The South Sydney Rabbitohs survived a huge scare to edge out the New Zealand Warriors 32-30 in a dramatic Magic Round encounter at Suncorp Stadium.
Souths are priced at 20/1 to win the NRL grand final this season and picked up what could turn out to be a crucial two points against the Warriors.
Walker the star
Handed the captaincy in the absence of the injured Cameron Murray, Cody Walker was the star of the show for the Bunnies as they raced in to a 26-6 lead at half-time.
However the Warriors came fighting back after the break and the Rabbitohs were lucky to avoid what could have been a humiliating defeat.
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"It got nervy for sure," Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou said after the win. "I thought we had enough points in the bank to hold on and I'm pretty happy the boys got through.
"We've been busted the last few weeks with flu running through the place and I knew fatigue was going to be an issue late on."
Mixed emotions for Brown
Warriors coach Nathan Brown said there were positives to take from the way his side fought back in the second half. However it was the poor first half that will be picked through in the review.
"We can look at it two ways, the comeback and nearly getting there, or we can focus on the first half," Brown said. "As their coach we've got to focus on the first half. That's certainly not where we want to be as a football club.
"We certainly don't want to be a team that doesn't start games well and ends up a fair way behind on the scoreboard and then has a great fight back."
