NRL preliminary final: Cameron Murray on leading Rabbitohs and learning from Sam Burgess
Future South Sydney skipper Cam Murray has cardinal and myrtle flowing through his veins and the words of a club legend ringing in his ears.
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Rabbitohs star Cam Murray has bolted into contention to captain South Sydney next year and revealed club legend Sam Burgess is inspiring his NRL premiership quest.
Murray, 23, is one of the contenders to replace Brisbane-bound skipper Adam Reynolds at the helm of Redfern next season.
A South Sydney junior whose father Corey played for the club (1991-93), Murray grew up idolising the Rabbitohs and inspirational English forward Burgess.
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He dreamt of wearing the famous cardinal and myrtle jersey of Souths and will make his 102nd appearance for the Rabbitohs in Friday night’s preliminary final showdown with Manly at Suncorp Stadium.
A win will deliver Murray his first appearance in an NRL grand final and be a just reward following a sensational 2021 campaign for the Rabbitohs and NSW Origin team.
And it could lead to even bigger things, with Murray in the mix alongside Cody Walker and Damien Cook to captain the Bunnies in 2022.
“It’d be special,” Murray said of securing the Rabbitohs’ captaincy.
“I grew up in the area supporting them and my dad played for the club. All I’ve ever wanted to do is play for South Sydney.
“That extra bonus of being the captain of the club you’ve always wanted to play for and supported is something that’d be really nice.
“In saying that, I wouldn’t say it’s a goal of mine or anything. I’ve got confidence the coaching staff will choose the best leader to lead this club next year.
“There’s three or four candidates I’d be happy to stand behind as they lead us. It’s not a goal of mine.
“At the forefront of my mind is to be successful and win games. Whoever the coaching staff see fit to do that I’ll be happy with.
“I just want to play good footy and be part of a successful footy club. We’ve got a really good leadership group here and any one of them would do a really good job.
“I’ve been lucky to learn behind some great players like Sam Burgess who captained the club when I was first coming into first grade.
“If that opportunity does come up I’ve got a lot of people to fall back on and rely on for advice. Sam will definitely be one of them.”
Burgess’ injury-forced retirement at the age of 31 after Souths’ 2019 preliminary final loss to Canberra was a crushing blow to a club in a premiership window.
The 2014 Clive Churchill medallist was one of the NRL’s most feared forwards and an inspirational leader at Redfern, with his departure viewed as a crushing blow to Souths’ title hopes.
But Murray has stepped into the No. 13 void with class.
While he plays a vastly-different way to the intimidating Burgess, Murray has evolved into one of the NRL’s top backrowers and a favourite of coach Wayne Bennett.
Murray said Burgess was his idol and he still leaned on him for advice.
“Sam Burgess was number one,” he said.
“It’s pretty special (to wear 13). I pinch myself being able to look back and see that I played with him.
“I sat next to him in the locker room since I debuted (in 2017). It was a crucial couple of years for me in terms of learning off one of the best.
“I got to learn from my childhood hero. To be playing with him for the first couple of years of my career … I learnt so much from him about his mentality and the way he approached footy.
“I still hold it with me today. He is a massive part of the way I prepare and play the game.
“It’s pretty special to be able to step up. Only a couple of years ago he was wearing that 13 jersey.
“Something I love about playing for this club is being able to wear a jersey so many legends have worn and represent them and such a historic club. There is a responsibility every time we run out there to make sure we’re doing the jersey proud and everyone who’s worn it before you.
“It’s something I think about quite a lot and am really honoured to be able to do.”
While Murray may not have the age and experience of Cook and Walker, he could be a long-term leadership option for the Rabbitohs.
Ahead of what could be his final game for the Rabbitohs, Reynolds said Murray had the world at his feet.
“He’s been fantastic since he debuted for us,” he said.
“He is a skilful bloke, very fast and powerful. He’s got great feet and ballplays well.
“He’s a jack of all trades. He could probably play every position on the field and do it well.
“He is a massive asset to his team. He has got a big future ahead of him.”
Reynolds eyes final piece of business before joining Broncos
Adam Reynolds has hit back at South Sydney’s critics and spoken of his desire to depart the Rabbitohs with a premiership after relocating to Queensland.
Reynolds has already sold his house in Sydney and bought new digs in Brisbane ahead of his marquee move to the Broncos in 2022.
He could be making his last appearance for the Rabbitohs in Friday night’s preliminary final against Manly at Suncorp Stadium.
A win will deliver Souths its first NRL grand final appearance since the famous 2014 triumph while a loss will bring Reynolds’ 10-season career at Redfern to a heartbreaking end.
The Rabbitohs skipper has tried to ignore the emotions of what could be his 230th and final appearance in the cardinal and myrtle jersey he grew up adoring.
Reynolds is determined to add another chapter to his Souths story and said he would leave no stone unturned in his quest for a fairytale farewell.
“I’m not too sure (how I will feel when it’s over), I genuinely don’t know,” he said.
“Hopefully it’s a lot of joy and jubilation lifting that trophy. That’s the way I want to go out.
“There is a lot of hard work between now and then to achieve that goal. We’ve just got to make sure we do everything possible to achieve that outcome.
“I’m purely focused on my job and what I need to do. They’re a great opposition and we know we need to turn up ready to play.”
Reynolds, 31, will join the Broncos next season after inking a three-year deal with the rebuilding club.
It was a tough move to make for the Souths junior, but his wife and four children have relocated to Queensland and Reynolds has come to terms with the transfer.
“I’m up here for good now,” he said.
“I sold my place down in Sydney and bought one up here. With the Covid restrictions, it doesn’t make sense to go down and spend another two weeks in quarantine (coming back to Queensland).
“I got the wife and kids up here. The weather is pretty nice, we’re still getting used to it.
“It’s all happened really fast. We got moved out of our homes pretty quickly. There was a lot going on back home.
“I haven’t had time to sit back and reflect. I probably won’t until next season rolls around, but by then I will be well entrenched with living up here.”
The Rabbitohs were somewhat of the forgotten team heading into this year’s finals series.
All eyes were on the dominant Melbourne Storm and Penrith Panthers, last year’s grand finalists, while Sea Eagles fullback Tom Trbojevic has the ability to take Manly all the way.
But Souths’ week one finals ambush of Penrith proved they are the real deal, and the fact they only lost one more game (four) than the Panthers and Storm in the regular season.
The Rabbitohs are now in the final four and Reynolds said they were taking no notice of outside opinions in their quest for premiership glory.
“We can’t control what’s being written and said,” he said.
“We’ve been focusing on ourselves, whether people wanted to talk us up or not. Still people aren’t giving us a chance.
“Everyone in general (has written us off). Whether or not they think we can win it or not doesn’t really matter. It’s not relevant to us.
“What matters is what we believe in. As a team we’ve got a strong belief we can go all the way.
“We don’t really need to care about what everyone else is thinking. It’s only what we can control.
“We knew we could beat Penrith. We believed in ourselves, we just had to go out and execute the game plan. We did that on the night and we need to do it again.
“There’s no fallback position. We either win or go home.”
RABBITOHS V SEA EAGLES
Friday 24 September, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane 7:50pm
Rabbitohs: 1. Blake Taaffe, 2. Alex Johnston, 3. Dane Gagai, 4. Campbell Graham, 5. Jaxson Paulo, 6. Cody Walker, 7. Adam Reynolds, 8. Mark Nicholls, 9. Damien Cook, 10. Tevita Tatola, 11. Keaon Koloamatangi, 12. Jaydn Su’A, 13. Cameron Murray
Bench: 14. Benji Marshall, 15. Jacob Host, 16. Thomas Burgess, 17. Jai Arrow
Reserves: 18. Taane Milne, 19. Patrick Mago, 20. Braidon Burns, 21. Jed Cartwright
Sea Eagles: 1. Tom Trbojevic, 2. Jason Saab, 3. Brad Parker, 4. Morgan Harper, 5. Reuben Garrick, 6. Kieran Foran, 7. Daly Cherry-Evans, 8. Josh Aloiai, 9. Lachlan Croker, 10. Martin Taupau, 11. Haumole Olakau’atu, 12. Josh Schuster, 13. Jake Trbojevic
Bench: 14. Dylan Walker, 15. Karl Lawton, 16. Sean Keppie, 17. Taniela Paseka
Reserves: 18. Toafofoa Sipley, 19. Moses Suli, 20. Curtis Sironen, 21. Tevita Funa
The call that saved a mate’s life
It was the phone call that put Blake Taaffe face-to-face with real life struggles that puts what happens on a rugby league field in its proper perspective.
And while South Sydney super coach Wayne Bennett calls his rookie fullback a “mozzie” because of his personality traits that allows Taaffe to fly in the face of adversity, those who know the 22-year-old best will also tell you there is a deeper side.
But put together it is why the youngster called up to take over from the suspended Latrell Mitchell is not going to be overawed with the massive challenge he confronts this Friday night – when Taaffe goes head-to-head with Manly’s superstar Tom Trbojevic in the preliminary final.
Because long before Taaffe was where he is today, a phone call from the then 14-year-old to one of his former neighbours saved a man’s life.
Chris Newman was living in the Pilbara in Western Australia, working as an NRL development officer.
“He was only a kid, but he was like another little brother to me,” Newman, now an ambassador for RU OK? recalled of his former Central Coast neighbour.
“I was struggling mentally.
“But we had a deal.
“When I was in Samoa (working as a development officer) I flew back for his grand final.
“And because I was in the Pilbara I said, ‘I can’t watch you play through the year, but if you make the grand final I will be back’.
“But that was when I was in the really darkest spot of my life and contemplating suicide.
“I was sitting in my car and watching the trains go past in the Pilbara … the big iron ore ones … and I was contemplating putting my foot down on the accelerator and putting myself out in front of that train.
“But the thing that stopped me was it was a Saturday night and it was a phone call from Blake.
“It was a FaceTime call, just to see if I was going to be true to my word and fly back to watch his grand final, because he’d just won the semi final that day.
“I tried to put on a brave face because but he could see me and my expressions and I sort of burst into tears.
“He asked then, are you ok?
“I said, ‘Yeah, yeah’, but he said, ‘Na, na’.
“And he put his dad on the phone.
“Everything sort of de-escalated from there.
“I ended up coming back and watched his grand final and a month later I left the NRL altogether and moved home.”
The two have remained close since.
When Taaffe got called up to make his NRL debut this year Newman flew to Brisbane to watch the game.
And when Mitchell was suspended and Bennett told Taaffe that he would be coming into the team at fullback, he called Newman that night.
“It was 1am,” Newman said.
“He said, ‘I’ve just laid down and it has just hit me what is going to happen. The situation I’m in. That I’m going to have to play’.
“That was the first game Latrell was suspended for.”
And while Taaffe’s performance was way below his best in the final round against St George Illawarra, Newman spoke with him after the game and he knew right then that he would bounce back if he was given the opportunity against Penrith in the first week of the finals.
And after dropping that initial bomb from Nathan Cleary, Taaffe responded with a performance that stunned many.
But not his coach.
You see, Bennett has worked with the same sports psychologist, Phil Jauncey, throughout his entire coaching career.
Jauncey can still be seen occasionally at Rabbitohs’ training sessions.
Part of his work includes identifying what makes a player tick through his personality.
He separates them into four main groups, the enforcers, the feelers, the thinkers and the mozzies.
While the others are self explanatory, the mozzies are the ones who can make a mistake but who can also put it behind them like it never happened.
Think James Maloney and you’re on the right track.
Which is why Bennett never once considered replacing Taaffe after he dropped that Cleary bomb.
Told that story, Newman laughed: “That’s Blake.
“He’s had his own setbacks throughout his life, but he always bounces back.
“At 14 or 15 he lost the belief. He went to the local rep trials and if they picked him they’d pick him on the wing. Or he’d get 20 minutes or not even get a run.
“He went down and played 20s for the Roosters and they chopped him.
“And then he came back and played local A grade on the Coast for Berkeley Vale under Alex Moore and he got an opportunity for Norths.
“His first game was against the Roosters and he carved them up.
“And he is a kid who rises for the big occasions.
“Go and watch his 20s grand final.
“He did well all year but he put his foot down in the grand final when he got man of the match.”
THE DEFEAT THAT HURT BUNNIES MORE THAN ANY OTHER
They are the losses which have got “worse and worse” each time according to South Sydney hooker Damien Cook as the Rabbitohs face up to having an unwanted preliminary finals record.
South Sydney became the first team to be defeated in three consecutive preliminary finals matches since the top eight finals format was introduced 22 years ago when they lost to Penrith last year.
A loss in their fourth straight preliminary final against Manly on Friday will see them jump Cronulla and Brisbane with the most defeats in the penultimate game of the year with six losses.
Cook is one of eight Rabbitohs to have featured in all three losses. He knows how much those defeats have stung.
“This is the fourth one in a row – they (have) been hard to lose,” Cook said. “(Coach) Wayne Bennett has talked about the deeper you go into the finals the more it hurts when you lose.
“You can look at all the different reasons why and for some reason we weren’t completely ready.
“We’ve seen the signs where we went wrong. It hasn’t been talked about – prelims and losing. The biggest lesson is that we beat ourselves in those games.”
The Rabbitohs understand their “premiership window” is slowly closing.
Another defeat at the second last hurdle and their time under Bennett could be looked upon as wasted opportunities.
Bennett and South Sydney skipper Adam Reynolds are a loss away from their time at the club coming to an end.
The Rabbitohs have taken a different path this time around.
They have not enjoyed the week off before and Cook said that is going to make a huge difference.
“We’ve had to do it the hard way,” Cook said. “We’ve always wanted the week off. Obviously the two teams last year who won the prelims had the week off and were a lot fresher. There has to be something in why it’s worked.
“This year we are a lot more consistent. We’re winning games well and defending a lot better. That’s what you need to do if you’re going to give yourselves a chance.
“We’ve built on last year and performed more consistently.”
The Rabbitohs season could have come crashing down when they were embarrassed 56-12 to Penrith in Round 11.
Back then, a preliminary final seemed a world away.
But Cook said the aftermath of that defeat sparked the side. They went on to win eight consecutive matches and their only loss since that match was to Penrith in round 23.
“We changed the way we structured our defensive line,” Cook said. “We changed a few other things. For me it was good because it showed me that not all games am I going to have a running game. So if I don’t have that I need to have kick pressure, line speed and make sure my defence has good execution.
“We wanted to attack anywhere on the field. Now we don’t want to build momentum and instantly shift left anymore. We have a strong right side so it’s good to see we have the right mix now.”
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