disallowed him the right to play his natural game!! New coach–PLEASE!!!!!
• Nathan Brown was playing well under Maguire at Souths last year. Why Souths failed to sign him when his asking price was under 200K is a mystery. But you can only guess that chief recruiter Richo decided it was better to splash out the money on signing Rochow from the Knights and re-signing Clark and Turner instead
• The non-signing of Brown is a mystery to most supporters considering we signed Farah, anyone that knows anything about rugby league could see that Brown was a keeper..
• Brown has thrived at Parramatta because he’s been given the opportunity to be the leader of that pack. Something which would never have happened at Souths. He was always going to be down the pecking order behind all of the Burgess boys with us.
• Look at Auva’a and Brown killing it at Parra… FACT…

3) Michael Maguire

• In Madge’s insights Jezza says we just need to forget about the Storm match and Madge agreed….. Hello Madge…… if you don’t look into detail into that performance and the lack of hunger and pride how do we go forward with all these deficiencies………….
• Fairly safe to say we are on a downward spiral under Maguire
  regular season results with madge coaching
  2012- 16 wins 8 losses
  2013- 18 wins 6 losses
  2014 – 15 wins 9 losses
  2015 – 13 wins 11 losses
  2016 – 9 wins 15 losses
  2017 – 9 wins 14 losses
  I don’t believe he can arrest this slide and its time to move on. Maybe someone could investigate a Cronk & Bellamy swap for Reynolds and Maguire (ed – yeah, thats going to happen, you must be suffering miximotosis side effects)
• Smiths crisps CANNOT sign any “good players” because of the Cap Space absorbed by Inglis + Reynolds + Burgess Brothers. This is an empirical FACT. Hence unless change is made to this structural constraint to the Roster little change can be expected. The only other option here is to SACK MAGUIRE. See if a new Head Coach can reignite some FIRE into this core group.

4) South Sydney future

• Touche thats what it looks like if i was management i would have hauled richo and maguire in and tore shreds 16 should have moved dead wood and this year the rest.
  Sutton has been rumoured to be looking at a year at the broncos…… well see ya dont let the door hit u in the back….as much as he has been a rabbitoh through and through if he does this he is a goose. Corey parker had at least a year left in him his pay got dropped to 250 for the last 2 years and im sure he would have been offered more elsewhere….but he didnt go and retired gracefully….this reeks of blackmail to raise his pay…..i say arivedechi baby
• It’s time for change at Sths in the coaching dept!
  Madge has stayed too long & things have gone stale.
  He needs a fresh start for his own good & it will be best for Sths to see a fresh new face in charge. I would opt for someone from another club;an up & comer like Dean PAY–maybe!! Seibold may be a good option but he has been Madge’s off-sider which concerns me a little!! Madge’s style would probably be perfect for the TITANS at this stage.

Duds that need culling at seasons end below. We need Sutton to retire and we need to sell Reynolds and Farah to buy Maloney. Souths are just plain dumb in the recruitment department.
BRITT
BURNS
CHERRINGTON
CLARK
GOSIEWSKI
GREINKE
HUNT
JENNINGS
KELLY
MOCEIDREKE
MUSGROVE (LATEST DUD HE IS GOING BACKWARDS)
REYNOLDS (TIME TO SHOP HIM AROUND WITH FARAH AND BUY MALONEY)
RUDOLF
SUTTON (NEEDS TO JOIN SOUTHS CARE PROGRAM IN 2018)
TALAKAI
TRACEY
TURNER
TYRRELL

• Burns and Jennings need big off seasons to show they have it. Currently they don’t.
  Hunt needs to wake up and put in or he can get lost!!!!
  AR must work hard on his kicking game.
  The twins needs to show hunger.
  Turner needs to retire too as it seems he’s scared to hit the line hard……
  Musgrove needs to show consistency and stop fading in and out!!!!!
  Farah can get lost…..
  Britt better not be another Turner……..
• Short list of preferred targets – Junior Paulo, Latrell Mitchell and Curtis Rona
• Mitch Moses is on around 800k a year. No wonder Cody is unhappy with his pay rate.
  Moses is a flop haha. Maybe we shouldn’t of bought Gagai for 600k if we’re not going to be able to upgrade our best players!
• Let’s be honest,except Sam and AJ there is not one of the remaining 2014 GF team worth feeding. For mine it should be adios amigo to Inglis “he’s never going to be worth the money he’s on again”, Sutton “way past he’s used by date” Reynolds “kicking game has disappeared, besides goal kicking offers nothing else”, Turner & Clark, offer nothing in aggression, off loads, tackle busts, line breaks etc,etc”, George & Thomas, “where do you start” I have never seen 2 big units like this pair with less ticker and skills in my life.
  Tyrrell is one bright light “he’s leaving”! So gentleman that still leaves us with 7 of the most experienced players in our roster “not worth a cracker”! And our Management “have wrapped themselves up in a cocoon,with their heads up their arse”!

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Forum Folly without a few memes to again remind us who we’re playing this week.

Welfare:

Legal perspective:

Health system:

Science:

Thanks for supporting TCT and go the Eels !!

Chris

Images courtesy of the internet

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