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Fitting for this heritage round clash, Souths five-eighth John Sutton will surpass the great Bob McCarthy as the most-capped first-grader in Rabbitohs history with his 212th match in the famous red and green.
The Dragons last met the Rabbitohs in the annual preseason Charity Shield match, which the Rabbitohs won comprehensively. The Bunnies then went on to comprehensively defeat the Roosters in the Round 1 season opener.
Since then the Rabbitohs have yet to win a game, going down in the last round against the Raiders 30-18.
With Souths coach Michael Maguire desperate to find some of his side’s form from last year, he has made major changes for his team to face the Dragons.
Dylan Walker’s combination with halfback Adam Reynolds has been blamed for Souths lack of cohesion and Sutton has been moved from lock to five-eighth, the position he played last year.
Perhaps, Maguire is also looking to maximise Sutton’s game time for the Rabbitohs, as he was off the field at key times as part of the forward rotation when playing lock.
Walker has been shifted to centre and it may be that Maguire believes the Dragons centres are weak defensively.
Centre Bryson Goodwin moves from centre to the wing at the expense of veteran dual international Lote Tuqiri, which should help bolster wing defence.
Prop Sam Burgess takes Suttons position at lock which may get him closer to the ball, with David Tirrell promoted to the front row.
The Dragons are regrouping from their first loss of the season, going down 20-36 to the in form Broncos last weekend.
Fullback Josh Dugan returns from injury and will start at fullback alongside international and in form wingers Brett Morris and Jason Nightingale. These two have been the attacking force behind the Dragons so far this season.
Adam Quinlan, who deputised well at fullback in Dugan’s absence, has been named on an extended bench and it may be that Steve Price is contemplating using Quinlan as a bench utility player in place of Kyle Stanley.
Michael Witt makes a welcome return, after playing halfback in the NSW Cup in his return from injury last weekend. He has been named at halfback replacing ex-Raiders halfback Sam Williams.
Witt is expected to provide stability and experience to the backline and relieve some pressure on Widdop in attack.
Dan Hunt returns from injury at prop forward and will be expected to strengthen a Dragons pack which failed to handle the Broncos pack last weekend.
All these changes look positive for the Dragons, but the real challenge for the Dragons will be to limit the go forward of the Souths pack with Sutton at five-eighth expecting to be on-field for the 80 minutes directing the Souths game.
There are some interesting match-ups in this game.
Dylan Farrell faces his former team in the centres for the Dragons and will need a good game to retain his centre spot.
Josh Dugan and the whole Dragons team will need to face off against Souths fullback Greg Inglis.
I am expecting both teams to come out firing after last weekend’s losses with the Dragons battling to maintain their top of the ladder position and Souths looking to get their season started after three-straight losses.
With neither side being renowned for their defence, I am expecting a high-scoring game.
After last weekend when I incorrectly tipped both teams to win, I am not tipping this game.
Dragons
1 Josh Dugan 2 Brett Morris 3 Dylan Farrell 4 Gerard Beale 5 Jason Nightingale 6 Gareth Widdop 7 Michael Witt 8 Tyson Frizell 9 Mitch Rein 10 Dan Hunt 11 Leeson Ah Mau 12 Ben Creagh (c) 13 Trent Merrin
Interchange 14 Jack de Belin 15 Kyle Stanley 16 Joel Thompson 17 Mike Cooper 18 Adam Quinlan 20 Jack Stockwell 25 Bronson HarrisonRabbitohs
1 Greg Inglis 2 Nathan Merritt 3 Dylan Walker 4 Joel Reddy 5 Bryson Goodwin 6 John Sutton (c) 7 Adam Reynolds 8 Dave Tyrrell 9 Apisai Koroisau 10 George Burgess 11 Chris McQueen 12 Ben Te’o 13 Sam Burgess Interchange 14 Joe Picker 15 Kyle Turner 16 Jason Clark 17 Luke Burgess 18 Alex Johnston 19 Cameron McInnes
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