FIVE BIG QUESTIONS AHEAD OF THE NRL SEMI-FINAL BETWEEN SOUTH SYDNEY AND ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA
South Sydney v St George Illawarra
NRL second semi-final
ANZ Stadium, Saturday 7.40pm September 15
* Can the battered Bunnies bounce back?
South Sydney have two days’ extra recovery time on St George Illawarra but they may need every bit of them after last week’s thrilling loss to Melbourne. Greg Inglis (ribs) and Adam Reynolds (shoulder) have both been cleared to play, but their teammates were also visibly exhausted after the loss. Crucially, only one team has won the premiership in the past 11 years after having had to play all four weeks of finals.
* Will Jack de Belin play?
The Dragons have their own injury problems, after Gareth Widdop (shoulder) was ruled out for the season and Jack de Belin aggravated his ankle injury against Brisbane. He’s confident he’ll recover and Dragons fans would want to hope that’s the case. De Belin adds much-needed resolve to a middle that has been tested regularly in the second half of the season, and his absence would leave their bench looking vulnerable.
* Can Kurt Mann up?
Mann sees himself as a future five-eighth but his time to shine is now while standing in for Widdop for the rest of this year’s finals series. The Dragons have won three of six when when he’s filled in for Widdop in the past two years, but none of those victories have come against top-eight teams at the time.
* Are the Dragons back breathing fire?
After the highest-profile form slump of the year the Saints were back to their best against Brisbane. Besides from just the scoreboard, they won the metreage battle for the first time since round 16, had more possession for the first time in 10 weeks and completed at above 80 per cent for just the third time in nine weeks. Those were all markers of the Dragons early-season success and they must repeat it against Souths.
* Can Sam Burgess get over the top of James Graham?
It’s no secret that Sam Burgess carries a large key to South Sydney’s success. The momentum created by Burgess is crucial to Damien Cook’s work out of dummy-half while Melbourne, the Sydney Roosters and Wests Tigers have found success this year when they’ve shut the Englishman down. Burgess made four errors last weekend against Melbourne and will again be targeted by the likes of Graham come Saturday, in their first head-to-head finals clash since the brutal 2014 grand final.