Booze ban no hardship for Souths stars

Co-captain Michael Crocker has played down the importance of South Sydney’s booze ban as the club steps up preparations in their quest for a first premiership in 41 years.

Souths coach Michael Maguire showed his ruthless streak by axing star hooker Issac Luke for Sunday’s 38-6 win over Parramatta after he broke a team curfew by attending a family member’s bucks party.

Luke was also involved in an altercation with teammate Scott Geddes last week at training and subsequently found himself playing NSW Cup for North Sydney last weekend.

Rabbitohs players have now vowed to steer clear of alcohol until the conclusion of their season, but Crocker said most clubs would be adopting a similar policy.

“I think pretty much every team does that sort of thing at the end of the year,” Crocker said on Monday.

“You really want to make sure you’re ticking all your boxes preparation-wise and getting your best performances out of the field.

“It’s a small sacrifice to make. I am off the ice cream too – and that’s probably harder.”

After losing successive matches to Manly and Cronulla, Souths got back on track against the hapless Eels at ANZ Stadium.

Victory over Newcastle on Friday will secure a top-four finish.

Wayne Bennett’s men have little to play for, but Knights sides have a knack of lifting for the club’s annual old boys day, which sees former players do a lap of honour ahead of the final home game of the season.

They have lost just two of their Hunter Stadium season finales since 2002 and ended Souths finals hopes 12 months ago with a 40-24 win.

Defeat for Souths and a win for North Queensland over Cronulla on Sunday could see the Rabbitohs drop down to fifth.

Although they cannot finish any lower, and are guaranteed a home final, they would lose the second-chance option available to sides who occupy the top four places.

And Crocker, who’s played in five grand finals with Sydney Roosters and Melbourne, stressed the importance of keeping the winning run going.

“If we can continue this weekend what we did on Sunday, it’s definitely going to help us,” Crocker said.

“We haven’t really talked about where we want to finish position-wise, but being in the top four definitely helps.

“We haven’t looked too much at Newcastle yet, we will focus more this week, but we don’t need to be told it will be tough.

“Newcastle are always very hard to play at home.”

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