St George Illawarra have claimed a 46-26 Charity Shield victory to leave South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett with more questions than answers as he attempts to save the Rabbitohs’ NRL season before it has begun. After a week in which Cameron Murray was ruled out for the rest of the year and Latrell Mitchell was sidelined for the first six weeks of the season, Jamie Humphreys emerged as a beacon of light for the Rabbitohs on Saturday.
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The sample size is small but already the 23-year-old halfback looks set to place major pressure on Souths’ key off-season recruit Lewis Dodd. English No 7 Dodd struggled for much of the first half at Mudgee’s Glen Willow Oval and did not return in the second stanza.
Dodd was retrospectively sin-binned by the bunker – an initiative being trialled during the pre-season challenge – for a first-half high shot on Red V winger Sione Finau. The former St Helens halfback was forced to watch on as Humphreys scored a try and registered two try assists to make a compelling case to partner Cody Walker.
With Humphreys pulling the strings, the Rabbitohs recovered from trailing 34-10 at halftime to cut the Dragons’ lead to just eight points by the hour mark. Eventually the Dragons clicked back into gear and Shane Flanagan’s men secured just their second Charity Shield win in the last decade.
Finau will steal the headlines with a four-try display before going off with a concussion but all of Flanagan’s main off-season recruits had valuable contributions. Val Holmes and Clint Gutherson both had two try assists in a first-half rampage and Lachlan Ilias impressed against his former club. Ilias, who was shown the door after Souths signed Dodd last year, crashed in for his side’s third try of the afternoon and also set up Moses Suli in the second half.
Tries for Ilias, Mathew Feagai and Finau’s quadruple put the Dragons in the box seat in the first half before livewire fullback Jye Gray helped Souths get on the board. Gray, who will deputise for Mitchell, grubber-kicked to himself for Souths’ opener before setting up Jayden Sullivan on the stroke of halftime.
Sign up to Australia Sport. Get a daily roundup of the latest sports news, features and comment from our Australian sports desk. after newsletter promotion. In the second half, Humphreys burst into life to set up Keaon Koloamatangi for a double and diving over the line himself. But hopes of running the Dragons down were quickly ended when Suli and Ryan Couchman found their way over the line.
