Dolphins vs South Sydney Rabbitohs: Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell combine to down the Dolphins

Mark Molyneux

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Dolphins vs South Sydney Rabbitohs: Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell combine to down the Dolphins image

Never mind disliking Monday’s – the Rabbitohs hadn’t been too enamoured with Thursday nights in recent times having lost five consecutive matches when they’d featured in the curtain raising fixture of the round.

Against the Dolphins, they got off to the worst possible start when they conceded after just two minutes and seemed to be suffocating in the grind Wayne Bennett’s men forced upon them, until they finally came alive and posted 30 unanswered points to ease to a 36-14 win.

When the Dolphins caught the Bunnies still in a slumber through Kodi Nikorima, who scurried around to the short-side to send Euan Aitken over untouched, alarm bells would have been ringing for Jason Demetriou.

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The theme of his side’s season so far has often been having to conjure rabbits out of hats late in matches due to their slow starts.

This pattern appeared to be repeating once again with Nikorima constantly prodding around the space on the opposition’s right edge defence.

Taane Milne’s drop from a bomb led to the Dolphins’ first try and they continued to target him with the high ball. The Fijian looked anything but convincing after being a late call-up to replace an injured Izaac Thompson.

Inside the first 20 minutes, the Bunnies had managed to breach the halfway line just four times as they were dragged into an exhausting arm wrestle that had Tom Burgess dry heaving out the back as the sides traded set for set for what must have seemed to the big English prop to be for all of eternity.

Yet upon Souths’ first opportunity in good field position, they went over with Graham scoring off the hip of Latrell Mitchell after a subtle double pump opened up a gap.

A second Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow error in as many sets threatened to destroy all of the Dolphins’ good early work but they scrambled well in defence.

They then went up the other end and kicked a penalty goal after Cam Murray was put on report for the second time in the match.

Aitken then bombed a certain try by neglecting to pass to Robert Jennings, yet it didn’t matter as Jeremy Marshall-King crashed over from close-range shortly afterwards to take a 14-6 lead into half time.

Dolphins vs South Sydney statistics

Both sides completed at 90% in the first stanza, but it was the Dolphins who controlled the contest as they made sure to play the game on their terms.

“Our kick chase probably wasn’t where it needed to be,” Demetriou said when highlighting how his side were overpowered in the first half.

“We weren’t getting field position and we were coming out of our own end for large parts of that half.”

Bennett’s game plan was executed to precision with Mitchell and Milne penned in and forced to repeatedly contest catches and work it out of the corner.

But just five minutes into the second half, Campbell Graham claimed his second of the night when he controversially reeled in a Lachlan Ilias kick despite pushing Aitken in the back. 

“It left me confused,” Bennett said. “It was a push in the back…Anyway, decision made – move on.”

The Dolphins suddenly struggled to contain Souths’ runners while their metres out of yardage also dropped off to allow the opposition to begin their sets near the halfway line.

And this pressure quickly told, as a half break from Alex Johnston down the sideline eventually ended with a fortuitous Cody Walker try that was the result of a number of ricochets.  

Souths had clawed their way in front for the first time in the contest and from there, the match descended into the classic cliché of being a game of two halves as territory and possession completely flipped on its head.

In the first stanza, the Dolphins enjoyed just shy of 60% of the ball and controlled territory to the tune of 61%.

They beat the Bunnies in every metric, be it run metres, tackle busts, offloads, linebreaks or tackles in the opposition 20m zone.

Although the tide turned in the second half with South Sydney enjoying the lion’s share of possession and posting superior numbers in every attacking category including crafting four linebreaks to zero and busting through 22 tackles.

“We were a different team out there,” Bennett said of his side’s poor second half display.

It’s fair to say the first half offered the perfect representation of how Bennett likes to have his side humming along. Whereas, in the second half, Demetriou’s offensive flare came racing to the forefront thanks to Mitchell and Walker.

Cody Walker statistics, highlights vs Dolphins

The Dolphins were reduced to 12 men when Kenny Bromwich was sent to the sin bin for a high shot. 

It proved costly with the Rabbitohs rolling down the field from the resulting penalty and going in through Isaiah Tass.

Walker was the architect of the backline sweep and was high on confidence after scoring in his fourth-straight match earlier. 

Walker and Mitchell made the most of the man advantage to crush the Dolphins during a devastating 20-odd minute burst. 

“We weren’t able to get the ball in his or Latrell’s hands [in the first half] and that’s what we spoke about at half time,” Demetriou said.

“If we front-load our energy and get the ball in their hands in field position then we get to see what they can do.”

Mitchell got on the scoresheet himself when he smashed his way over from close-range but by then Walker had already done most of the damage to finish with his own four-pointer, three try assists and two linebreak assists.

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“I’ve said it before, when he gets into the game the way he does, he’s the best five-eighth in the game,” his coach enthused.

Souths piled on 30 unanswered points in a little over half an hour of action to move to a 4-3 record, while gifting Demetriou a win over his former mentor at the first time of asking.

“That’ll do us,” he laughed. “To be coaching in the NRL against Wayne Bennett, for me, is quite surreal.

“But the reality is, we don’t play. So as much as I enjoy the challenge as a coach, these guys do all the work.”  

Mark Molyneux

Mark Molyneux Photo

Mark Molyneux is a freelance writer covering the NRL and UFC for Sporting News Australia. He has previously worked in the music industry and as a teacher around the world.