South Sydney Rabbitohs

After giving the Panthers a run for their money in round 13 the Bulldogs stunned the Eels in round 14 and beat the Tigers the following week before going toe to toe with the Sharks in atrocious conditions at CommBank Stadium in a creditable 12-point loss.

The Rabbitohs sit seventh after overcoming the loss of a number of key players to down Newcastle, but with games against the Storm, Sharks, Eels, Panthers and Cowboys to come, they can't afford any slip-ups against lower ranked opponents.

In the final nine rounds the Knights face only two sides currently inside the top eight, so there's good reason for optimism on the back of Friday's drubbing of the Titans.

One of those sides inside the eight is Souths, who head to Newcastle full of confidence after Mitchell's impressive return in the win over the Eels.

Both sides are missing key men on Origin duty but there's enough quality on show to suggest this will be a cracking contest in front of a big crowd in Knights homeland.

The Eels lead the Rabbitohs by four competition points in sixth spot and if results go their way they could be in the top four by the end of the round. 

South Sydney are producing a very inconsistent season and must find some form if they're going to make a dent in this year's competition after going down to the Dragons by 20 points in round 15. 

Latrell Mitchell's return will help but overall Jason Demetriou's side can't rely on the fullback's comeback from a long-term hamstring injury to spark a resurgence. 

In his second season at the Dragons after 260 games at Brisbane and eight in Newcastle, the 32-year-old got through a team-high 37 tackles and made 38 running metres in his milestone match.

The win was the Dragons' seventh of the season and carries them into the top eight for the time being at least.

The signs were bad for the Rabbitohs early when Lachlan Ilias spilled the kick-off and they continued to make errors through the opening 15 minutes as the Dragons took control.

Fittingly, the star winger, who is proud of his Saibai Island heritage, achieved the feat in Indigenous Round and he later joked that he wouldn't take off his jersey for a week but at just 27 years of age Johnston has more records within reach.

With 147 tries in 178 appearances for Souths, Johnston has the best strike rate of any player since former Dragons winger Nathan Blacklock, who scored 121 tries in 142 matches between 1995 and 2004.

Souths have already lost more games than they did all season in 2021 and their devastating left-side attack seems to have deserted them.

In contrast the Tigers have gradually found their feet and the inclusion of Brent Naden gives them another strike weapon out wide.

When the sides met in round seven it was the Tigers coming away with an upset 23-22 victory on the back of a late Luke Brooks field goal so Michael Maguire's men will have plenty of belief heading into Saturday's rematch.

The Raiders picked up where they left off in last week's big win over Cronulla to piled on four answered tries in the first half as the Bunnies struggled with their completion rate in a trend during games lost this year.

Tries to Papalii, Nick Cotric, Hudson Young and Sebastian Kris in the opening 40 minutes set up a 20-0 lead before both side's exchanged tries early in the second half.

A penalty goal with a quarter of the game left put the Raiders up by 20 before a blistering try to Xavier Savage sealed victory. 

Their last opponents in Dubbo, eventual premiers Penrith, put them to the sword with a 56-12 thrashing.

Not many would've predicted both those sides would be lining up a few months later in the big dance, but the Rabbitohs proved last year that a result like that can be a catalyst for change. 

This week's opponents, the Raiders, are on a roll after upsetting the Sharks in Magic Round in dominant fashion.

Ricky Stuart's side have strung two wins together and look like a team to have turned a corner after a tough start to the year.

Rabbitohs five-eighth Cody Walker was on fire early, putting aside some criticism earlier in the week around his own personal form to deliver three first half tries as the 2021 grand finalists racked up a 26-0 lead. 

However, their healthy advantage was narrowed in the second half as the Warriors got into a groove and dominated field position as the Rabbitohs began to lose control of the match.

After missing the round one encounter between both clubs in the season opener, Reynolds made up for lost time against the side he played 231 games for as a Rabbitohs junior across a decade at Redfern.

The former Rabbitohs captain looked in control from the early stages of the Broncos' victory, racking up 16 of the side's 32 points in a happy homecoming in front of his old faithful. 

It was an overall unhappy night for the home side, who couldn't really get out of second gear despite a double to Rabbitohs winger Taane Milne.