The South Sydney Rabbitohs drew up a beauty in Round 24, using a couple of reliable cues in the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs defence to get David Fifita over the line.

Connor Tracey is at A on an overloaded shortside, which isn’t uncommon for him. He will often plug that spot to thicken up the shortside. However, given his time again, I’d imagine he would flip somebody else, or himself, to the longside with only four Bunnies and a narrow passage in front of him.

Just as reliable is Viliame Kikau’s work from four-man. There isn’t a better pressure defender in the game than Kikau. He consistently terrorises halves by closing their time and space with the ball. But everything comes at a cost, and on this occassion, that cost is a big gap for Cody Walker to kick through.

Stephen Crichton is honouring the lead he thinks Fifita will run on his inside shoulder. But as Walker puts his boot to the ball, Fifita straightens up and runs to where he anticipates the ball will roll.

Well-planned and perfectly executed.

The Big Men: With 583 games between them, we can sometimes forget just how impressive Jason Taumalolo and Junior Paulo are as athletes.

Both provided reminders when going head-to-head on Saturday night.

Todd Payten has done a great job of managing Taumalolo’s minutes to ensure he’s effective on both sides of the ball. Payten had mentioned in the past that in order for Taumalolo to bust out his destructive runs and carry the Cowboys up the field, he’s taken shortcuts in defence.

Not here…

Taumalolo has traveled down the shortside to where he’s needed. It’s an unfamiliar position, but he’s there out of desperation. Still, he’s able to hold his nerve, stay within the Cowboys shortside process, and absolutely crunch Mitchell Moses¹.

Later in the match, Paulo displayed another act with the ball that simply doesn’t make sense for somebody in his position, and his size.

This pass…

Paulo is already one of the best ball-playing props I’ve ever seen. Had he been playing in his prime today, he’d be among the best middles in the game. Despite playing out a relatively down year in an often-beaten side, he’s still able to produce the unthinkable.

Tigers Last Plays: It’s a problem…

Too often the Tigers were caught out on the 5th tackle as though the referee wasn’t calling it out or raising his hand. Jarome Luai stepped inside with no options before shoveling a pass off inside 10. Later, he took on a shortside with nothing on.

Doueihi carting the ball up twice on the fourth tackle didn’t help Luai at times. If the halfback is playing the ball, the defence knows exactly who to pressure.

Latu Fainu is able to return following his suspension in Round 25. He is still, for me, the future of the club in the halves. He plays with tempo, can run the ball himself and engages the line well. It’s time for Benji Marshall and the Tigers to start making strides towards 2027, and if that is Fainu in the #7 jersey, Doueihi might be better served at lock this week against the Sydney Roosters.

Adam Doueihi might not be on board with it just yet, but he provided a prime example of why lock might be his best position for the Wests Tigers in 2027.

He’s thrown a lovely pass to Alex Seyfarth for Samuela Fainu to score, but on refelection, it’s one he could be throwing a lot more as a ball-playing lock with the rest of the Tigers spine able to hold both sides.

Here, with Doueihi in the halves, they’ve stacked one side with all three spine players. It should be easy for the defence to set their numbers when it looks like this. While the Tigers have still managed to score and get the outcome they want, there is improvement in the process.

Just imagine that’s Doueihi at lock, Luai on the second layer, Jahream Bula sweeping at fullback with the other half holding the shortside², taking attention of the fullback while setting his numbers. It would allow the Tigers to take any cue on the shortside, too.

Doueihi is a strong enough ball-carrier to be a threat in the middle. When he’s ball-playing and using his half to put the four-man in two minds as he did here (note how Dylan Egan sways out, ever so slightly, in anticipation of the ball going to Luai), he can cause havoc in the middle and space on the edge.

He’s been there and done if before for a brief spell, but now might be a good time to put it to the test for the future with three games to play and no chance of finals football in the equation.