A game of two very contrasting halves of football sent a scare through South Sydney as the rookie Rabbitohs took a 20-16 victory over a fast finishing St George Illawarra Dragons.
Debuts can go either way but for Lachlan Ilias it was a perfect start as the Bunnies debutant opened the scoring after just six minutes when he chased through his own kick which was fumbled by Mikaele Ravalawa multiple times before Ilias swooped to score.
A penalty goal for Blake Taaffe extended the Bunnies lead before Campbell Graham launched onto an error from Gerard Beale and raced away to score the Rabbitohs second of the night.
Plenty of question marks surround the Rabbitohs third try of the first half when Campbell Graham looked to have pushed Mat Feagai in the back which forced the Dragons centre straight into teammate Tyrell Sloan which forced an error from Sloan. The bunker was happy to confirm the try and after Blake Taaffe missed the conversion, Souths took a 14-0 lead which they held into the break.
The Rabbitohs continued to dominate early as Taane Milne was able to go over after the Bunnies turned on their sweeping left hand play out the back and despite different names, the crispness was still there.
A blown opportunity for Jaxson Paulo could've extend the Souths lead but it meant that there was still an outside chance for the Dragons to come back. The Dragons took until the last 10 minutes to fire into gear when Tyrell Sloan got over after an error from Taane Milne.
The Dragons set up a grandstand when Tyrell Sloan scored his second after only just holding a grip onto the ball after creating space and turning on the afterburners to score in the corner. The Dragons attempts for a grandstand finish were confirmed when Mikaele Ravalawa got the ball after a right-hand spread.
A final chance for the Dragons summed up their season and Corey Norman's Dragons career when the final attacking chance was put down with Norman under no pressure whatsoever.
The final play summed up a poor season for the Dragons and ends their season, whilst for the Rabbitohs they travel to Townsville for their Qualifying final on Saturday night up against the Penrith Panthers.