Friday, April 13, 2007

On The Bunny Bandwagon

The South Sydney Rabbitohs have changed their fortunes in a short space of time. They have a renewed enthusiasm, they are winning, and as a result they have captured the imagination of a lot of Rugby League supporters.


I am an AFL fan primarily, and in the League I am an Eels supporter. But I am firmly jumping on the Bunnies Bandwagon for 07 and perhaps beyond. They will be my second team, as I can’t conscionably desert my first team, the Eels. I may even buy the jersey of my new second favourite Rugby League team if they are cheap enough at Peter Wynn’s.

A few things led to their turn around:
  • Rusty and Holmes a court taking over – amid lots of controversy, instigated mainly by the archaic previous administration who were still stuck on the dark ages
  • Getting Jason Taylor as coach – should be at Parra but they made the stupid decision to sign their new coach before last season started. Since they signed Michael Hagan, the then current coach Brian Smith quit the club and Jason Taylor took over as caretaker coach. The Eels came from nowhere to almost make the finals. A lot of the credit for this revival went to Jason Taylor
  • Signing some big names – Roy Asotasi, David Kidwell, David Peachey, Dean Widders, Jeremy Smith
  • Keeping their young stars – John Sutton, Joe Williams, Nathan Merritt
  • Getting them decked out in Armani suits – it has to feel good to be in a good quality suit
  • Booting the Bunny cheerleaders – in its place comes a drumming ensemble that I haven’t yet experienced for myself.
However, the Bunny’s now have a tough few weeks ahead of them after they came back to earth with a thud courtesy of the awakening of the slow starting Bulldogs. It will definitely be a test of their mettle. This week they come up against a Knights team in moarning over the sudden end to the career of Andrew Johns. I suspect it will be hard to get on top of a team inspired to give their all for their former captain.