There’s not a team in the NRL that has had a tougher start to it than South Sydney. They’ve played three of last year’s finals teams, plus Manly, and will now face Melbourne this Friday night in a blockbuster at Accor Stadium.
Only Parramatta could claim to have had a similarly stiff schedule – they will have faced exactly the same sides come the end of Round 5 – but the Eels had the benefit of three of them at home, whereas Souths only returned to Homebush last weekend, with their ground out of action due of off-season concerts on the pitch.
The Bunnies have split the difference so far: they impressed on the opening weekend away at Cronulla, but came out on the wrong side of trips to the Panthers and Roosters before returning to winning ways last time out against the Sea Eagles.
Throw in that they’ve done it amid a heavy front-row injury toll and suddenly a 50% record doesn’t look bad at all. The club have gone without Jai Arrow, Tevita Tatola and Hame Sele, all of whom would certainly have started, to in-game injuries as well as missing key interchange forward Siliva Havili to a pre-season ankle problem.
Jason Demetriou was in no illusions that last week’s result had been a key moment – if they can kick on.
“Without understating the performance and the result, it was important for our season,” said the coach.
“To go 1-3 would have really hurt given the effort that we’ve put in, so at 2-2 we have the chance to build on that and start stringing some wins together.”
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Demetriou added that the tough start would likely give his men an edge that most other sides won’t have after just four rounds of football.
“We’re battle-hardened,” he said. “We’ve had some really tough games and we were able to hang in there. Every game we’ve come back strongest at the back end of the game. We’ll take a lot of confidence out of that. The prep from the first four games will set us up nicely.”
Souths are currently third favourites to take out the premiership this year, despite sitting down in eighth spot on the ladder, and that’s largely a testament to how well they have travelled thus far.
It doesn’t get any easier, however.
After Melbourne, the Bunnies get a succession of must-win fixtures, with a resurgent Bulldogs, the surprise package Dolphins and two trips to Brisbane, first to face the Broncos and then the Storm again at Magic Round.
If Souths are to win the premiership, they’ll have done so the hard way. Their draw for the first five rounds was brutal and it certainly won’t let up. It’s hard to think of a tougher first ten games.
It’s time that they unleashed their not-so-secret weapon. Latrell Mitchell has been quieter than quiet to start the year, and a big Friday night against the Storm would be the perfect time to unleash himself on the 2023 competition.
His opposite number at Accor, Nick Meaney, provides an interesting counterpart to show how Trell Mit is still waiting to explode.
Nick Meaney is tackled by Joe Stimson. (Photo by Jono Searle/Getty Images)
Meaney, standing in for the injured Ryan Papenhuyzen, currently outranks Mitchell in terms of metres from both backfield and attack, plus more line breaks and more tries.
Latrell has been a bit better at laying on play for others, but still has produced just two try assists and four line break assists across four fixtures, well below his performances of last year, where he was by far the most creative fullback in the league.
He’s yet to make a break of his own in 2023, or to score a try. It’s all very un-Latrell.
This isn’t through lack of trying, or lack of opportunity. Mitchell was decent if unspectacular in their first game against the Sharks, then responded superbly to horrendous racial abuse in the second half of their loss to Penrith, turning in his best 40 of the year.
But in the derby with the Roosters and last week’s win over Manly, he was subdued. When the chance arose for a trademark Latrell matchwinning moment, he fluffed his field goal attempt. Lucky for Souths, Daly Cherry-Evans also missed and Lachlan Ilias was able to grab the victory.
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Indeed, perhaps it is a massive plus point for Souths that they’ve managed to create plenty while their biggest weapon has been misfiring.
Ilias has come on leaps and bounds in the halfback role and Cody Walker shows no signs of slowing down. The thought of the three of them clicking together is enough to have opponents running scared.
But if there was a time for that to happen, surely it is now. In the same game late last year, Latrell was outstanding, turning in three try assists as Souths won 24-12.
In the reverse fixture down in Victoria, he produced another two, plus a clutch two-point field goal to send the game to Golden Point.
Souths are far from a one-man team, as has been proven repeatedly in the last few weeks. But while they have found more contribution from elsewhere, they could accelerate to the next level if Mitchell were to find form at the right time.
Given his history against the Storm, don’t back against that starting this weekend.
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