The South Sydney Rabbitohs’ win streak has extended to eight straight after a brilliant performance from Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell.
The Bunnies put 50 points on a Dragons side that missed 57 tackles and ran for only half the metres the Rabbitohs did.
The Dragons team combined for 1072 run metres, while the Rabbitohs ran for 2044 metres.
The Rabbitohs have to thank their forwards, who combined for 1090 run metres – more than what the entire Dragons team managed.
Prop forwards Tom Burgess and Mark Nicholls both ran for over 200 metres and the Bunnies’ starting second-row forwards, Jaydn Su’A and Keon Koloamatangi, both scored a try and combined for 294 metres.
Jaydn Su’A (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
The Rabbitohs’ back five all ran for over 100 metres, besides Taane Milne who ran for 98 metres but Latrell Mitchell was on fire against the Dragons.
The fullback scored two tries, ran the ball ten times for 164 run metres, broke an extraordinary 15 tackles, made three linebreaks and had a linebreak assist.
Mitchell played the last ten minutes out in the centres when Dane Gagai went off the field for an early rest and Blake Taaffe went into the fullback position.
The halves had a day out against the Dragons after Cody Walker tortured them with his one try and four try assists, while Adam Reynolds scored off a short chip kick from himself and had two try assists.
Dummy-half Damien Cook and lock forward Jai Arrow were really good defensively, combining for 82 tackles and just the two misses.
No Souths player had more than two missed tackles, which is why this was their best defensive performance this season.
I know it was against the Dragons who were missing players and have problems themselves, but this Bunnies side were conceding 20 points on average against the bottom sides like the Bulldogs, Cowboys and Warriors.
The Rabbitohs debuted a young 18-year-old forward by the name of Davvy Moale, who has been compared to Payne Haas.
The youngster played 17 minutes and ran for 53 metres but he went off early after copping a high shot and had to undergo a Head Injury Assessment.
He did end up passing the HIA and coming back on the field but only for a short period.
The Dragons’ defence was extremely poor and a few individuals really got caught out by the Rabbitohs on multiple occasions, which is very worrying.
Fullback Tyrell Sloan missed seven tackles, centre Talatau Amone who had to mark up on Walker, Mitchell and Gagai missed six tackles and five-eighth Jayden Sullivan missed nine tackles for the Red V.
Big Mig
Roar Rookie
Dragons had too many out in this game, and it wasn't a fair contest, there was no way that the Dragons were going to come even close to Souths in this game as the Rabbitohs have for the last 2 months been piling on points (40+, 50", 60+). I think Saints did well in some patches of the game, but not for long (just like their season). While it's easy to blame BBQ-gate, some of the Dragons performances this year have been woeful (I think I got a brain aneurysm watching that Tigers v Dragons match earlier this year), I am actually surprised they were sitting at 8th, they haven't been consistent at all, but at times they can play some good footy as they have shown. Maybe it is the coach, not sure, however I still think Hook is better than Mary.
andrew
Roar Rookie
Hey Paul. I still expected Saints to put up a better performance against Souths. Didn't expect them to win but some of the missed tackles, geez, it was like watching the same old same old against the Titans last week. As for Souths, with a fully fit side on the field I think they could give Melbourne a run for their money.
Paul
Roar Guru
I'm not sure that's down to the coaches. How do you lift a team when they screwed up so badly? That barbeque killed what ever momentum the Dragons had, leading into the back end of the season. I'm guessing there's little trust between coaches & players right now, which is reflected in the scorelines. Fair enough, the teams been down on numbers but the performances shows a squad in disarray.
Paul
Roar Guru
Fair enough, you follow them far more closely than I do, but I can't see them doing more in attack than they do right now. My concern as I said is the defence, which is fine when playing teams from about 7 down to 16, but they're not the teams the Bunnies have to worry about in the finals. Again, I don't know what Bennett can do to tighten this up. It could be a very interesting finals for the Rabbitohs. Can they score enough points to offset the points they're likely to concede? Stay tuned, folks :happy:
BustlingBillDunn
Roar Rookie
There was a 36-point difference between the 2 teams in the new frankenstein’s monster sport of VlandysBall, which sucks by the way & is like watching OzTag. If the two teams had been playing the sport formerly known as rugby league it would have been about 20 points.
Big Mig
Roar Rookie
Paul – for now the rabbitohs don’t mind scoring 6. 7, 9, 11 tries and letting in 2, 3 or 4 against weaker opponents, that’s ok, I am not worried about that – who cares if you score 10 tries and concede 2 – it is just a mental thing and can be fixed, it certainly isn’t a structural flaw or weakness in the team or individuals. Their round 9 and 11 losses v Storm and Panthers (really their only two aberrations) were a wake up call, and Bennett will have them tighten the gears closer to the finals when they are playing a stronger team (read Storm, Penrith and maybe Manly) all else being equal they can outscore their opponent. I just feel that Cook, Reynolds, Murray, Walker, AJ, Gagai and Latrell still have an extra gear to go in attack and ball possession, they have not peaked yet and if that is the case then despite some potential defensive lapses their attack will offset this.
Paul
Roar Guru
"The scary thing is we all know they can go up a few more gears, " Where can they go a few gears BM? They're an outstanding attacking side but the defence has leaked more points than any other team in the top 6. They clearly need to fix that but I don't see how they can do it.
andrew
Roar Rookie
Saints have had 114 points scored against them in the last 3 weeks. I don't want to hear about suspended players or whatever, but at the moment Saints are terrible, and that's being kind. Griffin and his assistants Gentle and Elliott are just not cutting it I'm afraid. Looking at the rest of the draw I'll be surprised if Saints win another game this year.
Wascally Wabbit
Guest
I think Rabbitohs v Panthers semi is locked in. Can't see Storm relinquishing top spot, nor the teams below pushing past.
Big Mig
Roar Rookie
The Round 23 game Rabbitohs v Panthers might not really count for too much as it may well be 2 v3 or 3 v 2, and if the finals are played in Qld there will be no home ground advantage to whether a team comes 2nd or 3rd. I’d argue that a close win by either team will make the other team stronger (want to seek revenge) should they face each other again in the finals (likely).
Anton
Roar Pro
Yeah I agree. Wayne will have his troops fit, ready and prepared for finals footy but the Bunnies biggest test will be the Panthers in a few weeks. Bennett will need the Rabbitohs firing for that game and make sure Souths continue this form.
Big Mig
Roar Rookie
Good summary Anton, the Bunnies now 8 in a row have been piling on 40+,50+ and 60+ points in the last 2 months of footy, and have shown to have depth of squad by winning all their origin period games at a time when they had up to 7 players out on Origin duty. The scary thing is we all know they can go up a few more gears, more importantly Bennett knows this.