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South Sydney coach Jason Taylor says the Rabbitohs’ strong late-season form proves they can mix it with the NRL’s big guns in 2009.
Despite being well out of contention for this year’s finals, Souths have continued to prove a nuisance for top eight sides with strong performances in recent weeks.
After winning just one of their opening eleven games, they have won eight from their last 12, including wins over Manly and the Warriors last month and narrow defeats to top-four sides Cronulla and the Roosters.
They bring their season to a close against reigning premiers Melbourne at Olympic Park on Sunday and Taylor said there was still plenty to play for with one eye on next season.
“We’re getting a lot out of it at the moment,” Taylor said of the tough run of fixtures.
“With four games to go we had Manly and Canberra, the Roosters and Melbourne – four teams that are in the top eight well and truly.
“We’ve wanted to challenge ourselves to see how we go against these teams who are gearing themselves up for the semis and we’ve got a lot out of it.
“The second half against Canberra (40-25 loss) was pretty disappointing but other than that we’ve done pretty well and proved to ourselves that we can be competitive with the best teams.
“It’s all great experience for next year.”
Souths have the chance to ruin the Storm’s minor premiership hopes on Sunday with second-placed Melbourne trailing Manly by just eight for-and-against points.
Taylor said his side was not using a chance to influence the minor premiership as motivation but was pleased the fixture at least had some meaning.
“The Storm have got something to play for as well and that adds to it,” Taylor said.
“I’m hoping that it will be a bit easier to get ourselves motivated because of the fact we know they’re going to be at their best.”
Souths also boosted their future off the field today with major sponsors De’Longhi and Virgin Blue re-signing as major sponsors in 2009.
The Rabbitohs made the announcement at their spiritual home Redfern Oval, which they will return to next season as their base after a $19 million overhaul.
Rabbitohs chief executive Shane Richardson said the announcement continued an “astonishing” turnaround for the side that only returned to the competition in 2002.
He also announced the Bunnies would play a trial match at their former home ground early next year.
Taylor, meanwhile, said the relocation from Erskineville Oval was one the entire club was looking forward to.
“There’s been a fair bit of work done from the council at Erskineville Oval but because of the amount of use it gets and it’s just a little bit run down and it’s tough some days,” Taylor said.
“We’ll be able to do better training sessions because of the surface and the facility that we’ve got here (at Redfern) and that can only make for better performance on the field.”
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