{"id":371987,"date":"2024-03-01T22:55:17","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T23:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=371987"},"modified":"2024-03-02T02:03:49","modified_gmt":"2024-03-02T02:03:49","slug":"tips-why-souths-players-debut-at-28-spells-trouble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=371987","title":{"rendered":"Tips: Why Souths player's debut at 28 spells trouble"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrew Johns<\/a> was visibly stunned to find out that the Rabbitohs<\/a> were the bookmakers' favourites to win the NRL season-opener<\/a>, with the Immortal claiming Manly were specials to pocket the two points after a positive off-season.<\/p>\n

Previewing the first of the two Las Vegas clashes to be played this Sunday afternoon (AEDT), both Johns and Brad Fittler expected a strong showing from the Sea Eagles<\/a>\ufeff, adding that the Rabbitohs would not be at their best due to a backline that's been ravaged by injuries and suspensions.<\/p>\n

Representative centres Campbell Graham (sternum injury)<\/a> and Jack \ufeffWighton (suspension)<\/a> are both unavailable to start the season, while 19-year-old gun winger Tyrone Munro is still yet to return from an ankle injury that stopped his pre-season in its tracks in January.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW LIVE:<\/strong> New Zealand v Australia first Test day three<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Not worried': Ricciardo shrugs off Bahrain 'disappointment'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\ufeff<\/strong> Brutal reality facing Aussie Olympic shooting champion<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

That leaves them very thin out wide, with flyer Alex Johnston and superstar fullback Latrell Mitchell<\/a> the only members of South Sydney's regular back five named to start in Vegas.<\/p>\n

\"Jacob<\/p>\n

Back ups Isaiah Tass and Richie Kennar have been named in the centres, while 28-year-old NRL debutant, Jacob Gagai, gets his start on the wing.<\/p>\n

\ufeffThat spells trouble for the Rabbitohs, according to Johns and Fittler, who are both expecting star Manly recruit Luke Brooks to add firepower to an already dangerous Sea Eagles backline.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffSouths are favourites in this one?" Johns said, wearing a stunned look, in the match preview segment of Wide World of Sports' Freddy and the Eighth<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

"They've lost all their centres. No Graham, no Munroe, no Wighton," replied Fittler.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"Jacob Gagai on debut at 28, so well done. \ufeffThey're inexperienced out wide and all the talk around Manly is that they had a really great off-season," added Johns.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Saab<\/p>\n

Brooks has dominated the headlines for the Sea Eagles<\/a> since arriving for pre-season training in November, with most experts tipping him to have a big season in combination with Queensland halfback Daly Cherry-Evans and with the fit again Tom Trbojevic lurking out the back.<\/p>\n

Fittler likes the look of Manly's new halves combination, with the left-footed kicking of Brooks an added bonus.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"It will be good to see Luke Brooks with that combination. \ufeffIt fits well, because the fact he's a left footer obviously, he'll sit on that side and Cherry-Evans will dominate and then he'll just complement I'd say, just come in when he has to," Fittler predicted.<\/p>\n

\ufeffScroll below for Nine's expert tipsters predictions for the Las Vegas leg of round one!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Andrew Johns: Sea Eagles, Broncos<\/p>\n

Brad Fittler: \ufeffSea Eagles, Broncos<\/p>\n

Darren Lockyer: Sea Eagles, Broncos<\/p>\n

Allana Ferguson: Rabbitohs, Roosters\ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeffMat Thompson: Sea Eagles, Broncos<\/p>\n

Peter Psaltis: Rabbitohs, Broncos<\/p>\n

The Mole: Rabbitohs, Broncos\ufeff<\/p>\n

Ben Glover: Sea Eagles, Broncos\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrew Johns was visibly stunned to find out that the Rabbitohs were the bookmakers' favourites to win the NRL season-opener, with the Immortal claiming Manly […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":371989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371987"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=371987"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":371991,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371987\/revisions\/371991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/371989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=371987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=371987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=371987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}