By Christian Nicolussi
Green Day’s Wake Me Up When September Ends blasted through the speakers at Accor Stadium at full-time.
It was a fitting song for a South Sydney side that showed plenty of fight against Melbourne in their 28-16 loss, but also produced some forgettable passages of play. September is finals time in the NRL and South Sydney won’t be there – again.
This game would have been considered a potential grand final preview when the 2024 season draw came out.
Instead, it was the competition leaders up against a proud club missing too many superstars, and a lot of wins.
A crowd of 8973 was posted, but the majority of them must have been hidden in the corporate areas.
While Souths will miss finals football for a second straight year, the immediate question will be whether Latrell Mitchell returns from a foot injury for the final few rounds.
Storm prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona celebrates a try against South Sydney.Credit: Getty
If Souths are smart, they give their biggest star the rest of the year off and have him fresh when Wayne Bennett takes the reins.
In a beaten side, Cameron Murray gave his all and finished with a deserved try.
Fletcher Myers bagged a double in his second NRL game, including an 85m intercept try that saw him outrun Ryan Papenhuyzen.
Fullback Jye Gray required painkillers at half-time, while prop Tom Burgess did well just to stay awake after his partner, Tahlia, gave birth to their third child, a son, at 4pm on game day.
Richie Kennar takes a hit up for South Sydney.Credit: Getty
The score could have been anything when the Storm led 26-4 early in the second half when Papenhuyzen burst downfield and put Grant Anderson over.
They hung in, but Souths are not a club that simply hangs in.
“Every time we put a Souths jersey on, we represent something bigger than ourselves, and we want to represent that never-say-die attitude,” Murray said.
“We want to fight to the end. That’s what we stand for.
“Regardless of finals contention, players [being] in or out, whoever is there needs to step up and do their job, and uphold the values we want to stand for.”
While caretaker coach Ben Hornby tries to keep spirits high at South Sydney, Craig Bellamy has some work to do at Melbourne.
Yes, the Storm are on top of the ladder, but they were well off their best against Souths, and lost against St George Illawarra, at home, five days earlier.
“If we do that next week [against Penrith], the bloke up in the scoreboard will be busy on one side – and it won’t be our side,” Bellamy said.
South Sydney looked the better team in the early exchanges and had all the field position.
Melbourne weren’t great in the second half, but they march on. Souths, on the other hand, need to put more Green Day on their playlist.
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