The best thing to happen to South Sydney on Sunday took place in the Townsville grandstands where North Queensland supporters raised more than $50,000 for Jai Arrow.
Souths were rocked during the week when Arrow announced he had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease and would be forced into immediate retirement.
The Cowboys responded by organising a raffle with the money raised donated to Souths Cares, the Bunnies’ not-for-profit charity arm, which will use the funds in the fight against MND and to support Arrow’s family.
Only the players and coach Wayne Bennett will know if Arrow’s shock announcement left them feeling mentally drained before the 30-18 loss to the Cowboys.
Souths were always going to be up against it without skipper Cameron Murray (Origin duty) and Latrell Mitchell (back injury) and Campbell Graham (calf).
Bennett sprung a selection surprise when Matt Dufty started the game at fullback, with Jye Gray relegated to the bench. Gray did not feature as the Cowboys kicked out to a decent lead with 10 minutes remaining.
Dufty, playing in his 100th NRL game, repaid the faith, running for more than 300m for a second time this season. Gray has been one of Souths’ best in 2026, so it will be interesting to see how Bennett can utilise both men in the second half of the season.
Another highlight for the Rabbits was Talanoa Penitani, who bagged a try-scoring double on the right wing in his NRL debut.
The 21-year-old, whose older sister Tiana is a constant in the NSW Origin and Australia teams, caught a lovely cut-out pass from Dufty to score in the first half, then charged on to an Ashton Ward floater in the second half and burst through some flimsy defence from Liam Sutton and Robert Derby. Sadly, Penitani appeared to injure his left hamstring in the final minute.
Fellow winger Alex Johnston bombed a couple of tries in the second half when he bounced the ball over the line, and will be another player who will no doubt use the week off to overcome an ongoing right knee injury. The man known as “AJ″ never misses a half chance. At least he nailed a third opportunity late in the game.
Souths looked their most dangerous midway through the first half when Cody Walker was heavily involved, while Bennett would have liked their defensive resolve early in the second half, which included a try-saving tackle by Tallis Duncan on Sam McIntyre.
The oldest and proudest club in the game is benefiting from a decent start to the year in terms of ladder position, but Manly, Brisbane and Penrith all await in the next month.
The Cowboys, on the other hand, continued their winning ways and moved into fifth on the ladder.
Coach Todd Payten remains without a deal beyond this year, but club officials will find it difficult not to offer him a contract extension given they have won of eight of their past 10 games.
There is a good chance Payten’s new deal will be announced as early as this week.
St George Illawarra-bound Scott Drinkwater is a livewire in attack, while right centre Tom Chester runs without fear and is one of the best players to watch in 2026. Drinkwater and Chester combined for a try before half-time.
Former Bulldogs hooker Reed Mahoney also came up with a first-half four-pointer, kicked a 40/20 and did his best to niggle a few Souths players, including Cody Walker.
Jake Clifford is also doing an excellent job standing up at halfback without Tom Dearden, with his two-point field-goal on the half-time break one of the sweetest strikes you will see.
