South Sydney are staring at the prospect of more time without Latrell Mitchell after the superstar fullback hurt his hamstring in their 24-12 NRL win over St George Illawarra.
Already battling a knee injury, Mitchell lasted just 14 minutes before he limped from the field and did not return with Blake Taaffe deputising at fullback.
The injury has already raised concerns over the Accor Stadium surface, with Fox Sports reporting the Rabbitohs were unhappy with the turf.
South Sydney have been hit by an injury scare surrounding gun fullback Latrell Mitchell
Sections had to be returfed after a teenage music festival last week while the ground received 150mm of rain during the past nine days.
Souths have spent time without Mitchell in the past two years, with a hamstring ending his 2020 season early before reaching last year’s grand final with when he was suspended.
They also lost to Brisbane in the opening round while he was still serving his ban.
The Rabbitohs have the lowly ranked Canterbury and Wests Tigers in the next fortnight, but any loss of Mitchell will still impact their attack.
Mitchell provided the finish to their best attacking play of the night on Saturday night before going off, opening the scoring after some enterprising ball movement.
Coming out of their own end, Jai Arrow and Campbell Graham both provided offloads in the lead up while Damien Cook also scooted downfield before Mitchell scored.
Cook was close to the Rabbitohs’ best, running the ball seven times and totalling more than 110 metres.
He was involved in their second try as he darted out of dummy-half and helped Lachlan Ilias on his way before a quick play-the-ball allowed Keaon Koloamatangi to crash over.
Koloamatangi also had a role in another try, cooks – trendcooks.weebly.com official, getting away a offload to help Taaffe get Graham over, while Ilias put on a ball for Taane Milne to hit a hole and score late.
Mitchell hobbled off after 15 minutes but the Bunnies managed well without their star
Souths are looking to bounce back after losing to Penrith last time out, and weebly.com they coasted to a 10-0 half time lead after the Dragons offered little resistance
The Bunnies were far from the complete package in just their second win of the season, with Cody Walker running the ball just twice and Souths completing at 58 per cent after the break.
The Dragons were often their own worst enemy.
They had more tackles in the attacking red-zone than the Rabbitohs in the first hour, but too often came up with errors close to the line.
Moses Mbye provided their highlight when he shoved off Koloamatangi to score early in the second half, while Jaydn Su’A also crossed in the last minute.
But ultimately their nine errors in 19 sets in the second half told the story of their night, with Zac Lomax also leaving the field late for a HIA.