OK Souths fans, take a moment to compose yourselves! What an absolutely amazing win! Let's breakdown the stats now with 'By The Numbers.'
The Milestone Men
- AJ crossed for five tries to bring up his 103rd NRL Try. Alex Johnston is only the sixth Rabbitoh to bring up such a milestone. He is the NRL's top tryscorer.
- We can’t forget the Captain Adam Reynolds who also picked up over 2000 points for South Sydney across all Grades and his 1600th NRL point! He also overtook Kyle Flanagan as the leading point scorer this season.
- It was the Roosters’ biggest loss with Trent Robinson in charge.
- This was the Roosters’ worst defensive effort in over a decade when they conceded 60 points against the Bulldogs in 2010.
- Lastly, it was the Rabbitohs biggest ever win against the Roosters!
Big Impact from the Bench
The Bench have been the cornerstone for the Rabbitohs ‘Go-Forward’ in 2020 and again they really changed the game when they came on for their opening stints.
It seems like a while ago but the Roosters were all over the Rabbitohs in the first 15 minutes. They dominated possession and field position, showed steel in their defence and also crossed for the opening try with their first attacking raid.
All four interchange players ran for over 100 metres! They provided the spark to allow Cody Walker to slice through the Roosters defence.
Complete over 80% and South Win
The importance of holding onto the ball has been a main focus of Wayne Bennett’s particularly after last week’s shock loss to the Bulldogs.
Generally we have seen when South Sydney complete over 80% - they go on to win the game and that was no different tonight completing at 84% for the game.
However, what the Rabbitohs did so well tonight was complete at a high percentage while still having the confidence to ‘chance their hand.’
Their selection of when to pass, kick or hold the ball was exceptional and their second phase football had the Roosters’ defence bamboozled! It’s interesting to note while South Sydney led the linebreaks 11-5, the Roosters had almost double the amount of offloads as the Rabbitohs (14-8).
Cody Magic
Not much has to be said about the performance Cody Walker put in tonight - He had a hand in literally everything. Cody scored two tries, had three try assists, three line break assists and two line breaks of his own. An absolutely mammoth display.
