It was the South Sydney Rabbitohs that won the annual Charity Shield 38-20 over the St George Illawarra Dragons but the biggest discussion out of the game, the knee injury sustained by Dragons fullback, Josh Dugan.
Although the full extent of the damage is not yet known, the early prognosis is a lateral ligament strain, news that will disappoint Dragons fans and have them asking questions as to who fills in at fullback.
On the game itself, Souths showed that they can still compete even with the loss of a couple of halves, as they scored 26 unanswered points and recorded the highest points total in the Charity Shield’s history.
There were some bumps and bruises for Souths players with Greg Inglis suffering a head wound and Dylan Walker corking his ankle but for coach Michael Maguire, he was largely pleased with the effort by his players.
“I thought Dylan and John did really well today, so we’ve got options there if it doesn’t come right,” Maguire said.
“But we’re expecting that he (Reynolds) should be okay.”
With injuries in past games cruelling their chances and momentum to win, forward Sam Burgess knows that his team-mates are prepared to switch positions if they have to when accommodating injuries.
“As a team, we were probably not prepared back then, but if we get an injury, every boy has filled in in certain roles and for every scenario,” Souths forward Sam Burgess said.
Not one to dwell on his move to rugby union, Burgess enjoyed a halfback like moment, after he put in a wonderfully weighted kick for centre Beau Champion to score, who admits it was all about luck.
“It was pretty lucky,” said Burgess.
For Steve Price, although he too does not know the extent of Dugan’s knee injury, he felt that his team’s ruck defence and a lack of execution is what cost his side.
“At the start of the game I thought they were a lot more physical than us, and we just couldn’t control that ruck at the start of the game,” Price said.
“As we started to warm into the game I thought we got better, but we’ve got to do that better from the outset.”
3. John Sutton
2. Trent Merrin
1. Dylan Walker