Rabbit stew: South Sydney roast Roosters in record rout

The club's veteran No.9, who is poised to announce a contract extension at the club, was escorted off the field after only three minutes after an accidental head clash with Campbell Graham. He failed his head injury assessment, his second concussion in the space of a month.

And the Roosters' shock thumping has put them on a collision course with minor premiers Penrith if the Eels can beat the Tigers, farewelling Benji Marshall and Chris Lawrence, at Bankwest Stadium on Saturday night.

If the Tigers win, the Roosters will travel to take on the Storm in Brisbane.

Friend's misfortune could barely detract from a scintillating Rabbitohs and Cody Walker's five-star performance as Bennett's architect-in-chief reignited a premiership race most suspected was limited to minor premiers Penrith, Melbourne and the Roosters.

Having heard Newcastle had left the door ajar to host their sudden-death final with a humiliating loss to the Titans a couple of hours earlier, South Sydney walked straight through it on the back of one of the most mesmerising performances in recent memory.

The Rabbitohs will now host the Knights at the Olympic venue next Saturday night.

Robinson, who opted to rest Brett Morris, Joseph Manu, Isaac Liu and Lindsay Collins, will have been jolted by arguably the worst performance of his reign – and on the eve of the finals.

The master coach gave his players an extended break at the start of the week and will now have to work a minor miracle to get them back on track and solve their No.9 conundrum.

Friend, who was inching closer to a first State of Origin jumper, will be assessed in coming days with the tricolours already without grand final starter Sam Verrills and Victor Radley (both ACL tears).

Lachlan Lam returned from a syndesmosis injury to deputise for Friend against the Rabbitohs, while Robinson also has Freddy Lussick waiting in the wings.

Bennett, despite missing Latrell Mitchell, has no such problems.

Eight days ago his side was so awful they sent the wooden spoon to Brisbane. This week they were so good they blew the NRL benchmark and title favourites off the park before half-time and stuck the knife in after the break.

His team had form. They beat the Roosters in the corresponding match a week before the finals last year, but certainly not in the same manner a little over 12 months later.

Josh Morris scored the first try for the Roosters inside four minutes, only moments after Friend had left the field. The nuggety No.9's teammates hope they could as easily forget the rest of the opening period.

With Walker in imperious form, South Sydney were rampant in the opening stanza. And it could have been more if bunker boffin Ashley Klein hadn't denied Graham what looked a legitimate try as he barged over the top of Daniel Tupou.

Graham did find the scoresheet eventually, latching onto a spectacular infield kick from Mitchell's replacement, Corey Allan, who burst down the touchline and delicately dinked the ball over James Tedesco.

Before that Walker, who finished with two tries, sliced through and Alex Johnston finished with a club record-equalling five to send the majority of a healthy COVID-restricted crowd into raptures with the 26-4 scoreline at the break.

By full-time, Bennett cracked a rare smile and even hauled his blue-chip No.9 Damien Cook from the field.

Robinson needs to find a No.9 of his own, and his team's mojo fast.

SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS 60 (Alex Johnston 5, Cody Walker 2, Campbell Graham, Corey Allan, Cameron Murray tries; Adam Reynolds 10 goals) defeated SYDNEY ROOSTERS 8 (Josh Morris, Daniel Tupou tries) at ANZ Stadium. Referee: Gerard Sutton. Crowd: 7958.