South Sydney's last-ditch effort to topple the reigning premiers Penrith will be replayed in highlight reels for years to come - but the performance across the 80 minutes is a great indication of their title aspirations.
After plenty of back-and-forth early in the game, Latrell Mitchell put the wheels in motion for the Rabbitohs to open the scoring, before Stephen Crichton levelled the scores with the first of his three tries right before the break.
As they so often do, the Panthers came out of the arm-wrestle on top as Crichton helped them to an 18-10 lead with just seven minutes left on the clock.
But the story was not over between the two modern-day rivals, with Latrell scoring in the 74th minute before a long-range try saw Isaiah Tass cross for the match-winner.
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Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou admitted it was a typical affair between the two competition heavyweights and never gave up hope on a last-minute 20-18 victory.
“It had its ebbs and flows, I thought we had some good momentum in the first-half and were controlling field position," he said.
"I was really proud of how we handled the half-time…we were steely focused at half-time, which was good.
"Even at 18-10, I still felt like we had some footy left in us and felt like we got bogged down a little bit in that end-to-end footy. We needed to play our way out of it and I thought we did that really well.
“It’s what they practice over and over again to get it right in big moments. Penrith are a team, we can’t just hope that one play is going to win the game. We have to throw multiple plays, we have to move the ball multiple times.
"No matter how many times they shut us down, we have to keep finding ways to keep challenging one of the best defences the game has seen in the last decade."
Latrell Mitchell responds to Jason Demetriou with stellar display
Latrell Mitchell was undoubtedly the star of the show for the Bunnies in their narrow win, coming up with two tries and 12 tackle breaks in a dominant performance.
The 26-year-old fullback put the Panthers on notice after an inconsistent start to the year, getting involved early and coming up with a couple of freakish plays, including a flick pass inside his own-half that ultimately led to a Damien Cook try moments later.
A couple of weeks ago, Demtetriou urged his star No.1 to increase his involvement and the Kangaroos wrecking ball has responded in the best possible way.
“I didn’t challenge him…let’s be clear - I spoke to him about getting his hands on the ball a bit earlier," the coach said post-game.
"As a fullback or a winger, sometimes you need to get in the game a bit earlier, otherwise the game can drift away from you.
"We had a chat about that…when he gets in the game early, he sends a message to himself and more importantly, to his teammates.
“He had some real energy about him. He brings a dimension about him sometimes that is unstructured through the middle…it starts generating some ruck speed and gets us playing on the front foot a bit.
"Latrell will get a lot of accolades tonight, but as we spoke about, it wasn’t going to be about one individual tonight – one individual doesn’t beat Penrith, it takes a lot of hard work particularly from our middle forwards.
"I thought the skip and Jai Arrow were again immense, Hame Sele was outstanding…there’s a special team in there and we are starting to believe in that a bit more."
Cameron Murray admits Rabbitohs relief in nail-biting clash
While the matches between the two sides are always fierce and close on the scoreboard, there's no doubt that the Panthers have had the Rabbitohs' number in recent outings.
After a collapse in the prelim final, the loss in Round 2 and the ill-fated 2021 grand final still lingering over the Bunnies, the victory on Thursday night will do wonders for their self-belief later in the year.
“It’s good for our confidence," Rabbitohs captain Cameron Murray said.
"We have been speaking over the past couple of weeks that we are heading in the right direction and we are speaking about a bit of clunkiness and not playing a full 80-minute performance.
"While I didn’t think it was a full 80-minute performance, I thought there were patches there where we need to get better, but I think it’s great for our confidence.
"It’s good to get one over Penrith, they are so hard to beat and such a great team…more often than not, we have been on the other side of it."
