The South Sydney Rabbitohs mean business in 2018 and made a statement with a 30-20 win over the Melbourne Storm.
Once again led by hooker Damien Cook who had another spectacular game, the see-sawing affair eventually saw the Bunnies win.
With the game evenly poised, it was a lovely solo effort from Cook who cut through the defence, evaded defenders and scored.
The game started with a penalty goal for Souths with Adam Reynolds making no mistake.
Cameron Smith then ducked out of dummy half to find Dale Finucane to power his way over, giving the Storm the lead.
An error off the restart and Souths were right back in the contest, as Cody Walker threw a great cut-out pass for Hymel Hunt to score.
Slick Storm defence when it mattered in the first half held the Bunnies at bay and they would rub the salt in the wound scoring two tries of their own.
Cam Munster and Billy Slater combined to see the man many regard as the game’s fastest player in Josh Addo-Carr score in the corner.
This was followed up by some lazy defence that allowed centre Curtis Scott to stroll straight over to score.
The Bunnies seemed somewhat re-energised as Cook started his upward ascent in the game.
He was there to provide the pass for Sam Burgess to power his way over to score just before the half-time break.
After half-time, it was young gun Adam Doueihi and Reynolds who combined first.
Cook’s solo effort then had Souths fans on their feet before a final try to Campbell Graham, an acrobatic effort, capped off the Souths win.
Josh Addo-Carr would grab a late consolation but it was too little, too late for the Storm.
Despite the big win, Rabbitohs coach Anthony Seibold is not getting carried away.
“We’re pleased with the result and performance, there’s no doubt about that,” Seibold said.
“[But] we’re certainly not getting carried away. It’s a good result for us but plenty of work to do.
“We’ll review it, dump it and move on to our next job.
“We’ve got good processes in place but as I keep saying, we don’t want to get carried away.”
There were several injuries to come out of the game; Souths Adam Doueihi suffered a suspected ACL injury.
Perhaps the most significant one, though, was a hobbling Cameron Smith who departed the field early.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy shed some light on the possible nature of the injury post-game.
“Not quite sure yet, we’re not quite sure what it is and the severity of it,” Bellamy said.
“It must be on the edge of something, the Achilles or something else … he felt a sharp pain going down into his heel.
“If it was five years ago, he probably would have played on.
“You get wiser as you get older. Best thing to do was to come off.
“They’ll check it tomorrow, or over the weekend, and go from there.”
Player of the Game:
3. Damien Cook
2. Josh Addo-Carr
- Sam Burgess