Fri 26th September, 06:50PM The South Sydney Rabbitohs will take the field in tonight’s Preliminary Final with no changes against defending premiers, the Sydney Roosters.
Ben Lowe, Luke Burgess and Bryson Goodwin drop off Michael Maguire’s extended bench to round out the 17.
The South Sydney Rabbitohs team for the second Preliminary Final is:
1. Greg Inglis
2. Alex Johnston
3. Dylan Walker
4. Kirisome Auva'a
5. Lote Tuqiri
6. Luke Keary
7. Adam Reynolds
8. George Burgess
9. Issac Luke
10. Dave Tyrrell
11. Kyle Turner
12. John Sutton (c)
13. Sam Burgess
14. Jason Clark
15. Ben Te'o
16. Chris McQueen
17. Thomas Burgess
Fri 26th September, 06:50PM Trent Robinson has confirmed his seventeen for tonight's Preliminary Final clash with the South Sydney Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium with the Head Coach opting to reshuffle his side with one change despite sticking with the same seventeen named on Tuesday evening.
Returning from a fortnight out through suspension, Dylan Napa has been named to start in the front-row alongside Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Jake Friend.
Napa's promotion to the starting side sees Kiwi international Sam Moa shift to the bench alongside Mitchell Aubusson, Isaac Liu and Frank-Paul Nuuausala.
The side is otherwise unchanged, excluding Napa's return, from last weekend's win over the North Queensland Cowboys.
Kane Evans drops out of the side after being named on a five-man bench and will act as 18th man.
Sydney Roosters
1. Anthony Minichiello (c)
2. Daniel Tupou
3. Michael Jennings
4. Shaun Kenny-Dowall
5. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
6. James Maloney
7. Mitchell Pearce (vc)
8. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (vc)
9. Jake Friend (vc)
17. Dylan Napa
11. Boyd Cordner (vc)
12. Sonny Bill Williams
13. Aidan Guerra
10. Sam Moa
14. Mitchell Aubusson
15. Frank-Paul Nuuausala
16. Isaac Liu
By Chris Kennedy, National Correspondent NRL.com 10:00pm Fri 26th September, 2014
A hugely physical performance from South Sydney after a nervous start has earned them a first grand final berth since 1971, while also ending the NRL career of popular Roosters skipper Anthony Minichiello after 302 games.
The 32-22 win was built on a dominant effort from their huge forward pac.
Sam Burgess was typically outstanding; his younger twin brothers George and Tom were powerful all night.
Ben Te'o showed no cobwebs in his return from a four-week suspension in one of his best games of the season and halfback Adam Reynolds continued his rich run of form and the outside backs, young and old, were again scintillating.
The Roosters simply had no answer to the firepower of the Rabbitohs pack and looked frustrated, particularly towards the end of the game.
Firebrand Jared Waerea-Hargreaves gave away several penalties, including one for a headbutt on Te'o, and fellow prop Sam Moa was also placed on report for a swinging arm on Kirisome Auva'a.
In what may have been his last ever NRL game, Sonny Bill Williams was very good but edged out in his personal duel with fellow departing star Sam Burgess, while the retiring Minichiello showed exactly why he has enjoyed such a decorated career in being one of his side's best all night.
After racing out to a quick 12-0 lead, the Roosters then conceded 32 unanswered points to a relentless Souths side before late, soft, consolation tries in the shadows of full time made it a more respectable eight-point margin that flattered the Tricolours.
That last try to Minichiello – seconds before the final siren – at least made a somewhat fitting end to his NRL career; for his final act in the sport to be a try is an apt way for such a champion to sign off.
To begin the game, after having the better of an error-free opening to the contest, the Roosters – with the better of the field position – were first to score through in-form halfback Mitch Pearce just five minutes after the kick-off.
With nothing seemingly on offer, Pearce put a big step on Kyle Turner and Dave Tyrrell in the middle of the field to scythe through the line, before another big step got him around Inglis and across the line under the posts.
The Roosters went back-to-back less than three minutes later when evergreen fullback Minichiello somehow outjumped Inglis to a Pearce bomb, came down with it and, off balance, stumbled the last few metres to the line.
Staring at a 12-point deficit early, things almost got a lot worse for the disorganised Bunnies when they fumbled another Pearce bomb to hand the Roosters a golden chance to blow the game wide open.
But, in a huge turning point, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves looked to force an unnecessary offload that Dylan Napa couldn't handle to let the Rabbitohs off the hook, before consecutive play-the-ball penalties against Pearce and Napa suddenly had the Rabbitohs with a full set at the Roosters line.
Souths couldn't get off the duck in that set but when Maloney dropped it shortly after they made the Tricolours pay.
It came off the back of a typically massive charge from George Burgess who scattered defenders at the line, before a spread to the right put 35-year-old Lote Tuqiri on the end of some good work from Dylan Walker, the experienced winger able to ground it just inside the corner post.
A great touchline conversion from Adam Reynolds got his side back within six, and from that point a hugely physical South Sydney defensive masterclass pinned the Roosters in their own end.
A mountain of dominant field position eventually told when try-scoring whiz Alex Johnston crossed for his 20th try of the season.
Good lead-up work and a series of offloads from the likes of John Sutton and Walker got Souths 15 out on the last, when Issac Luke went for a risky short side play and found Auva'a, who drew his opposite winger to put Johnston over in the corner.
Reynolds produced another perfect sideline conversion to level the scores.
A little bit of ill-discipline from Souths – including a lifting tackle on Sonny Bill Williams that left Issac Luke on report – allowed the Roosters back into the contest and they looked to have jagged an unlikely halftime lead when, in the face of more aggressive South Sydney defence, Pearce picked up a loose ball and sprinted through a gap before finding Michael Jennings and Daniel Tupou in support, but the video referee found a knock on from Maloney in the lead-up.
With one last chance at the Rabbitohs line the Roosters looked destined to score through a rampaging Moa but more brilliant South Sydney defence held him up millimetres short, leaving the game precariously balanced at 12-all at the break.
A pair of rugby-bound forwards got Souths off to the perfect start after the break.
Following a high-tackle penalty against Isaac Liu on Luke Keary, Adam Reynolds fired a ball to the right to Sam Burgess, who showed deft skills to toss a short ball back infield to a rampaging Te'o who carried several defenders across the line.
Reynolds' conversion – his easiest of the night – brought up 200 points for the halfback for the third consecutive season.
Souths got another chance when Minichiello spilled a bomb under huge pressure from Keary, who should have been penalised for offside, and one repeat set later Inglis scored one of the easiest tries he'll ever score when a sloppy play-the-ball appeared to distract the defence, who opened up amenably for him to help stretch his side's advantage to 12.
The clincher came 15 from time, when Reynolds chipped across-field towards the posts, which got in everyone's way – except Inglis's, with the fullback producing a fantastic mark to collect the ball and ground it and make it 30-12.
An obstruction penalty against the Roosters, desperately still trying to make it a contest as they looked to work it out of their own end, allowed the flawless boot of Reynolds to stretch the lead past three converted tries.
The Roosters clawed back two late tries to Guerra, running straight through a tired Rabbitohs line, and Minichiello, off the back of a Friend line break, but it will have done little to cheer their spirits as they found out just how hard it is to win back-to-back premierships.
The one headache for Rabbitohs coach Michael Maguire out of the game will be having his hooker Issac Luke placed on report for a lifting tackle on Sonny Bill Williams.
Moa and Waerea-Hargreaves are each in danger of missing part of the upcoming Four Nations, if selected, for their on-report offences.
South Sydney Rabbitohs - 32 (Inglis 2, Tuqiri, Johnston, Te'o tries; Reynolds 5 goals; Reynolds penalty goal)
Defeated
Sydney Roosters - 22 (Minichiello 2, Pearce, Guerra tries, Maloney 3 goals)
Nervous wait for South Sydney Rabbitohs star Issac Luke with lifting tackle on report
PAUL CRAWLEY
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
SEPTEMBER 26, 2014 10:42PM
Issac Luke faces a nervous wait over this tackle against on SBW. Pic: Brett Costello
THEY have waited 43 long years for this moment but South Sydney’s grand final week will kick off on Saturday with one almighty headache with star hooker Issac Luke in serious danger of being rubbed out of the biggest game of his life.
In the wake of the Rabbitohs’ rampaging 32-22 win over the Roosters last night, their biggest problem on Saturday will be trying to work out a way to clear their star hooker of a likely charge after Luke was placed on report for a dangerous throw on Sonny Bill Williams.
Given the NRL’s crackdown this year on dangerous lifting tackles following the terrible injury suffered by Alex McKinnon, Luke faces an anxious wait over the weekend to see what likely charge he will cop when the match review committee meets on Monday.
The problem for Luke and South Sydney is that Luke has 55 carry-over points, which means even a grade one throw charge will result in an automatic suspension.
Luke only recently beat a charge at the judiciary when he was cleared of striking out with his feet in a tackle by Michael Ennis in round 25.
On that occasion Luke’s defence was that he feared he could suffer a broken neck after he claimed he was put in a crusher tackle by Ennis.
But coming up with a way to defend last night’s tackle on Williams will be a lot tougher given Williams in no way was responsible for putting himself in a dangerous position.
The tackle occurred in the 38th minute counting down to half-time as Williams was working the ball out from inside his own half and Luke got underneath and up-ended his opponent into the turf.
While Ben Te’o was also involved in the incident, Luke appeared to be the player most responsible for placing Williams above the horizontal.
If Luke is charged Souths will have no option but to fight it at the judiciary.
While judiciary hearings are usually held on Wednesday there is a chance this one could be brought forward to Tuesday to cause as minimal disruption as possible to grand final week.
The Rabbitohs can ill afford to lose their hooker who again produced a wonderful performance last night on the back of a barnstorming effort upfront by the big South Sydney forwards.
In defeat the Roosters’ only solace is that if they had won through on Friday night they would have likely been without Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Sam Moa who were both placed on report for separate incidents.
Hargreaves suffered a first half brain explosion when he appeared to deliberately headbutt Te’o in the 23rd minute.
Hargreaves’ biggest mistake was that after he collided with Te’o he stood and eyeballed the Rabbitohs back rower just to make sure his opponent was certain of his intentions.
Moa was also placed on report for an ugly swinging arm on Rabbitohs centre Kirisome Auva’a in the 73rd minute.
Auva’a was falling in the tackle but Moa still collected him high and dangerously.
But all the talk on Saturday is going to be about the Rabbitohs and unfortunately for Luke grand final week will start with a nervous wait.
Sat 27th September, 06:43PM Bulldogs Coach Des Hasler has finalised his side for the match against the Panthers tonight at ANZ Stadium.
Kick-off will be at 7.55pm with coverage LIVE on Channel 9 from 7.30pm (Sydney time).
The side is as follows:
1. Sam Perrett 2. Corey Thompson 3. Josh Morris 4. Tim Lafai 5. Mitch Brown 6. Josh Reynolds 7. Trent Hodkinson 8. Aiden Tolman 9. Michael Ennis (c) 10. James Graham 11. Josh Jackson 12. Tony Williams 13. Greg Eastwood
15. Dale Finucane 16. David Klemmer 17. Frank Pritchard 22. Tim Browne
Sat 27th September, 06:55PM There is just one change to tonight's starting line up for the Panthers for their clash with the Bulldogs.
Adam Docker has been moved into the starting side at lock, while Nigel Plum drops back to the bench.
Panthers
1. Matt Moylan
2. Josh Mansour
3. Dean Whare
4. Jamal Idris
5. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
6. Will Smith
7. Jamie Soward
8. Sam McKendry
9. James Segeyaro
10. Brent Kite
11. Sika Manu
12. Matt Robinson 14. Adam Docker
13. Nigel Plum
15. Jeremy Latimore
16. Ben Murdoch-Masila
17. Lewis Brown
Isaac Luke given a week for his tackle unless he fights it and wins ... how ridiculous, nothing in it imo. Maybe if he had a hand between the legs, but no. Just a good strong tackle and the player landed on his side.
While were on the topic of Josh Reynolds, far out he has to be my most hated player I've ever seen play the game. Everytime there was a bit of push and shove last night, Reynolds always had to sprint in and start some more. If I was a first grader and we had to verse the doggies, my main mission would just be to knock out that little ****.
