SuperCoach NRL Round 9: 10 Winners and Losers from Rabbitohs vs Panthers
A pair of Panthers cracked the ton as a number of key Rabbitohs flopped as they copped another huge loss. See the top SuperCoach Winners and Losers from Thursday Night Football.
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South Sydney started hot, but couldn’t maintain the rage and it resulted in a big night for SuperCoaches with Panthers players in their squads.
The top seven scores came from the mountain men in what was a pretty fitting description for their dominance on the night.
SUPERCOACH WINNERS
1. Luke Garner (115 pts) – When Garner scores well, he goes huge. Tops the tally tonight on the back of two tries, reaping the benefits of playing on a Panthers edge.
2. Dylan Edwards (109 pts) – Cracked the century for the fourth time this season and is the sixth time he has scored 89 or more. Will he finally get that Blues jersey?
3. Sunia Turuva (88 pts) – One of the most consistent wingers in the game and turned in another great performance tonight. At a premium price, but is worth it.
4. Taylan May (70 pts) – After plummeting below $400k, bounced back with a nice score and could work his way back into SuperCoach teams.
5. Brad Schneider (92 pts) – Was involved in a lot for the Panthers tonight, but it’s fair to say he has less job security than a sunscreen salesman in the UK.
SUPERCOACH LOSERS
1. Isaiah Tass (9 pts) – Played 80 minutes and scored nine points. Yikes.
2. Jacob Host (21 pts) – An already tough night got worse for the second rower when he was sent to the sin bin for a nasty tackle.
3. Izack Tago (28 pts) – On a night where plenty of Panthers feasted on the poor Rabbitohs, Tago didn’t get in on the action.
4. Jack Wighton (23 pts) – Had to shuffle around in the backline but it just wasn’t happening for Wighton tonight.
5. Dean Hawkins (28 pts) – Went off with a quad injury after a good start, and is now likely to spend some time on the sidelines.
FULL-TIME - Panthers 42-12
Seven unanswered tries from the Panthers sees them romp away with an easy win in the end over the Rabbitohs.
An uncharacteristic miss from Cameron Murray allows Luke Garner to breeze past and find Izack Tago for another easy try in the closing stages.
The effort was there in the first half, but the same can’t be said during periods of the second 40, keeping them anchored to the bottom of the ladder.
Here are the top SuperCoach scores from the match:
70th minute - Panthers 36-12
Just when things can’t get worse for the Rabbitohs, they allow the Panthers to score a try from a 20m restart.
Dylan Edwards hit the line at speed, finding Taylan May close behind and just Jai Arrow in front of them.
That was pretty embarrassing from the Rabbitohs.
Jacob Host caps an ordinary night with a 10 minute stint in the sin bin after attacking the legs of Brad Schneider while kicking.
From the next set, a miracle offload from Sunia Turuva to get the ball away while being taken over the sideline hits Luke Garner on the chest for his second try of the night.
Arrow got up clutching a shoulder as a result of the tackle.
Not seen any team come up with plays you’d have only seen from 2022/23 Tigers sides, but Souths have produced multiple tonight 😬
— NBWT (@NBWT__) May 2, 2024
61st minute - Panthers 24-12
Adam Gee confirms he can identify a forward pass after correctly pinging Cody Walker for one as the Rabbitohs prepared to attack.
Walker hits a lovely spiral bomb that had Sunia Turuva in all sorts, but Penrith’s defence holds steady.
With Damien Cook at fullback, the regular hooker was out of position and a bomb from Brad Schneider allowed Lindsay Smith to pounce for his first ever NRL try.
Jye Gray ruled out at half time after succumbing to an ankle injury.
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) May 2, 2024
Hip drop tackle mechanism - contact causes foot to turn out bringing concern for a syndesmosis injury. Moderate to high grade sprain would be at least 3-4 weeks recovery so hopefully not as bad as it looks. pic.twitter.com/OoFuRJl1W0
51st minute - Panthers 18-12
The Rabbitohs attack is looking disjointed and they can’t capitalise on some good field position to start the half.
Penrith could be next to get the official warning from referee Adam Gee after infringing multiple times deep in their own territory.
Jye Gray came off at halftime and will not return.
Dylan Edwards is now the leading SuperCoach scorer with 73.
Souths’ No.7 crisis as Hawkins suffers quad injury from kick-off 🤕
— Fox League (@FOXNRL) May 2, 2024
NRL Casualty Ward 👉https://t.co/spmDMHhhlTpic.twitter.com/18UqBr7Wh3
HALFTIME - Panthers 18-12
That half had a bit of everything.
Izack Tago was sent for 10 in the opening minutes for an ugly hip drop, with Jai Arrow experiencing the same fate for repeated infringements.
Both teams scored twice with the extra man advantage, with a Luke Garner try the difference.
Jack Wighton got his way over the line in the final minutes of the half, but an obvious driver from Cameron Murray prevented any hopes of a try.
Here are the top SuperCoach scores at the break:
34th minute - Panthers 18-12
Dean Hawkins hurt his quad kicking off, and was taken from the field.
It was a great kick, forcing a mistake and giving Souths great territory, but a Jacob Host obstruction denies a try to Jack Wighton.
Wighton now goes to five-eighth, Cody Walker to halfback and Cameron Murray appears to have shifted into the centres.
Pressure is beginning to tell on the Rabbitohs with Luke Garner splitting Walker and Michael Chee Kam to give the Panthers their first lead of the night.
Just like that, Adam Gee is having his “rotation†to reserve grade next week @NRL
— henry gibbs (@gibbsy1997) May 2, 2024
25th minute - 12-all
It’s South Sydney’s time to play with 12 men.
After giving away a heap of set restarts and penalties deep in their own territory, Jai Arrow has been sent to the sin bin.
To heap further pain on the Rabbitohs, an obvious forward pass from Brad Schneider has been let go by the officials, and Sunia Turuva pounces on the loose ball to score.
It will be interesting to see how Graham Annesley defends that one on Monday.
And just like that we’re all tied up.
An error from the Rabbitohs give the Panthers prime field position and Schneider runs through some flimsy defence from Jacob Host and Cody Walker to score with ease and lock the scores up at 12-all.
He rises to 64 points.
15th minute - Rabbitohs 12-0
It’s the Cody Walker show early on.
He has another try assist with a lovely grubber back in-field picked up by Dean Hawkins to touch down narrowly inside the dead-ball line.
He’s up to 32 SuperCoach points early doors.
9th minute - Rabbitohs 6-0
A blow for plenty of SuperCoaches with Izack Tago spending 10 in the bin for an ugly hip drop tackle on Jye Gray.
You can expect him to miss some time for that, although the way the judiciary operates, who knows.
Despite the best efforts of Sunia Turuva, Izaac Thompson touches down in the corner to give the Rabbitohs a dream start.
South Sydney couldn’t have asked for more to start this contest.
All systems go 🚀@classic_sportspic.twitter.com/x8IYBwvf7o
— South Sydney Rabbitohs 🰠(@SSFCRABBITOHS) May 2, 2024
7.50PM: And we are off at Accor Stadium.
It’s the first game of the post-Jason Demetriou era at the Rabbitohs as they celebrate Damien Cook’s 200th game in the NRL.
7.20PM: All eyes are on the Rabbitohs tonight.
They’ve dominated headlines for all the wrong reasons this season, and they’ve finally decided to let head coach Jason Demetriou go, replaced in the interim by assistant Ben Hornby.
As revealed earlier there have been plenty of changes to Souths as they look to turn around a horror 1-7 start to 2024.
While Penrith is a daunting first task as a head coach, they have been somewhat boosted with the decision of the Panthers to rest Nathan Cleary.
They’ll need everything to go their way if they are to record their first success since round four.
6.50PM: Final teams have been confirmed and a new coach isn’t the only notable change.
The deck chairs have well and truly been shuffled at the Rabbitohs ahead of their crunch clash with Penrith, which also marks the first game of interim coach Ben Hornby.
Jacob Gagai has been dropped from the wing with Michael Chee Kam (2RF/CTW $381,200) moving into the centres and Isaiah Tass (CTW $423,800) stepping into Gagai’s role.
Jai Arrow (2RF/FRF $466,000) moves into the starting front row position from the interchange, shifting Keaon Koloamatangi (2RF $567,500) into the second row, with Sean Keppie (2RF/FRF $357,900) the new bench player.
For the Panthers, SuperCoaches have been left to scramble with news of Nathan Cleary sitting out this week.
He’s been replaced by Brad Schneider (HFB $398,100). Jack Cole (5/8 $204,300) replaces Daine Laurie on the bench.
Lindsay Smith is starting with Moses Leota moving to the interchange.
EARLIER: Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Thursday night’s NRL clash between the Rabbitohs and Panthers.
With the Rabbitohs struggling and their coach sacked this week, the Panthers are an obvious team to target for SuperCoaches with the VC, C and reserves.
However, their best player Nathan Cleary has been ruled out.
Top cheapie Jacob Gagai of the Rabbitohs has also been axed.
Even so, a host of SuperCoach-relevant players are in action tonight:
* Taylan May CTW $394,200 - Hasn’t lived up to expectations as a pre-season cash cow and has actually lost money to now sit in the $300,000s. However, the round 13 coverage is handy and he’s a must-play against the Rabbitohs.
* Isaah Yeo 2RF $743,600 - Yeo is in the midst of a career-year for SuperCoach – only David Fifita has averaged more at 2RF.
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Originally published as SuperCoach NRL Round 9: 10 Winners and Losers from Rabbitohs vs Panthers
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