Round 9: Sunday 3 May
Newcastle v South Sydney
Newcastle International Sports Centre, 2:00pm
According to PVL, 80 points in 80 minutes is “entertainment”. I beg to differ.
Seeing Robbie Williams in concert with Mrs Hansen at the Adelaide Oval in November will be entertainment. No doubt “Let me entertain you” will be part of the playlist.
A coolish autumn Sunday afternoon in the Barossa – and I find myself in a St Petri Church committee meeting as the game kicks off at 1:30pm local time.
Not long after, a text from none other than JTH lights up my phone as I try to focus on taking the minutes of the meeting: “Hmmm. One of the quicker dropping of the heads I’ve seen. Will take something special from here.”
Newcastle 12, South Sydney 0 early in the first half.
I did see most of the second half. South Sydney did somehow lead with not long to play. A freakish effort from Latrell, including bulldozing straight over Ponga to score in the left corner, followed by the sideline conversion, gave South Sydney the lead 38-36.
Unfortunately, one of Wayne Bennett’s journeymen, Euan Aitken, then had a double shocker in the set after points had been scored. He dropped the ball in a simple run, then was unable to defend as the Knights strolled in to score near the posts to win the game.
Again, South Sydney paid the price for not playing for 80 minutes. As was the case in Perth against Canberra, two premiership points went begging.
I would prefer to focus on the World Athletics Relay Championships, held in Botswana over the weekend.
What a vibrant celebration of the great Olympic sport of athletics! The atmosphere in the National Stadium in Gaborone was palpable through the live stream.
All the Australian teams ran exceptionally well, especially the men’s 4 x 400m. In the 4 x 400m final, the home country missed the world record by a mere 0.18 seconds.
To suggest the raucous home crowd were dancing in the aisles would be a huge understatement!
The Australian team of: Luke van Ratingen, Reece Holder, Thomas Reynolds, and South Australia’s Aidan Murphy combined to run the sixth fastest time ever, becoming the fourth fastest country in the event behind the USA, Botswana and South Africa.
All of Australia’s other squads: the men’s and women’s 4 x 100m teams, the women’s 4 x 400m and both the mixed 4 x 400m and 4 x 100m squads qualified for next year’s world athletics championships in Beijing.
If you have a few spare minutes, watch the video of the men’s 4 x 400m: athleticism, national pride, atmosphere …
Botswana IGNIGHT home crowd with men’s 4x400m relay gold | World Athletics Relays Gaborone 26
Full Extended Highlights – Day 2| World Athletics Relays Gaborone 26 – YouTube
NRL Round 9
Highlights:
NRL 2026 | Knights v Rabbitohs | Match Highlights | Round 9
Press conference:
“They know what they’ve gotta do” Wayne furious after Newcastle defeat | Rabbitohs Press Conference
Full time: Newcastle 42 d South Sydney 38
South Sydney team list: Dufty, Johnston, Latrell, Wighton, Graham, Cody, Humphreys, Tetola, Garlick, Keppie, Koloamatangi, Duncan, Murray (captain), bench: Mamouzelos, Hubner, Aitken, Graham-Taufa
South Sydney points: tries: (7) Keppie 27’, Johnston 32’, Cody 43’, Duncan 55’, Johnston 58’, Cody 66’, Latrell 72’
Goals: Latrell 5/7
Half time: Newcastle 28-10
Crowd: 23, 413
Referee: Liam Kennedy
Penalties: 6 all
Six again: 2 all
Rabbit in the Vineyard player of the year points
3 Latrell, 2 Lachlan Hubner, 1 Peter Mamouzelos
Progressive: 11 Latrell, 9 Tallis Duncan, 6: Cameron Murray, 5: Jye Gray, 3: Peter Mamouzelos, 2: Lachlan Hubner, Alex Johnston, Cody & Jack Wighton, 1: David Fifita, Matt Dufty & Keon Koloamatangi
Honour roll: 2023-2024 Cameron Murray, 2025 Jye Gray
South Sydney full weekend results
NSW Cup round 9: bye
U/21 Jersey Flegg Cup round 9: bye
Round 10 program:
FrontRow2026 – Vol7Issue10.pdf
Barossa Valley red wine of the week
Barossa Boy Happy as Lenny Syrah
Russel Hansen, South Sydney football club diamond member 6199, lives in Nuriootpa, Barossa Valley, South Australia.
His golden retriever, Murray, is named after the South Sydney captain.
Twitter/X: @Rabbit in the Vineyard @Russel_Hansen
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About Russel Hansen
Russel Hansen Has worked in schools for over thirty years – as a teacher, coach, coach educator, sports coordinator and in pastoral care roles. Whilst at Brisbane Boys’ College as Director of Athletics, he led teams to six GPS premierships in track and field, and cross country. He has coached (athletics) at all levels from school to international. His squad at the University of Queensland (to January 2023) included Lachlan Kennedy OLY, Paris 4x100m relay runner, Australian record holder. He is married to Heidi, a Primary school principal, and is father to two adult daughters. Twitter: @Russel_Hansen
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Clearly the Rabbitohs and especially Walker has to have other players to go to than Latrell all the time. in the last play against Newcastle. If they had chosen to go to the right side it was barely defended by Newcastle players and would’ve tied the game up instead, Walker went straight to Latrell and the knights were ready for it