Five-star performances from Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker have inspired South Sydney to five straight victories with a 32-16 victory over a determined Parramatta Eels at a rain-soaked CommBank Stadium.
The early exchanges saw both sides spoil good attacking chances, letting themselves off the hook for respective disciplinary relapses. South Sydney capitalised first after nine minutes off a Parramatta mistake. Cody Walker saw an overlap and took full advantage, combining with Latrell Mitchell to send Jacob Gagai away untouched in the corner. Mitchell's conversion came off the posts and remained 4-0.
Both sides continued to make good yardage but left plenty of scoring chances off the board. Souths bombing the worst of the best chances when Walker lost the ball seemingly with the line wide open after 20 minutes. Parramatta had chances down the left, but Sean Russell was mistiming his passes to debutant Jake Tago.
Something had to give as we approached the half-hour mark. A strong carry from Taane Milne saw him get an offload to Damien Cook to quickly linked up with Keaon Koloamatangi who engaged the line to find Michael Chee-Kam who got it a magical pass to Jacob Gagai putting him in space. Gagai was able to link up with Wighton to cross for Souths' second. Mitchell converted for a 10-0 lead.
Parramatta were getting up field well but failing to execute throughout the opening 40. A strong carry from Blaize Talagi enabled him to get the arm free to put Dylan Brown into space. From the ensuing tackles, Mitch Moses and Brown combine with Clint Gutherson to find Talagi to finish what he started to cross in his 7th straight match. Moses' conversion came off the post and the gap was six.
Right on the break, Parramatta were hanging on for dear life, however conceded the cardinal sin on half-time. Walker drew the defence left on the unders route to Chee Kam who was able to get another magical pass away to Walker who crossed to break the Eels' spirit on half-time.
As the heavens opened in the second half, the Eels seemed to get in their element. However, when push came to shove, Ben Hornby's renewed defensive spirit stopped the Eels right in their track with a desperate try-saver on Will Pensini in the 45th minute a big highlight. Souths' poor discipline was giving Parramatta repeated chances on the Rabbitohs line. As much as Hornby's side has improved defensively in the second half of 2024, they can only hold on for so long. A brilliant pass from Brendan Hands to find a charging Reagan Campbell-Gillard to cross for the first of the second stanza after 51 minutes. Moses converted to reduce it to a converted try.
Parramatta gave away an extra set, and with the superstars on show for South Sydney, it wasn't long before the advantage was back to double digits. Great lead-up work from Davvy Moale who found Walker, and drew the defence wide to find Mitchell who slid early but got the ball down brilliantly. The conversion did struggle to hook across and it remained a ten point game.
The Eels were building as Souths were getting comfortable and thought they had a third with debutant Jake Tago crossing with 18 to go. However, the Bunker correctly spotted a foot on the sideline and denied the try. South Sydney worked their way to go and seal the game and were rewarded with 11 minutes to play. A shift to the right saw Walker and Mitchell combine to send Gagai away to get his second of the contest. Mitchell's conversion off the posts seemed to put the game out of Parramatta's reach. However, off a penalty for a professional foul, the Eels saw a chance. Parramatta scurried a late try as Gutherson directed play back to the middle and grubber kicked it to a chasing Bryce Cartwright who was able to win the race to the ball. Wighton sealed the game late for the Rabbitohs with a great individual try capitalising on the man advantage with Moses binned for a cynical slow down of play.