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The South Sydney Rabbitohs have scored a massive pre-season win in the Charity Shield, giving the St George Illawarra Dragons an 18-point defeat.
» Click here to read the full match report
Final score
South Sydney Rabbitohs 32
St George Illawarra Dragons 14
The Charity Shield match-up between rivals the St George Illawarra Dragons and South Sydney Rabbitohs should serve as a great appetiser for the upcoming NRL season. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 4pm AEDT.
Both St George Illawarra and South Sydney missed out on finals football last season and the jury is still out on whether or not either team can break into the top eight in 2017.
The Dragons at full strength remain short of options in attack and a lot of responsibility will once again rest on key figures Gareth Widdop and Josh Dugan.
They both will need to play at an exceptionally high level this season in order to provide the Red V with another dimension to their offensive play.
While a trial win over the Wests Tigers provides further belief that points will come more freely this season, the Dragons remain a work in progress with the ball in hand.
With this in mind, the Red V will once again rely on their strong forward pack led by Tyson Frizell to outmuscle their opposition this season.
South Sydney meanwhile appear to have more attacking depth in their line-up with Adam Reynolds, Robbie Farah and Greg Inglis forming what could be a lethal spine that could yield plenty of points.
It will be certainly fascinating to see how Farah performs this afternoon.
At the end of the day, he remains far from the player he once was but the signs so far suggest that he could end up being a valuable asset for South Sydney this season.
If Farah fails to find his best form though, the bunnies will have a major hole to fill in a crucial position.
With both teams fairly evenly matched, it is difficult to offer a prediction in a game that is usually well contested.
The Rabbitohs today are missing Inglis but are very well served upfront with both Sam and George Burgess starting this afternoon.
The Dragons though possess depth in the forwards as well so it would be no surprise to see this contest turn into an arm-wrestle that may be settled by an Adam Reynolds field goal.
Rabbitohs by 1