South Sydney don’t have to keep their small galaxy of red and green stars on the paddock all year to be a finals contender in 2026.
The misfiring glamour club just has to avoid something like half the injury horrors of the past two years, and they’ll be right.
In further exclusive, breaking news, water is wet. Sunday afternoon footy in Mudgee is perfection. So is Cody Walker’s new Tom Selleck soup strainer.
Take your trials footy form with a small mountain of salt. Especially considering Manly were well off the pace, thumped 30-6 without the Trbojevic brothers or Haumole Olakau’atu, and now have Nathan Brown sweating a high shot that saw him sin-binned early and risking a suspension to start the season proper.
But even with Payne Haas’s seismic signing for 2027 and Wayne Bennett’s return, the Rabbitohs have had precious little to savour the past two seasons.
One of the worst injury tolls on record made for all manner of sobering statistics in 2025. Not least, the 17.8 points they averaged per game – the fewest in any season of Bennett’s storied career – when at times they struggled to find 17 fit players.
New mo, new man: Cody Walker on the fly.Credit: NRL Imagery
Despite boasting the best completion rate and fewest errors in the NRL, the Rabbitohs ranked last for run metres (1550 per game), tackle busts (25.8), line breaks (3.8), support runs (47.3) and offloads (6.1).
So with a vaunted left-edge of Walker, Latrell Mitchell and David Fifita, sore Souths eyes were treated to several promising sights through the first 40 minutes.
Very, very welcome ball movement. Physicality from Mitchell and Fifita – who swatted Manly’s star signing Jamal Fogarty away like a bug on his windshield with his first carry.
Jye Gray matched it. Along with bouncing and bounding every which way, the Rabbitohs No.1 skittled Corey Waddell, the Sea Eagles back-rower with 20 centimetres and 20 kilos on him. Jack Wighton was sharp outside him on a new-look right-edge.
Latrell Mitchell celebrates a try in Mudgee.Credit: NRL Imagery
Brandon Smith looked slim and trim and played as such, with a couple of those sexy one-handed pick-ups for dummy-half runs, that at his best, make him one of the game’s premier No.9s.
Yet it’s been in the halves where the Rabbitohs have battled most in recent years, with Walker regularly laid low by soft tissue injuries, Lewis Dodd and Lachlan Ilias sent packing and little cohesion or consistency to speak of.
In Mudgee, the moustachioed Walker looked a fit 36 and ran like he was 10 years younger again.
A light-stepping solo try, three line-breaks and 96 run metres in one half alone had the veteran No.6 looking every bit a modern-day Cliffy Lyons. And gasping like he’d been into Cliffy’s lung-busters when grabbed for a halftime interview.
Brandon Smith was full of running for the Rabbitohs.Credit: NRL Imagery
“It’s the first time I’ve had a really good pre-season in about three years, so I’m looking forward to the start of the season,” Walker said.
And that left edge that will add Alex Johnston outside Fifita and Mitchell come round one against the Dolphins?
“Look that’s going to continue to grow. We’ve got that many strike weapons over there so I’m going to have a ball this year.”
Ashton Ward, meanwhile, happily chanced his hand at halfback, forced a slew of repeat sets and put forth a compelling case to start the season given Jamie Humphries is suspended and Bud Sullivan unlikely to be fully fit.
When Bennett holstered his big guns towards the hour-mark, Souths scored three tries in eight minutes as Manly wilted first. For Anthony Seibold and increasingly beleaguered Sea Eagles fans, remember that small mountain of trials footy salt.
Fogarty had a moment or two as their new No.7. Fellow recruit Kobe Hetherington and the underrated Ethan Bullemor added punch through the middle when they came off the bench.
And as the contest wound down, prodigious young playmaker Joey Walsh continued to impress with nous and creativity. Which is what Souths have had all along, just mostly watching from the sidelines.
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