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Opinion

Bad Rabbit habits return as life goes on for Storm in season opener

11th March, 2021
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11th March, 2021
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The footy is back, the Rabbitohs making errors has returned and the Storm being somewhere near the top looks like it’ll be the story once again as they extended their miraculous Round 1 record in the NRL season opener last night at AAMI Park.

It might have been a new season kicking off in Melbourne, but it was the same old script at Melbourne made it 18 straight Round 1 victories over the Bunnies.

In truth, the game might as well have been over after 20 minutes as the Storm raced the clock, Ryan Papenhuyzen and Cameron Munster running amok on South Sydney as they proved once and for all that life really does exist after Cameron Smith in the Victorian capital.

The expectation heading into this one was that it’d be close – and why not? Two premiership hopefuls, a visiting team looking to take the challenge to the defending premiers, even if they were up against Melbourne’s unreal Round 1 record, and their own woeful record in the Victorian capital with Wayne Bennett’s side never tasting victory at AAMI Park.

Even though, to those tuning in after 20 minutes, they would have done a double-take at the 18-0 scoreline as South Sydney defended like a team of strangers, held the ball like it was a bar of soap and had absolutely zero when it came to answers for the Storm.

Making it even more of a surprise was the fact Craig Bellamy’s side came into the game without Dale Finucane and Harry Grant, two of the players expected to fill the void left by Smith, the former through leadership and defence, the latter because he would be wearing the number nine jersey after setting the world on fire while on loan with the Tigers in 2020.

Still, it was all Melbourne early, and it came down to the other two parts of their new big three, with Papenhuyzen and Munster simply having the time of their lives.

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They scored one of the first three each between them and were involved in the lead-up to the other, with Papenhuyzen’s try in particular being a major worry for the Rabbitohs as he ducked and weaved through four defenders out wide to cross for the home side’s third.

While that start all but put Souths out of the game, Craig Bellamy will still be working his underprepared team hard at training this week given the way they switched off and failed to close out the game.

Bellamy, even with his team having half a pre-season compared to some other clubs, demands the highest standards out of his players. It’s why the Storm haven’t lost a Round 1 game in 18 years. They are switched on from the opening kick-off to the final whistle on grand final day.

It’s the way of Melbourne, and the two points last night on the competition ladder should have been a lot more comfortable than they ended up given the start and the fact that lead would stretch to 22-0 on the back of a second try from their star fullback ten minutes later before the visitors could register a point.

And yet, once veteran Benji Marshall and new signing Jai Arrow came onto the park, the Bunnies began to look like a different team.

Benji Marshall

(Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

The performance of the two from the bench will leave plenty of questions for Bennett when he picks his Round 2 side for what should be a far easier contest with the injury-ravaged Sea Eagles at Lottoland.

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In saying that, as a team, Souths couldn’t shake the trend which followed them around like a bad smell last year, as they put the footy down at seemingly every opportunity. They were their own worst enemy from start to finish, dropping the ball when they had momentum and constantly putting themselves on the back foot.

By the time the final whistle was blown, the men from Redfern had coughed up the ball 16 times, but it was the timing of those errors which eroded any chance they had at a comeback as the game descended into something more typical of Round 1 contests – plenty of rust from both sides.

That being said, a typical Round 1 contest isn’t how you’d sum up South Sydney’s performance. There were positives to take from the game for the losing side, certainly, their forwards held their own, Latrell Mitchell picked up where he left off, and the second half was far better than the first, but the fact they shot themselves in the foot so often and stifled their own momentum surely has fans worried that a repeat of last year is on the cards.

Latrell Mitchell of the Rabbitohs looks on

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Discipline will be everything with the new rules, designed to speed the game up even further this year, and it’s just not what South Sydney provided last night.

Sure, improvement could come. It’s a damn long season, and they were up against the best in the opener, so maybe it’s little surprise they put the ball down as often as they did, particularly playing catch-up footy.

But that doesn’t mean it’s excusable.

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All in all, there is plenty of work to be done for both sides, even with positives to take away from it. Melbourne know they are going to be there and about again, even without the former captain.

Souths will be there too, and the way they do or don’t drop the ball, as well as Latrell Mitchell putting in more excellent performances like the one he provided in Melbourne, might determine whether they are a premiership force.

Time will tell on both counts.

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