NRL Round 3

With Lachlan Ilias looking more comfortable in the No.7 and big game players Latrell Mitchell and Cameron Murray stepping up when their team needed them, the Bunnies broke their drought in style last Friday.

The Panthers, meanwhile, are 3-0 and doing it all without superstar halfback Nathan Cleary, who is expected to be back on deck this weekend at a packed BlueBet Stadium.

And now former Storm haflback Cooper Cronk has pinpointed a moment in Parramatta’s win over Melbourne on the weekend that proves that spirit is still there.

The moment in question was Ray Stone’s match-winning try, which came at a cost for the utility, who tore his ACL in the process of chasing after the Mitchell Moses field goal.

“He scored two tries in ten minutes, obviously the match sealer too and he is one tough dude,” Cronk said of Stone.

With rookie halfback Lachlan Ilias finding his feet and gun No.1 Latrell Mitchell digging deep into his bag of tricks the Rabbitohs turned a 12-6 half-time lead into a comprehensive win.

With so much at stake the Rabbitohs charged out of the blocks with skipper Cameron Murray setting the tone with a try in the ninth minute.

The Roosters then invited their arch-rivals to double the lead with an error from a tap restart and Alex Johnston obliged with the 138th try of his career.