{"id":378054,"date":"2024-03-21T02:07:31","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T03:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=378054"},"modified":"2024-03-21T04:03:14","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T04:03:14","slug":"forgotten-turmoil-as-souths-absorb-a-lot-of-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=378054","title":{"rendered":"Forgotten turmoil as Souths absorb 'a lot of pressure'"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rabbitohs<\/a> are getting all the headlines ahead of their traditional rivalry clash against the Roosters<\/a> on Friday night and that's buried some significant churn in Trent Robinson's team following their round two loss to Manly.<\/p>\n

Souths coach Jason Demetriou was forced to fend off a rabid media pack on Thursday after news broke that Damien Cook had been benched<\/a> \ufeffto follow the dumping of halfback Lachlan Ilias<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cook's place has been taken in the side by Siliva Havili, while 25-year-old No.7 Dean \ufeffHawkins will play his seventh NRL<\/a> match after being promoted to take Ilias' jersey.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Sabalenka shares new detail on 'unthinkable tragedy'<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Huge coup for Dogs as Ugle-Hagan shuns rivals<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Matildas cop powerhouse teams in Olympics draw<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Those changes, as well as Latrell Mitchell's foul-mouthed interview on Triple M<\/a> last week\ufeff, have understandably stolen the headlines, leaving the Roosters to prepare for the match in peace despite several big changes of their own.<\/p>\n

\"Roosters<\/p>\n

After being concussed against Manly, Luke Keary has been sidelined and replaced by Sandon Smith, while highly touted young gun Siua Wong has been dropped \ufefffrom first grade, leaving Nat Butcher to start in the second row and Angus Crichton to make his first NRL appearance of 2024 off the bench.<\/p>\n

Trent Robinson would usually be under the spotlight after making those tweaks for such an important rivalry clash but Wong's axing in particular has rarely raised a ripple.<\/p>\n

The Tricolours' churn hasn't escaped the attention of Andrew Johns and Brad Fittler who are both tipping a close contest, expecting the under-siege Rabbitohs \ufeffto put up a fight, while highlighting the significant changes made by both sides.<\/p>\n

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

\"'Show<\/p>\n

Ultimately though, it was the spotlight on Souths that swayed the two greats.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"Bunny under pressure," Fittler said on Wide World of Sports Freddy and The Eighth's Tips<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

"Bunny under a lot of pressure," Johns responded.<\/p>\n

Scroll below for the current leaderboard and Round 3 tips by all Nine's expert tipsters!\ufeff<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Nine's<\/p>\n

Andrew Johns:<\/strong> Panthers, Warriors, Roosters, Titans, Cowboys, Sharks, Sea Eagles, Knight\ufeffs<\/p>\n

Brad Fittler:<\/strong> Panthers, Warriors, Roosters, Titans, Cowboys, Sharks, Sea Eagles, Knights\ufeff<\/p>\n

Paul Gallen:<\/strong> Panthers, Warriors, Roosters, Bulldogs, Cowboys, Sharks, Eels, Storm\ufeff<\/p>\n

Johnathan Thurston:<\/strong> Panthers, Warriors, Roosters, Titans, Cowboys, Sharks, Sea Eagles, Knights\ufeff<\/p>\n

Peter Psaltis:<\/strong> Panthers, Warriors, Roosters, Bulldogs, Cowboys, Sharks, Sea Eagles, Storm\ufeff<\/p>\n

Danika Mason:<\/strong> Panthers, Warriors, Roosters, Titans, Cowboys, Sharks, Sea Eagles, Storm\ufeff<\/p>\n

Allana Ferguson: <\/strong>Panthers, Warriors, Roosters, Bulldogs, Cowboys, Sharks, Sea Eagles, Storm\ufeff<\/p>\n

Billy Slater:<\/strong> Broncos, Warriors, Rabbitohs, Titans, Cowboys, Sharks, Sea Eagles, Storm<\/p>\n

Wally Lewis: <\/strong>Panthers, Warriors, Roosters, Bulldogs, Cowboys, Sharks, Eels, Storm\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"Fittler<\/p>\n

The Mole:<\/strong> Panthers, Warriors, Roosters, Bulldogs, Cowboys, Sharks, Eels, Storm<\/p>\n

Michael Chammas:<\/strong> Panthers, Warriors, Roosters, Bulldogs, Dragons, Tigers, Sea Eagles, Storm\ufeff<\/p>\n

Darren Lockyer: <\/strong>Broncos, Warriors, Roosters, Bulldogs, Dragons, Sharks, Eels, Knights\ufeff<\/p>\n

Mat Thompson: <\/strong>Panthers, Warriors, Souths, Bulldogs, Dragons, Sharks, Sea Eagles, Knights\ufeff<\/p>\n

Ben Glover:<\/strong> Panthers, Warriors, Roosters, Bulldogs, Cowboys, Sharks, Sea Eagles, Knights\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Rabbitohs are getting all the headlines ahead of their traditional rivalry clash against the Roosters on Friday night and that's buried some significant churn […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":378058,"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\/378054"}],"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=378054"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":378066,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378054\/revisions\/378066"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/378058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=378054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=378054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=378054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}