Greg Inglis was silenced early in his 200th NRL match, but finished with a roar as an elusive premiership beckons for the South Sydney superstar.

Although Inglis would feel as though he won two grand final rings with the Melbourne Storm, the reality is their 2007 and 2009 titles aren’t recognised because the Storm were found to have systematically rorted the salary cap.

But after bagging a memorable double in the 32-22 defeat of the Roosters on Friday night, Inglis is now within 80 minutes of the most special moment of his glittering career.

Arriving at Redfern in 2011 as the great hope of a proud club starved of success, Inglis has quickly evolved into a Rabbitohs legend.

At the Storm he was part of the ‘big four’, alongside Smith, Slater and Cronk.

But South Sydney – with its proud indigenous culture – is Inglis’ team.

Moving into the No.1 jersey soon after his arrival at Souths, Inglis has gone to another level as a player who had already achieved so much, including an almost unrivalled State of Origin record for Queensland.

However, Friday night’s preliminary final against the Roosters didn’t start well for one of the game’s genuine big-game players.

In the fifth minute he was stood up by Mitchell Pearce’s left-foot step, for the Roosters to lead 6-0.

Then three minutes later, ageing Roosters veteran Anthony Minichiello leapt high above him to come down with a bomb and put the tri-colours up 12-0.

Inglis, nursing a hip injury, was outclassed, but not beaten.

The 27-year-old bounced back with two second-half tries to end a grand final drought for South Sydney dating back to 1971 – 16 years before he was even born.

Inglis’ Clive Churchill medal with Melbourne in 2007 was well deserved. But history shows it was a hollow achievement.

But with the Rabbitohs one game away from history, Inglis is warming towards the crowning performance of his career.