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2006 South Sydney Rabbitohs season

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2006 South Sydney Rabbitohs season
NRL RankFirst Grade
Team information
CEOAustralia
CoachAustralia Shaun McRae
Captain
  • Australia
StadiumTelstra Stadium
Top scorers
TriesAustralia
GoalsAustralia
PointsAustralia
← 2005 2007 →

The 2005 South Sydney Rabbitohs season was the 97th in the club's history. Coached by Shaun McRae and captained by Peter Cusack, they competed in the National Rugby League's 2006 Telstra Premiership, finishing the regular season in last place, and collecting their eighth (and to date most recent) wooden spoon.

Souths acquired many sound players for 2006 including Joe Galuvao, Stuart Webb, Jaiman Lowe and Ben Rogers. They also re-signed key five-eighth/lock John Sutton for several years.

Despite coming close, Souths were yet to score a win after round ten but had shown significant progress. One area of weakness nominated by fans included the half back position. An injury to regular half-back Ben Walker took a heavy toll on the team's performance. Players who have made a big impact in a losing side included David Fa'alogo (a New Zealand International) and Nathan Merritt. Merritt finished the season as the NRL's leading try scorer with 22 tries.

David Peachey came to the club after being sacked by his English club Widnes. On 11 June 2006, in his second match for the Rabbitohs, Peachey steered the bottom of the table Souths to their first win of the 2006 season with a commanding 34-14 win over the second placed Brisbane Broncos. This was Souths first win over the Broncos since 1989.

On 25 June Souths suffered their worst defeat ever, going down 66-0 to the New Zealand Warriors at Telstra Stadium. In a rare move, this catastrophic result moved the club to make a full and unreserved apology to their fans through the nation's press, in direct letters to members and through the electronic media. Souths finished the season in last place.

On 30 August 2006 Jason Taylor was appointed head coach in place of Shaun McRae for seasons 2007 and 2008.

Ladder

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Pos Team Pld W D L B PF PA PD Pts
1 Melbourne Storm 24 20 0 4 2 605 404 +201 441
2 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 24 16 0 8 2 608 468 +140 36
3 Brisbane Broncos (P) 24 14 0 10 2 497 392 +105 32
4 Newcastle Knights 24 14 0 10 2 608 538 +70 32
5 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 24 14 0 10 2 534 493 +41 32
6 St George Illawarra Dragons 24 14 0 10 2 519 481 +38 32
7 Canberra Raiders 24 13 0 11 2 525 573 -48 30
8 Parramatta Eels 24 12 0 12 2 506 483 +23 28
9 North Queensland Cowboys 24 11 0 13 2 450 463 -13 26
10 New Zealand Warriors 24 12 0 12 2 552 463 +89 242
11 Wests Tigers 24 10 0 14 2 490 565 -75 24
12 Penrith Panthers 24 10 0 14 2 510 587 -77 24
13 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 24 9 0 15 2 515 544 -29 22
14 Sydney Roosters 24 8 0 16 2 528 650 -122 20
15 South Sydney Rabbitohs 24 3 0 21 2 429 772 -343 10

1 The Melbourne Storm were later stripped of this minor premiership due to gross salary cap breaches.
2 The New Zealand Warriors were deducted 4 competition points due to gross salary cap breaches.

Player statistics

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Player Appearances Tries Goals Field Goals Total Points

Representative Honours

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Player All Stars ANZAC Test Pacific Test City / Country State of Origin 1 State of Origin 2 State of Origin 3 Four Nations

References

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