The scoreline wasn’t the only piece of poor viewing for Rabbitohs fans on Saturday as both Jye Gray and Peter Mamouzelos suffered injuries during the 30-4 defeat at Suncorp Stadium.
In front of a healthy 39,682 opening Saturday crowd the Knights snapped a five game losing streak, leaving the Rabbitohs stunned with five straight tries.
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The result was just the second time this season that the Knights have managed to record more than 20 points, eventually finishing with their highest scoreline all season.
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Despite the positive change, no team in the NRL era has scored fewer than 100 points through their first eight games and made finals.
MATCH CENTRE: South Sydney Rabbitohs v Newcastle Knights, teams, stats, video
PRIORITY PONGA
With the Queensland number one jersey up for grabs, Knights fullback Kalyn Ponga struggled to take the game by the horns against the Rabbitohs on Saturday.
Despite his outside backs performing well, the Newcastle captain looked to have just glided through the motions finishing with two try assists, 134 run metres, three tackle breaks and five tackles.
He did inject himself well for their opening second half try, throwing a nice cut out ball to Bradman Best before getting the ball back and throwing another pass to Best to score.
In his 200th game for the club, veteran centre Dane Gagai looked strong as he hoped to earn a place in Slater’s game one squad.
The 34-year-old was called upon in game three of the 2024 series after being overlooked in the opening two matches.
On Saturday, Gagai’s right side combination with Kai Pearce-Paul and James Schiller certainly helped his case as he finished with 180 run metres, 59 post contact metres, four tackle breaks, one line break, two line break assists and 18 tackles.
Sharpe turns 21 with Magic Round hatty! | 01:09
SLOPPY SOUTHS
The Rabbitohs were stuck in the barriers for the majority of the match as the Knights picked off easy defensive gaps all across the field.
Lacking any direction or urgency in attack, the makeshift halves pairing of Sullivan and Dodd failed to fire any shots at the Knights defensive line.
The pairing was the Rabbitohs fourth different starting six and seven through the past four rounds.
Known for his kicking game for St Helens, the English import Lewis Dodd put up a number of uninterested options for his outside men on the muddy Suncorp Stadium deck.
Dodd finished with 139 metres from his six kicks.
EXTRA SHARPE
On the day of his 21st birthday Knights five-eight Fletcher Sharpe celebrated in style with three tries of his own in their dominant win over the Rabbitohs.
In just his 20th first grade game, Sharpe sliced through the South Sydney defence to score the first two tries of the match before earning his third with 20 minutes still to play.
Sharpe finished with 103 run metres, four tackle breaks, three line breaks, 31 tackles, three errors and two kicks for 65 metres.
He was well supported by his edge forwards Dylan Lucas and Kai Pearce-Paul who also performed well.
Birthday boy Sharpe shines in 1st half! | 00:51
GRAY SCENES
The scoreline and on and off rain weren’t the only complications for the Rabbitohs on Saturday with emerging fullback Jye Gray picking up a knee injury in the second half.
Gray limped and hoped for a few minutes but was eventually pulled from the game with 22 minutes to play.
With just one minute to play hooker Peter Mamouzelos suffered a dislocated elbow in an attempt to make a tackle.
O’Brien chats Sharpe’s b’day hat-trick! | 07:26
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