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0 NRL great Paul Gallen has described Lachlan Ilias’ form as “absolutely ordinary” but expressed his “surprise” at Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou’s decision to drop him.
Ilias has been made a scapegoat for Souths’ two-match losing streak to start the season, and won’t run out for the side’s grudge match against the Roosters.
The halfback will be replaced by 2023 NSW Cup player of the year Dean Hawkins in a major shake-up to Souths’ spine.
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Coming up against two tough opponents in Manly and the Broncos, Ilias has failed to lead his side to victory and will now have to battle his way back into the side through NSW Cup.
Gallen believes Souths have now pushed themselves into a hard position considering Ilias would’ve been front and centre during pre-season.
“This Lachlan Ilias situation is hard because the halfback you’ve been training with the entire off season has now been dumped,” he told Nine’s 100% Footy.
“I thought he may have been given a chance, at least maybe a month to prove his worth and hit back.
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“He has been terrible, I can’t cover up what he’s done, he has been absolutely ordinary the first couple of games. If he was doing this in a couple of weeks time without doubt deserves to be dropped.
“To change your halfback two rounds into the competition is a big call … I’m a little bit surprised Ilias has been dropped this early in the season.”
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League icon Phil Gould agreed with Gallen’s big call sentiment, adding “everyone’s jumping up and down a little bit too early”.
“It’s very early in the season, they have played Manly who look like the form team of the competition at the moment and last year’s grand finalists the Broncos up there on their patch of dirt,” he said.
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“They haven’t played a home game yet and I think just looking at this competition there are a lot of teams that South Sydney are going to beat, they’re just not playing against them at the moment so I’d be settling down if I was everybody, I wouldn’t be too critical at the moment.
“The halfback change is interesting, Dean Hawkins is a fine, young player but so to is Lachlan Ilias and I think there are a lot of things going wrong with Souths in their game that don’t help the halfback at all.”
