The Rabbitohs won the last of their 20 premierships 42 years ago, and on the evidence of their Good Friday 17-12 victory over Canterbury before a record 52,000 crowd, they will be in the running for this year’s title.
Scrum-half Adam Reynolds put forward another compelling case for NSW Origin selection after masterminding the win over the Bulldogs.
Reynolds had the ball on a string with his pin-point kick for Nathan Merritt’s second half match-winner, capping a brilliant display at Sydney’s Olympic stadium.
The try was Merritt’s league-best seventh of the season and moved the winger to 144 career tries and equal tenth for most tries in the history of the NRL.
Defending champions Melbourne had a tussle before remaining unbeaten with a 32-26 win over the Broncos before 40,000 fans in Brisbane.
Trailing 20-6 at halftime, Brisbane fought back to lead 22-20 before Test fullback Billy Slater grabbed three tries to seal Melbourne’s 13th straight win to remain unbeaten since last July.
Manly Sea Eagles are third after slamming a poor Wests Tigers 26-0 in Gosford.
The Sea Eagles overcame a dreadful opening to run out five tries to nil winners – winger David Williams finishing with a double.
Gold Coast maintained their strong start to the season as Penrith’s inability to find the finishing touch came back to haunt them in a 28-10 loss to the fourth-placed Titans at Penrith.
Youngster Tyrone Roberts scored a superb try to help the fifth-placed Knights to a come-from-behind 28-12 win over Canberra in Newcastle on Sunday.
St George Illawarra, without a win from the opening three games, upset sixth-placed Cronulla 25-12.
On Monday, the New Zealand Warriors won their first NRL game in more than a year with a 20-18 defeat of the North Queensland Cowboys, and Syndey Roosters thrashed the Paramata Eels, inflicting inflicting a record 50-0 defeat at Allianz Stadium.