Monday Buzz: South Sydney back in NRL premiership race after belting Manly
All year the Rabbitohs have been flying under the radar but their record-breaking win against Manly has put their rivals on notice that they are still a serious contender for this year’s title.
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Parramatta coach Brad Arthur rates South Sydney a top-four club.
On Saturday night he sat up until near midnight studying the stunning video of their 56-16 annihilation of Manly to prepare for Thursday night’s blockbuster at Bankwest Stadium.
All year the Rabbitohs have been under the radar.
They supposedly don’t have the middle forwards to compete with the competition heavyweights.
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Yet they came out and destroyed a Manly pack with Addin Fonua-Blake, Jake Trbojevic and big Marty Taupau.
“I don’t know what other joints think but we certainly rate them highly,” Arthur said
“They’re real quality. It’s a good forward pack that can march down the field easily.
“On the back of that they’ve got the class of (Damien) Cook and (Adam) Reynolds, (Cody) Walker and Latrell. They come at you really fast and hard.
“Once they get on a roll they showed on Saturday night what they can do with a bit of momentum.”
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All season the Panthers, Roosters, Storm and Eels have dominated the back pages with the big and bold headlines. Souths have hardly rated a mention, apparently not in the same league.
Yet their performance against the Sea Eagles was near enough to perfect, completing 42 of 45 sets.
It was a wake-up call for the rest of the competition that there is another player in town.
Souths led 38-0 at half-time after the most spectacular 40 minutes of football dominance.
Sure Manly was dreadful but the Rabbitohs still capitalised.
In the last month the TAB has slashed South Sydney’s premiership odds from $41 into $17.
“This year I reckon there are six or seven teams that are top-four clubs,” Arthur said. “And Souths are one of those teams. Unfortunately you can only have four.
“When they play fast and in your face they’re very hard to peg back.
“There’s so much skill across their side.
“We trained this morning and spoke about them at length and how impressive they were against Manly.”
Interestingly the Rabbitohs have beaten only one side in the top eight this year, the Cronulla Sharks.
It’s why their old middle-forward champion Sam Burgess refuses to talk them up or complain about the fact they’ve been ignored in premiership discussions.
“There’s nothing to talk about yet,” Burgess said. “It’s one game we’ve put it together.
“You look at Penrith. They do it every week. We’ve just been hovering around seventh and eighth and there’s still plenty to work on.
“The fact we haven’t beaten anyone in the top eight apart from Cronulla tells you a bit.”
Burgess says the Parramatta game will answer a lot of questions.
“It’s our big test,” he said. “It will tell us more about where we’re at.
“On our day we’re a great chance against any side but the challenge is finding the consistency that the great sides have.”
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Cook will be the key to the Rabbitohs’ chances for the rest of the year. When he runs the rest of the team follows and the Manly game was easily his best for the year.
His blinder coincided with all the talk about Penrith’s Api Koroisau gunning for his State of Origin jersey with the Blues.
The Rabbitohs have six players with State of Origin experience …. Mitchell, Dane Gagai, Walker, Reynolds, Cook and Cameron Murray.
Throw in Great Britain Test front-rower Tom Burgess and it’s great football side.
As Wayne Bennett says, it’s time we showed them more respect.