Round 4: Rabbitohs v Bulldogs preview
Josh previews all the action from Friday afternoon's game between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs at Accor Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park / Wanngal.
As traditional Good Friday afternoon action comes from Sydney Olympic Park, the South Sydney Rabbitohs play host to the Canterbury Bulldogs as both teams look to find some form as pressure builds despite the visitors picking up a win last week.
The pressure is building on the South Sydney Rabbitohs and coach Jason Demetriou after the Rabbitohs slumped to a third loss to start their season, a 48-6 defeat to the Sydney Roosters. The performance from the Bunnies was absolutely dreadful and there is very little in the way of positives to speak about the performance, as off-field dramas seem to be taking their toll on the club.
Those off-field dramas - the actions of key players and former players speaking out raising red flags about the environment at Redfern - appear to have derailed the club's season early. They were off the pace in Round 1 against the Sea Eagles in Vegas and then other than for a short time against Brisbane in Round 2, they haven't looked anywhere near their opponents. Last week was the epitome of awful as the Bunnies looked disjointed and wanting to be anywhere else.
Despite the huge loss last week, Jason Demetriou has made very minimal changes, which has to be questioned given his wont to throw players under the bus from the week before, but key players who have been underperforming have remained in their spots.
A fortnight of poor starts was put behind the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs last week as they managed an emphatic 32-0 victory over the Gold Coast Titans. The win for the Bulldogs was impressive as they were able to put criticism behind them after heavy losses against the Eels and Sharks in the opening two rounds.
Starting the season, expectations were growing on the Bulldogs who have had a complete roster overhaul in recent years, but the new-look lineup struggled to find their combinations and rhythm in their opening match against the Eels. The second round clash against Cronulla seemed to be slightly stronger though a couple of calls that went against them hurt, as the Sharks were able to take advantage handing the Dogs a 25-6 loss before impressing last week against the Gold Coast.
The Bulldogs have elected to go with an unchanged lineup for the Round 4 clash which will give them a big confidence booster heading into the their clash against the Rabbitohs. Injured winger Josh Addo-Carr has been named in reserves as an outside chance of injury return.
Last meeting: Round 19 2023 - Rabbitohs 32 Bulldogs 36
Who to watch: No doubt that all eyes are going to be on Latrell Mitchell who has been struggling both on and off the field with the attention on his actions coming under significant focus. Mitchell has struggled at fullback and this could be the game where he needs to silence the doubters as it has been widely agreed that fullback might not be the best position for the Rabbitohs star.
Another player whose choice of position has been questioned has been Canterbury five-eighth Matt Burton, with some believing that previous attacking woes for the Bulldogs could be relieved by moving him back to the centres where he had success at Penrith. The performance last week though from Burton showed the quality that the Bulldogs have in the halves.
Favourite: Despite recent form, the history of this clash has the Bunnies as favourites.
My tip: It's easy to tip the Bulldogs based purely off performance but an interest twist to the game's statistics is that the Bulldogs have only won 1 game in 8 years with Gerard Sutton in control and are yet to win in 4 previous Good Friday matches with the whistleblower in control. This sort of leaves some doubt and South Sydney could be a bigger chance even with their form.
On form alone, the tip is for the Bulldogs to win by a decent margin but it wouldn't a shock for Souths to pull it out of the bag. Bulldogs by 10.
