Fletcher Sharpe scores a hat-trick on his birthday as Knights win 30-4 over Rabbitohs
Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett has slammed his players, as Knights star Fletcher Sharpe scored a hat-trick on his 21st birthday to snap a five-game losing streak.
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Lewis Dodd finally got his starting shot at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday afternoon but he never stood a chance. Not when the Rabbitohs forward pack was being overrun like this.
Put the great Andrew Johns in a Souths jersey and the outcome would have been no different given the way the Rabbitohs’ big men were brutalised at Magic Round by the rampant Newcastle Knights.
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Sean Keppie and Junior Tatola - handed the captaincy in the absence of several big names - missed a combined 16 tackles between them. They weren’t on their own as coach Wayne Bennett hit his players with some home truths after another disappointing performance.
The Rabbitohs are down on troops but it still wasn’t good enough.
“It’s the NRL - no one’s going to give you compensation for that,” Bennett said.
“I don’t want the players to use it as an excuse. They all get well paid, they all think they want to be first graders. Well they have to play like first graders.
“It’s as simple as that.”
Injuries are one thing, attitude is another and Bennett conceded the players needed to own their performances after a run of four successive defeats which have crueled a promising start to the year.
Souths were finals contenders a month ago. Now, they are struggling to keep touch with the top eight and their defence has become tissue thin.
They missed 58 tackles against the Knights, which sys all you need to know about their performance. Defence, they say, is about attitude as much as anything.
If Saturday afternoon was any indication, the attitude of the Rabbitohs players needs a serious adjustment.
“It’s personal,” Bennett said.
“They have to fix it. They have to own it first.”
The good news is that Latrell Mitchell will be back next week and Jamie Humphreys could make his return from long-term injury.
Their return will be tempered by the loss of hooker Peter Mamouzelos and potentially Jye Gray, who succumbed to a leg issue in the second half.
The Mamouzelos injury - a dislocated elbow which medicos struggled to put back in place - was particularly galling given it happened in the dying embers of the game.
Souths aren’t enjoying much luck at the moment. Then again, they aren’t making any either. They were blown away in the first half as Newcastle finally released the shackles after weeks of attacking impotency.
The Rabbitohs were found wanting and their halves - Dodd and Jayden Sullivan - couldn’t dig them out of it.
Dodd was renowned for his boot in England yet Sullivan strangely did the majority of the kicking.
Asked about Dodd’s performance, Bennett replied: “He was like a lot of other players out there - he wasn’t at his best.
“We need to address it as a team, not as individuals.”
Tatola added: “It’s an attitude thing and it’s just something that we’ve all got to be honest with ourselves. We’re gonna have a good reality check when we get home and like, Wayne said, just be honest with ourselves and then move onto next week.”
BIRTHDAY BOY STARS AS KNIGHTS BLOW BUNNIES AWAY
—Edward Franklin
The Rabbitohs injury toll has gone from bad to worse after Gray and Mamouzelos failed to see out their side’s lacklustre Magic Round display against the Knights on Saturday.
The scoreline wasn’t the only piece of poor viewing for Rabbitohs fans on Saturday as both Jye Gray and Peter Mamouzelos suffered injuries during the 30-4 defeat at Suncorp Stadium.
In front of a healthy 39,682 opening Saturday crowd the Knights snapped a five-game losing streak, leaving the Rabbitohs stunned with five straight tries.
The result was just the second time this season that the Knights have managed to record more than 20 points, eventually finishing with their highest scoreline all season.
Despite the positive change, no team in the NRL era has scored fewer than 100 points through their first eight games and made finals.
PRIORITY PONGA
With the Queensland number one jersey up for grabs, Knights fullback Kalyn Ponga struggled to take the game by the horns against the Rabbitohs on Saturday.
Despite his outside backs performing well, the Newcastle captain looked to have just glided through the motions finishing with two try assists, 134 run metres, three tackle breaks and five tackles.
He did inject himself well for their opening second half try, throwing a nice cut out ball to Bradman Best before getting the ball back and throwing another pass to Best to score.
In his 200th game for the club, veteran centre Dane Gagai looked strong as he hoped to earn a place in Slater’s game one squad.
The 34-year-old was called upon in game three of the 2024 series after being overlooked in the opening two matches.
On Saturday, Gagai’s right side combination with Kai Pearce-Paul and James Schiller certainly helped his case as he finished with 180 run metres, 59 post contact metres, four tackle breaks, one line break, two line break assists and 18 tackles.
SLOPPY SOUTHS
The Rabbitohs were stuck in the barriers for the majority of the match as the Knights picked off easy defensive gaps all across the field.
Lacking any direction or urgency in attack, the makeshift halves pairing of Sullivan and Dodd failed to fire any shots at the Knights defensive line.
The pairing was the Rabbitohs fourth different starting six and seven through the past four rounds.
Known for his kicking game for St Helens, the English import Lewis Dodd put up a number of uninterested options for his outside men on the muddy Suncorp Stadium deck.
Dodd finished with 139 metres from his six kicks.
EXTRA SHARPE
On the day of his 21st birthday Knights five-eight Fletcher Sharpe celebrated in style with three tries of his own in their dominant win over the Rabbitohs.
In just his 20th first grade game, Sharpe sliced through the South Sydney defence to score the first two tries of the match before earning his third with 20 minutes still to play.
Sharpe finished with 103 run metres, four tackle breaks, three line breaks, 31 tackles, three errors and two kicks for 65 metres.
He was well supported by his edge forwards Dylan Lucas and Kai Pearce-Paul who also performed well.
GRAY SCENES
The scoreline and on and off rain weren’t the only complications for the Rabbitohs on Saturday with emerging fullback Jye Gray picking up a knee injury in the second half.
Gray limped and hoped for a few minutes but was eventually pulled from the game with 22 minutes to play.
With just one minute to play hooker Peter Mamouzelos suffered a dislocated elbow in an attempt to make a tackle.
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