South Sydney Rabbitohs posted a half century in their 50-14 demolition of the St George Illawarra Dragons tonight at Suncorp Stadium.
The Rabbitohs weren't at their blistering best but piled on the points against a Dragons side which were outclassed tonight led by their superstar fullback Latrell Mitchell to consolidate third position in the ladder.
Mitchell led from the front for the famous cardinal and myrtle. The fullback scored the first four pointer just strolling past the Dragons defense quickly followed by Cody Walker slicing through made it a 12-nil lead for Souths.
Dragons mounted a slight comeback with back-to-back tries to get back to 12-10. Former Panther Billy Burns chased down a Ben Hunt grubber before another kick from the Saints halfback was swept up by Tyrell Fuimaono to get back in the game.
When the whips were cracked tonight, the Rabbitohs were the leaders. Taane Milne and Jaydn Su'A went bang bang just before the break which extended the lead out the lead to fourteen points at the half-time whistle. Coach Wayne Bennett still won't be pleased with their effort.
Josh Mansour strolled over five minutes after the break as it looked like the Rabbitohs would run away with the contest. Dragons again found a response when young fullback Tyrell Sloan had lift off after a Burns offload to cut the lead to 30-14 with 30 minutes to go.
From there, the Rabbitohs showed the gulf in class as they ran in four tries to go past the half century. The first of which was a throwback, Adam Reynolds chipped for himself and outran Adam Clune then followed by Jai Arrow, Keon Koloamatagi and Mitchell to add the Dragons to the list of sides who can't win the Premiership due to having 50 posted against their name.
It seemed from the onset, the Dragons had factored this game as a loss after they rested Jack De Belin, Jack Bird and another player against one of the top four sides in the competition. Dragons are grimly holding on to eighth spot despite their loss and face an uphill battle to keep their finals hope alive.
For Souths, they are entrenched in third spot and remain just a step below the top two sides - Melbourne and Penrith - in the competition this year. Bennett will be happy with their effort in attack but the supercoach will have areas he wants to work on headed into the home stretch of the competition.