The South Sydney Rabbitohs are pleased to announce their squad for round three against the Sydney Roosters at Accor Stadium to be played this Friday 25 March at 8:05pm, their first home game in Sydney in over nine months.
Rabbitohs Head Coach Jason Demetriou has named Taane Milne in the centres and Jaxson Paulo on the wing as the only changes to the starting side from last week’s golden point loss to the Storm.
The last time the Rabbitohs played a home game in Sydney at Accor Stadium was on 12 June 2021 when they defeated the Newcastle Knights. Since then the Rabbitohs went on to play in the 2021 NRL Grand Final at Suncorp Stadium in a bid to win the Club’s 22nd premiership.
This match is the first leg of the Ron Coote Cup for 2022. The Ron Coote Cup celebrates the career of one of the game’s greatest players, Ron Coote AM, who won six premierships and played in nine Grand Finals during his 15 seasons playing first grade football with both South Sydney and Eastern Suburbs. The Ron Coote Cup is played across both home and away fixtures in any given season, with the winner determined by the aggregate score from those two regular season matches. The Rabbitohs are the current holders of the Ron Coote Cup with an aggregate score in 2021 of 80-28.
Rabbitohs hooker Damien Cook will play his 150th NRL game this Friday night having made his NRL debut with the Dragons against the Tigers in round six, 2013. Cook has gone to play in 140 NRL matches with South Sydney since joining the Club in 2016, as well as representing Australia in four Test matches and New South Wales in 12 State of Origin games.
The Rabbitohs are raising funds for the Red Cross Tonga Relief appeal this week by selling specially designed, Tongan-themed t-shirts as well as the Tongan players auctioning their specially painted boots post-match. The t-shirts, designed by Tongan artist Kasitano Tuifua, features Tongan traditional art and patterns, language, national flag and the Rabbitohs logo. The art links the Rabbitohs with the Tongan strength of character and resilience to rebuild from the devasting earthquake and tsunami in January, as well as unity and family. 100% of profits will be going to the Australia Red Cross Tonga Recovery Appeal. T-shirts can be purchased from shop.rabbitohs.com.au/tongarelief. The Rabbitohs’ Tongan players Junior Tatola, Siliva Havili, Keaon Koloamatangi, Davvy Moale, Hame Sele and Shirley Mailangi will all auction their painted playing boots after the weekend’s matches to help with the fundraising efforts for Tonga.
Rabbitohs major corporate partner MG Motor will be giving away a MG HS +EV car at half time to one lucky supporter in a kick-to-win competition at half time of the NRL game.
Rabbitohs corporate partner Bannershop will also be giving away 10,000 flags to the first 10,000 Rabbitohs Members and supporters through the gates at Accor Stadium on Friday night.
Gates open at Accor Stadium at 5:25pm with the NSW Cup game set commence at 5:40pm and the NRL fixture due to kick off at 8:05pm.
Members and supporters holding a ticket for this game can get return integrated rail travel on the Sydney Trains network to Sydney Olympic Park on Friday for the game simply by showing your Membership card or match day ticket. Direct trains to Sydney Olympic Park will leave Central at 6:50pm and 7:10pm, stopping at Redfern, Strathfield and Sydney Olympic Park stations.
The South Sydney Rabbitohs’ squad for Friday’s clash with the Roosters in the NRL’s Multicultural Round is:
