Looked poor so far and very unfit. His pace and reactions seem incredibly slow. I didn't like the idea of Hendo in the forwards but at least he hit the line fast and won the ground.

I think its the type of player he is. He has impressed me with his defense as he is a real grafter. He seems to be the type of forward that runs the ball in drops to the ground on his front followed by a quick play the ball having watched him in the NRL using the same technique. I do how ever agree he looks abit slow to react on occasions and could really do with longer stints on the pitch.

Why are some overseas players expected to do it from day one, yet others players get months as they need time to settle??? The blokes a workhorse from the nrl hes not going to create gaps for players like ali does, for whatever reason hes not having the impact we want but to single him out when half the team is underperforming is odd.

cash.

Think him and Kirmond to play second row with Ali coming off the bench when the other side tire as he did to devastating effect for Leeds.Ali starting from the off he tires as quick as the other side so not the same effect.

I have to say I disagree.....to certain extent

In his first games he was outstanding.
He saved tries repeatedly with his defense against Widnes.
He tightened up the defense in the other games too

.....however I agree he wasn't all that yesterday and I wonder whether he hasn't got iover the ijury that brought him off a few games earlier.
Plus the fact we are playing him out of position.

I'd like to see improvement but I have seen that he is good enough so have no problems with the signing.

southern is a class act. proper grafter most nrl players that come over take 12 months to settle in.

just had a kid too so maybe that is affecting him.

Keep the faith

btw if you get chanec take a look at his hit on moimoi

Total Agree with that Ali could be a real impact player and could really take advantage when other players may be tired

sorry, dont agree he is a class act, if he was class, there would not be so many questions being asked about him, I think he is average and will cost 50% more than Uk players. Give Frankie Mariano another shot. He is bigger, faster and scores tries.
people are also trying to convince us that Isaac John is class.

the problem with solomona was that he was unfit and prone to brain farts, lauititi is like a poor man's version.

Give over man.....

Where can we find it?!!! I have looked all over Utube

Im sorry but i dont think you actually realise how much work he actually gets through the amount of time that he is on the pitch, He`s a forward! Look at the stats, he has not been on the field for as long as Ali and this is how there stats compare

Ali : Tackles : 130 Carries 88 Marker tackles: 12
Southern: Tackles: 167 Carries: 66 Marker Tackles: 26

Steve southern is a good old fashion forward who is willing to do the work when nobody else wants to. He is also playing out of position, Sorry to hear that he is not exacly what you expected.

It's up to the coach to rectify this. We need Southern, as captain, to be on the field more than what he is at the moment.

the comparison is not entirely fair, granted. however ali always looks to promote the ball and throw out miracle passes. as a result we end up defending. he's a big lump of a fella, wish he'd sometimes look to keep hold of the ball and use his size and not look to make us score off every play.

Wildcat26. I have an opinion, and the idea of the forum is to express it. I am sorry that Steve Southern has not lived up to expectations after a third of the season and I bet those paying his wages may also be concerned. The raps for him are few and far between. The point is, he costs a lot more than a UK player. On another thread someone suggests he has a beer belly.
It would not be the first time an overseas player has arrived in the UK carrying a long term niggle and who knows if this is the case. If his main attribute is defensive then it is just my view that this is not enough to justify the expense.
I hope he has a blinder on Friday against Cas.

This.

this, by a mile.

Playing some one out of position when they are undersized to play that position is rarely going to get the best out of a player

Defensively I'm happy with Southern,

I do agree that a captain is some one that will play 80 mins and perhaps he will play 80 mins once he's playing in the backrow on a regular basis

Its also a well know fact that some new players and in particular overseas players can take time to settle in, as in any job for that matter

Only time will tell but I personally after only a few games wont be jumping on his back

I like Frankie, but our real problem has not been scoring tries, it's been stopping the tries. Over the last few weeks we have been competing with sides scoring like for like and nearly winning, but this has covered over our real problem which is defence. Now that we have been kept scoreless it stands out as our real problem and is something that needs to be addressed.

Southern can certainly do this, and this is where (IMO) we need to work more on, and have the right people in the squad to be able to do all the hard work just as much as you need the people on the field to score the tries. You keep a team from scoring, your half way there to winning

Southern is class and showed that in the early games - his defence is outstanding and in his natural position, he runs good lines and causes problems.

As for the captain issue - that could be easily solved by introducing a vice captain; I'd use Mathers, as a senior player and someone with experience in big games. More urgently however, I'd get the prop situation resolved so that Southern isn't forced to play as a battering ram and end up bashed up and spelled for long periods.

i think he's solid, but class? not on evidence to date. like many have said, playing him at prop is doing him and us no favours at all. if we're going to pay top dollar for an import, we should at least seek to get maximum value from him and not use him out of position.

We do have a vice captain, isnt it kirmo ? Didn't he lead out the players in London ?

Do you know how much he is earning? I would imagine we will be paying Ali for example, alot more than him? i dont know for sure, just guessing. I may be wrong and so be it, i just wondered if you know for sure as you seem pretty certain he is on "top dollar"

Defensively solid players always get the stick. His tackle stats dont lie. I would also like to see him on the field more, but if you are going to use him as a battering ram down the middle, that is what you will get.
For me he is doing exactly what i thought he would before he arrived just for less minutes.He doesnt look as fit as i would like, but maybe they are trying to bulk him up??

If you were expecting a Clyde, Watmough like player you will be dissapointed. If you were expecting a solid defensive second rower who has then been asked to play out of position, i think he has been there or there abouts.

I heard an interview with Southern on Radio Leeds a couple of weeks ago and he said that he was struggling a bit to settle.
He said this was not due to the club, whoe were doing everthing to help, but mentioned that his partner was struggling to settle abnd he inferred that
this was not helping his rugby.
Je seemed pretty genuine and also said that it was up to him to sort himself out.
In fairness he went well against Catalan and along with the rest of the team was poor on Saturday night.
We just have to hope that Saturday was a blip and that Southern will find his form.
He is a quality, no nonsense player and he can certainly do a great job for us. Lets hope he can sort himself out and in turn this will lift the team.