Check out the match preview and prediction for the round 2 clash between the Brisbane Broncos and the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
MATCHDAY NEWS
MATCHDAY SCHEDULE
Brisbane Broncos Vs South Sydney Rabbitohs
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Date: Thursday March 14, 8:00pm
MATCHDAY TEAM NEWS
Broncos: 1. Reece Walsh, 2. Jesse Arthars, 3. Selwyn Cobbo, 4. Kotoni Staggs, 5. Deine Mariner, 6. Ezra Mam, 7. Adam Reynolds, 8. Corey Jensen, 9. Billy Walters, 10. Payne Haas, 11. Brendan Piakura, 12. Jordan Riki, 13. Patrick Carrigan, 14. Tyson Smoothy, 15. Fletcher Baker, 16. Kobe Hetherington, 17. Marty Taupau, 18. Corey Oates, 19. Xavier Willison, 20. Tristan Sailor, 21. Jock Madden, 22. Jaiyden Hunt
Rabbitohs: 1. Latrell Mitchell, 2. Alex Johnston, 3. Isaiah Tass, 4. Richard Kennar, 5. Jacob Gagai , 6. Cody Walker, 7. Lachlan Ilias, 8. Tevita Tatola, 9. Damien Cook, 10. Sean Keppie, 11. Keaon Koloamatangi, 12. Tallis Duncan, 13. Cameron Murray, 14. Siliva Havili, 15. Davvy Moale, 16. Shaquai Mitchell, 17. Thomas Burgess, 18. Michael Chee Kam, 19. Taane Milne, 20. Jye Gray, 21. Peter Mamouzelos 24. Dean Hawkins
Referee: Gerard Sutton
Embed from Getty ImagesMATCHDAY PREVIEW
The opening clash of round 2 is a match-up between the two surprise Vegas losers.
Six months after their heart-breaking grand final loss, the Broncos were favourites against the Sydney Roosters. But the Eastern Suburbs club led from start to finish, building on an 8-4 half-time lead. While Reece Walsh is one of the game’s most marketable players, he also showed how exciting and frustrating he can be. With the Roosters up 14-4, Walsh scored to cut the margin to four with 20 minutes left. Then, with nine minutes left, he made an error that gave the Roosters possession and was the last line of defence as Victor Radley ran past him to score the match-winner.
South Sydney lost an entertaining game against Manly Warringah (36-24). With so much hype over whether Vegas would work, this was the perfect opener, with 11 tries and plenty of lead changes before Manly put the game away in the second half. Richard Kennar will surely be immortalised as a pub trivia question, scoring the first and last tries of the inaugural Vegas game. While his first try gave Souths an early lead, by the time he scored his second Manly were ahead 36-20. Reuben Garrick had a night out, with a try and six goals from six attempts.
Brisbane will be glad to return to Lang Park, where they won eight games last season, including two “away” wins (The Dolphins and Manly) and two finals wins (Melbourne and the NZ Warriors). They lost both Thursday games in 2023 and won three from five against Sydney clubs.
Brisbane and Souths split their games last season: Souths were dominant in the first half of the season and duly smashed Brisbane at Lang Park (32-6) in round 9, with a Campbell Graham hat-trick and 16 points to Latrell Mitchell (two tries and four goals). Fortunes changed in round 21 on the Sunshine Coast: while the struggling Rabbitohs led 14-12 at half-time, Walsh, Xavier Willison, Kotoni Staggs, and Adam Reynolds (who also kicked six goals from six attempts) eased Brisbane to a comfortable 36-20 win. Brisbane lead the head-to-head 25-13 (one draw) since 1998.
For Brisbane, Martin Tapau moves to the bench with Corey Jensen into the starting side. Brendan Pikuara (HIA) and captain Adam Reynolds (knee) are both named despite injury concerns from the Vegas game.
For Souths, Tallis Duncan replaces Jai Arrow (shoulder), while Shaquille Mitchell comes onto the bench for Jacob Host. Their marquee signing Jack Wighton is out for another week: he’ll make his cardinal and myrtle debut against the Roosters in round 3.
Brisbane’s return to Lang Park should be enough of an advantage on Thursday night.
Head-to-head stats can be found at Round 2 Number Crunch..
MATCHDAY PREDICTION
Broncos by 12 points.
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