South Sydney appear to have uncovered a gem in Corey Allan with the young gun scoring a hat-trick in the Rabbitohs’ 36-24 Charity Shield win over a besieged St George Illawarra.
All eyes were on the Dragons this week after lock Jack de Belin was stood down indefinitely by the NRL.
And Paul McGregor’s men showed plenty of promise against a near full-strength Rabbitohs, with Tariq Sims and Gareth Widdop standing out on Saturday night at Glen Willow Stadium in Mudgee.
Tyson Frizell – moved from the back row into de Belin’s No.13 spot – was also busy with 89 metres and 20 tackles.
Widdop looked scratchy wearing the No.1 against Newcastle the week prior, however showed great promise in his new role against the Rabbitohs, chiming in when needed but he let Corey Norman and Ben Hunt run the show.
However, he did drop a high ball midway through the second half which led to Allan grabbing his third try the next set.
After making the move from Brisbane to the Rabbitohs in the off-season, Allan, 20, crossed for a first-half double to all but lock himself in for a round-one wing spot.
Having been earmarked as the Rabbitohs’ long-term No.1, he looks set to receive his NRL debut against the Sydney Roosters on the left flank.
He was the beneficiary when the Rabbitohs opened up a giant overlap in the sixth minute and showed great strength and presence to tip-toe down the sideline thanks to a deft bat-on from John Sutton in the 23rd minute.
Two Tim Lafai tries in three minutes just before halftime gave the Dragons an 18-16 lead at the break.
After a breakout 2018, Rabbitohs dummy-half Damien Cook looked poised to take his game to another level this year as he took on a lion’s share of the kicking duties with Adam Reynolds sitting on the sidelines.
His 40-20 – which trickled over the sideline two metres out from the Dragons’ line – led to Cameron Murray crashing over under the posts to make it 28-18.
Sims capped his outstanding display (124 metres, 21 tackles, one try assist) when he went over off a neat cut-out face ball from Norman.