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Last season’s whipping boys, Bulldogs, Dragons, and Wests Tigers have all recorded wins in the 1^st three rounds leaving a couple of surprises at the bottom.

The biggest being the Rabbitohs who have conceded 112 points in three matches (averaging 37 points) easily the worse defence in the competition.

The Bunnies are in disarray. Last week’s answer to drop young halfback Lachlan Ilias in favour of a rookie against the seasoned Roosters defies logic.

The coach has painted himself in a corner because what is his next option? Cody Walker, Damien Cook?

The coach is under pressure, and he is easier to replace than the spine players.

When I look at the Rabbitohs, yes, they have lost three on the trot, but it was against the heavyweight teams of the competition. What it does show is this team cannot compete against the frontrunners. This has been ongoing since the last half of the 2023 season.

In my opinion, the Rabbitohs look underdone. Soft, like butter. For all their Centre of Excellence talk, they don’t look like they put the hard yards in over summer.

And that is the real problem. Since Coaches Maguire and Bennett have moved on, there seems to be a pandering to the core players (much like the Wests Tigers).

Last year, assistant coach Sam Burgess called out inconsistencies with how certain players were treated and he was moved on. This preferential treatment even appears to permeate upwards as nobody wants to dare pull someone like Latrell or Cody into line.

Latrell Mitchell was very vocal about his expectations of a suspension before the player even attended the judiciary. No employee of the NRL including staff, coaches and players is allowed to do this.

When Latrell decided to drop multiple F-Bombs during a media interview. NRL CEO Andrew Abdo’s response was to shrug his shoulders and say, “we all make mistakes”. Hmmm…

The Rabbitohs face the resurgent Bulldogs on Easter Friday. They will be expected to win. I can’t wait to see the team sheet this afternoon.