South Sydney head into 2024 at a crossroad. Was their late season capitulation in 2023 a rare blip or the end of a generation of success? Is Jack Wighton the signing to turn it around? The Rabbitohs have many questions to answer heading into the new season.
Season Preview
South Sydney’s fall out of the top eight (and ultimately the finals series) and the arrival of Jack Wighton are the big stories heading into the new NRL season, and one can’t be sure just how it is going to go in 2024.
The Rabbitohs have a mixed draw to start the season, with the Las Vegas showcase opening up their season followed by a trip to Brisbane to meet the Broncos. After that they don’t leave Sydney for four weeks but face three top eight sides from 2023 including main rivals the Roosters. Come Anzac Day in Round 8, and after South Sydney’s traditional loss to Melbourne in Melbourne, if the Rabbitohs have got off to a poor start to the new season then the next few months won’t help as their team could supply between four to six players for NSW Origin.
Those potential Origin players like Cameron Murray, Damien Cook, Keaon Koloamatangi, and some of the key players and best signings from this preview, are the reasons many are giving South Sydney the benefit of the doubt after their end to the 2023 NRL season. But they are no certainties to climb too far up the ladder, with a lot of similarly underperforming teams like Parramatta and North Queensland looking to bounce back into finals football. South Sydney still has genuine star power. Enough to win more than half their games.
But that star power led to rumours of player unrest at the club late in the season. Whilst South Sydney didn’t get the Fox League writers Wests Tigers treatment in the media, there was still talk of some players being less than happy with others, a tension which parallels were drawn when club legend Sam Burgess announced he was leaving South Sydney to coach in the UK.
Some blame was thrown at coach Jason Demetriou, who did well to avoid the Wayne Bennett curse in his first season but can’t afford to start 2024 like they ended 2023. Pressure is on, especially if Sam Burgess makes a good impression in the UK this season.
One good point for 2024 will hopefully be the Souths winger, and all round good guy, Alex Johnston taking the all-time try scoring record off Ken Irvine. Currently Johnston is just three tries behind Billy Slater and a further 25 behind Ken Irvine. In a good season Johnston would be confident of a 25+ try scoring season, but the way his stats dropped out in the second half of 2023 you can’t be so sure.
It all sounds a bit pessimistic, but the way Souths finished 2023, on top of potential club problems, it is hard to see them going back to the top reaches of the NRL competition ladder. As a South Sydney fan, there’s the hope of a clean slate and taking 2024 by storm. But there’s so many questions to be answered it’s hard to see where they will land.
Best Signing
Embed from Getty ImagesWhether Jack Wighton will be South Sydney’s best signing is yet to be seen, but he certainly is the biggest, and arguably one of the biggest transfers in the whole NRL for 2024.
The former Canberra Raiders stalwart has changed into the famous cardinal and myrtle colours for the 2024 season, but as part of that move he will also change positions as coach Jason Demetriou has insisted he will play in the centres for the Rabbitohs. Before the recent news of a cruel long term injury to Campbell Graham, Wighton’s arrival meant a shuffle that would have likely seen Isaiah Tass moved from his regular starting spot, a poor reward for solid service for South Sydney over the past two seasons.
But perhaps his best position may not even be in the backline for South Sydney, as Wighton could be quite the effective ball playing lock in the style of Isaah Yeo, a move that would have seen the 2023 backline stay mostly as is. Or perhaps that backline needed a shake up. Either way Wighton should offer plenty in attack and is a solid defender who has done the job at centre in Origin, but the move still asks more questions.
One factor of Wighton’s arrival is his close relationship to Latrell Mitchell, and again this could be a masterstroke by South Sydney to get the best out of both players, or a disaster waiting to happen. Again, questions.
Key Player
Embed from Getty ImagesIt’s hard to choose between Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker as the key player for South Sydney ahead of the new season, so why can’t we have both?
The two are a dynamic duo and are key to South Sydney’s success in 2024, as they were in 2023. Both players had their moments in 2023, but they weren’t as consistent in the second half of the season, with Walker’s best game for the final months of the season coming for NSW in the State of Origin. In fact South Sydney had the third lowest total of points for the last six rounds of the season, as the spark in their attack disappeared.
Both can be brilliant or temperamental, sometimes within the same match, but they are so important to South Sydney’s chances in 2024. If they click there’s one of the game’s greatest finishers on hand to convert the chances in Alex Johnston. And they could combine with Jack Wighton to create an unbeatable creative force for the Rabbitoh glory in 2024.
Player to Watch
Embed from Getty ImagesWe got a taste of what Tyrone Munro can offer in 2024: he managed to score three tries in three appearances late in the season, and he managed a tidy return of six line breaks and eight tackle breaks and averaged 128 run metres per game.
There’s speed to burn and great signs that there’s plenty more to come in 2024. There’s plenty of time too: with Munro only making his NSW Cup debut for the Rabbitohs midway through 2023, he still managed seven tries in seven games.
The right wing has been a bit of a problem in recent seasons for South Sydney, with a constant rotation of players filling in but never making it their own. Munro has the chance to make the position his own.
Number Crunching
Premiers: 21 (1908, 1909, 1914, 1918, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1931, 1932, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1971, 2014)
Minor Premierships: 17 (1908, 1909, 1914, 1918, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1929, 1932, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1989)
10 years win/loss record: 147 wins, 108 losses (57.6%)
5 years win/loss record: 81 wins, 47 losses (63.3%)
2023 win/loss record: 12 wins, 12 losses (50%)
NRL Finals Appearances since 2014: 7
NRL Finals win/loss record since 2014: 11 wins, 8 losses (57.9%)
Biggest win since 2014: 52, vs Sydney Roosters (60-8, 25/9/20, Accor Stadium)
Biggest loss since 2014: 58, vs Melbourne Storm (6-64, 26/8/17, AAMI Park)
