Discipline key for Souths ahead of Cairns clash with Dragons

The jetsetting Rabbitohs are in a third state in six days as they prepare to start hot favourites against St George-Illawarra outfit keen to spoil their great rivals’ top eight hopes.

Souths were out-of-sorts in their 26-16 loss to the Sharks in Perth last Saturday, but have spent the week at their Mascot base to prepare for a smash-and-grab mission in Tropical Far North Queensland.

The Bunnies were listed as $1.12 favourites by the TAB on Friday afternoon in the most one-sided NRL rounds in years, but Demetriou won’t put much stock in the market as he returns to a familiar stomping ground.

The second-year NRL coach has rated how St George-Illawarra interim coach Ryan Carr has his troops firing, and expects the Dragons to come out breathing fire.

“They’re playing really good footy over the past four or five weeks, unlucky with a couple results against quality sides as well,” he said.

“We know they’ll pose a real threat when they come here.

“They’re enjoying playing together at the moment, and their coach is doing a good job.

“We need to expect a tough challenge, we need to expect them to come after us from the start.”

It is why he has implored his side to focus on their discipline.

“It’s more about our discipline as well, on both sides of the ball,” Demetriou said.

“Late in the game we made errors, but we had 11 penalties against us, and we’ve been on the wrong end of penalty counts the last few weeks and we have to address that.

“We can’t keep piggybacking teams out of our end and expecting our defence to keep holding up.

“We want some resilience in our D, but we need to be disciplined on the other side as well to make sure we’re not asking ourselves to do too much.”

Demetriou’s coaching journey in Australia started in Cairns a decade ago when he took the reins of the Northern Pride in the Queensland Cup.

He steered them to the minor premiership in 2013 then the Queensland Cup-NRL State Championship double a year later, and now he is back at Barlow Park in his second year as a NRL head coach at South Sydney.

It will be the first NRL premiership game played in Cairns since the Bunnies beat North Queensland 21-20 back in 2018.

This will be the seventh time Souths play in Cairns, with this the Dragons’ first trip to FNQ.

BURGESS BAN ‘DISAPPOINTING’

Souths coach Jason Demetriou has hit out at the three-week ban slapped on prop Thomas Burgess.

The front-rower will be forced to watch on from the stands in Cairns after a high shot on Cronulla fan favourite Tom Hazleton in last week’s 10-point loss in Perth.

Hazleton will miss Friday’s game against the Titans after he was stood down under HIA protocols.

Demetriou said he did not think it deserved such a hefty penalty, but was confident Burgess would use the break well to be ready to return for a tilt at the premiership.

“It’s disappointing,” he said.

“Do I think it deserves three weeks, probably not, but it is what it is now, that’s how the game’s being refereed.

“They’re looking after the players’ safety, I understand that, but it was just two big men that came together.

“It was unfortunate.

“The main thing is the player’s all right, which I’m hearing he is.

“Tom will wear it, and will get ready to come back at the end of the year.”

Burgess is in Cairns, where he reunited with twin brother George, who is playing for Brothers in the FNQRL.

Warrington-bound Souths assistant Sam Burgess was also with the team, and there’s word the Bunnies duo may travel to Innisfail - the home of Maroons and Melbourne great Billy Slater - to watch George’s Brothers outfit in their last-round fixture at Billy Slater Oval.

Readers can watch that game live at this link from 3pm on Sunday.

matthew.mcinerney1@news.com.au

Originally published as Discipline key for Souths ahead of Cairns clash with Dragons