- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Primetime Friday football is back, with the South Sydney Rabbitohs looking to put a wasted 2016 behind them against a Wests Tigers side with their own ‘finals or bust’ scenario in 2017. Join The Roar from 8:05pm (AEDT) for live coverage.
There are new faces on both sides of this clash.
Starting with Souths, Robbie Rochow will add some starch off the bench, seemingly at the expense of George Burgess, while former Eels halfback Luke Kelly finds himself starting after regular Souths pivot Adam Reynolds went down with appendicitis.
And of course, there’s the man at dummyhalf for Souths, Robbie Farah. A Tigers legend, you can guarantee he’ll have fire in his eyes facing his old team. Whether he’ll be able to channel that fire for a positive outcome is another question.
Farah and Damien Cook worked well as a 1-2 punch in preseason and they will be more than a handful for Matt McIlwrick, one of plenty new face for the Tigers.
Jamal Idris is back in the NRL and on his day he’s capable of anything – the problem is, his ‘days’ tend to be spaced months apart. Coach Jason Taylor will be hoping that the big centre is primed for a year of creative destruction.
There’s also a brand new, shiny, million-dollar teenager on the Tigers’ wing; 18-year-old Moses Suli is a prodigious talent who Tigers fans will be hoping can make a Vunivalu-sized impact from this early stage.
The Tigers are a little banged up – Mitch Moses and Luke Brooks are shaking off ankle and hamstring complaints respectively, and Idris is carrying a slight knee concern.
Last year, the western suburbs side were on track for the lower reaches of the eight, before falling in a heap. Taylor now has the squad he wants playing the style he wants – there’s no excuse for underperformance this season.
As for Souths, their most important recruit for 2017 isn’t on the field.
David Furner has joined his former Canberra teammate Michael Maguire in the South Sydney coaching setup. While his career at the Raiders won’t have songs written about it, Furner’s work behind the scenes has been recognised as a key factor in the North Queensland Cowboys’ 2015 premiership and Australia’s 2013 World Cup win.
Souths were quietly chuffed about getting Furner over – and with good reason. Souths now have a formidable coaching line-up.
Prediction
Maguire used the second half of last season to give his Rabbitohs a solid on-field ‘who wants to be here’ examination. They finished the season strongly and early signs for 2017 are positive.
Reynolds’ illness aside, the Bunnies have come to Round 1 in pretty good nick and expect to be on the scene at the business end of the year.
Souths by 14.