BURNING QUESTIONS FOR 2012: How much will Souths miss Chris Sandow and can Maguire deliver success?
Can the Rabbitohs win without Chris Sandow?
Make no bones about it - Sandow will be a hard man to replace. He was instrumental in the club's gallant, but eventually unsuccessful, charge to the finals in 2011 where they won four successive matches between rounds 21 and 24. He finished as the season's leading point-scorer and earned a berth in the 2012 All Stars game with the Indigenous side. The man to step into his shoes is 21-year-old Adam Reynolds. When the Rabbitohs play their season opener against the Roosters on March 5, it will be 520 days since Reynolds last played (in the 2010 NYC grand final). An ACL injury has kept him out for a lengthy period, and as a result it's a risk for South Sydney to pin their hopes squarely on him.
On the upside, halfbacks often emerge quickly from being debut first-graders to become established contributors, or even stars. Manly's Daly Cherry-Evans took his side to a premiership and played for Australia in just his first season last year. Reynolds kicks goals, and CEO Shane Richardson says he's "very strong defensively". The same certainly couldn't be said of Sandow. The Rabbitohs will be more than satisfied if Reynolds does a 'Cherry-Evans' in 2012.
Will John Sutton step up?
Eyebrows were raised among the rugby league fraternity in April last year when John Sutton re-signed with the Rabbitohs through to 2014. Channel Nine commentator Phil Gould, among others, wondered why the Bunnies would invite Sutton to put pen to paper while letting go of Sandow. Until the beginning of last season, both he and Sandow were inconsistent performers who would generally play their best games when their positions in the side were on the chopping block. Sandow distanced himself from that tag with a stellar 2011, but Sutton still wears it.
At 27 years of age and entering his eighth season in the red and green, the time is now for Sutton to make the transition from being a regular first-grader to a key player, particularly with the inexperienced Reynolds alongside him at halfback. It won't take long to find out whether new coach Michael Maguire has done the homework on his pivot.
Is Michael Maguire the man to bring success to Redfern?
Maguire's apprenticeship under Craig Bellamy and subsequent success in the English Super League should hold him in good stead as he begins his reign as South Sydney coach. Maguire, who was a Raider as a player, was assistant coach at the Melbourne Storm from 2005 to 2009 – a time that included two stripped premierships ('07,'09) and two further runners-up performances ('06,'08). He was justifiably named the ESL's coach of the year in 2010, having guided the Wigan Warriors to the premiership that year. He also took Wigan to the Challenge Cup title in 2011.
Maguire's CV suggests he's in the best possible position to bring consistency and results to the Rabbitohs. Perhaps if he guides Russell Crowe's men to the premiership title, Rusty will ask Brad Pitt to feature as Maguire in a rugby league version of the movie Moneyball, the motion picture based on the remarkable achievements of the Oakland Athletics baseball team which Pitt stars in.