South Sydney hooker Damien Cook feels there’s plenty of upside in the Rabbitohs spine as they prepare for a danger game against Wests Tigers on Thursday night.
Souths fell just short against Melbourne last round, which ended their run of five wins and put a large dent in their top-four chances, while the Tigers shocked Manly with a late surge to give a flicker of hope to their NRL finals aspirations.
With the ninth-placed Wests Tigers taking an all-or-nothing approach, Cook said his team were on high alert for the Bankwest Stadium clash.
Souths are set to boost their strike-power with the return of injured centre Dane Gagai, who scored a hat-trick of tries in their 18-10 round nine victory over the Tigers.
“It is a dangerous time, as at the moment they’re playing a bit of ad-lib footy and they’re not scared to throw the ball around,” Cook said on Monday.
“Manly looked like they were in full control and they just slacked off a little bit in the last 15 minutes and the Tigers came over the top so we need to make sure we’re on our game.”
The Rabbitohs started strongly and led 14-10 at halftime, with Cook saying they beat themselves with poor handling proving costly.
He felt their push towards the finals was still on track, provided they cut down the error count.
Souths are still adjusting to life without superstar fullback Latrell Mitchell, who is out for the season with a ruptured hamstring, with youngster Corey Allan stepping in at just his fourth game of the season and first at the back.
“It was Corey’s first game and I thought he did a really great job,” Cook said.
“Those boys in the squad, they haven’t played a lot of footy so to get his timing right … I thought that was a big game for his confidence.”
Allan said on Monday he wasn’t guaranteed the role ahead of Alex Johnston but he was just happy to be in the line-up.
“They were big shoes to fill but I felt pretty good under the ball – I need to start using a bit more my running game,” Allan said.
While he’s in the good books of Wayne Bennett, the veteran coach has nicknamed the 22-year-old the “social loafer”.
“I’m the social loafer because I like to do just enough when it comes to training, just enough to get by,” Allan said.
“I wish they meant there were no extras for me, but I always seem to be one who gets the extras at the end.”
