Cody Walker says Rabbitohs’ backline is one of the NRL’s best, but they must earn right to attack
CODY Walker agrees South Sydney has potentially the most exciting attack in the NRL. Under new coach Anthony Seibold, the Rabbitohs are not only willing to spread the ball early, but from everywhere.
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CODY Walker agrees South Sydney has potentially the most exciting attack in the NRL.
Under new coach Anthony Seibold, the Rabbitohs are not only willing to spread the ball early, but from everywhere.
“Still, we have to earn the right to play that way,” Walker says.
“Our backline, I believe it’s one of the best in the competition.
“But as a team, we’re not building pressure.
“It’s frustrating ... and we have to get better.”
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Despite having now dropped four of their first eight games, Walker insists the Rabbitohs new attacking structure — which differs greatly to their previous life under Michael Maguire — is that of an NRL premiership team.
“We’ve changed the way we play, yeah,” Walker explained. “Seibs (coach Seibold) has brought in a game where he wants us shifting the ball more.
“And we’ve shown in the first seven games that we can score points.
“But to do that we have to complete sets. Build pressure.
“It was so disappointing against Brisbane because, early in the second half, we didn’t play the style of footy we know we can.
“First 20 minutes, we only completed three from six. Our game relies on building pressure but you can’t build pressure like that.
“Instead, we put ourselves under the pump. We’re trying to make the opposition defence work ... instead it was us doing all the work as we kept feeding them possession.”
Asked if they needed more time to perfect Seibold’s new style, the Souths No. 6 continued: “While it’s definitely different to last year, we’ve done enough work.
“We should be able to put it to the test now.
“And personally, I feel like our style suits my natural game. I’m most dangerous when I’m running the footy, going to the line, and we’ve got such a great backline.
“But for that to work we have to be building pressure.”
Against the Broncos, Souths were without star forward Sam Burgess in the middle.
However, Walker insisted a lack of consistency was key to the loss. The playmaker said only twice this year had the Bunnies played for the full 80 minutes — in wins against Canberra (42-22) and Manly (34-6)
“So we know we can play that footy,” he added. “We just have to find some consistency
“Even against Brisbane, we still had opportunities to win late. If we just could’ve built a bit more pressure midway through the second half it could have been different. But to the Broncos credit they were the ones got the repeat sets, not us.”