South Sydney Rabbitohs

Melbourne's stunning round one record looked in danger as they coped with the absences of Cam Munster and Harry Grant plus injuries to Brandon Smith, George Jennings and Christian Welch, but their class eventually shone through.

The Rabbitohs were lucklustre in their opening loss of the season but it's hardly panic stations given the absence of Latrell Mitchell and game-eve injury to his stand-in Blake Taaffe. 

Expect each side to be better this week as the Storm hunt a 2-0 start to the year and the Bunnies look to open their 2022 account.

The 2021 grand finalists went down 11-4 in Brisbane last Friday night and will be aiming to hose down talk about the impact of former captain and playmaker Adam Reynolds departure for the Broncos by overcoming the Storm at AAMI Park.

The Rabbitohs will be boosted by the return of Mitchell from a six-match suspension for a tackle that left his former Sydney Roosters team-mate Joey Manu with a fractured cheekbone and he is expected to provide added attacking spark.

Taking over the captaincy in Adam Reynolds' absence, Capewell capped a superb game with the booming field goal from 25 metres out with four minutes to play.

After having a try to Selwyn Cobbo in the 14th minute denied by a desperate cover tackle from Jaxson Paulo, the Broncos finally broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute when Albert Kelly intercepted a Cody Walker pass and sprinted 85 metres to score.

Not only is Reynolds out, but also forward Kobe Hetherington, five-eighth Tyson Gamble and hooker Corey Paix.

The match would have been the first for Reynolds in Broncos colours as he was rested from the pre-season trials while coach Kevin Walters tried to determine who would partner him in the halves.

In the end it didn't matter and another new recruit, Billy Walters, will play alongside Albert Kelly against the new Rabbitohs pairing of Cody Walker and rookie halfback Lachlan Ilias.

The 25-year-old Shaquai Mitchell story is far from over – with the comeback story about to take another enormous step after a barnstorming All Stars performance.

To be picked for the Indigenous All Stars for this year’s traditional clash against the Maori All Stars was never in Shaquai’s wildest dreams. It was a proud moment to showcase his culture on the big stage.

Shaquai Mitchell has transformed his body to the standard of today's free-flowing and fast pace NRL style, after once weighing in at 167kg as he battled depression and anxiety issues.

Mitchell’s six-game ban for a high tackle on former teammate Joey Manu saw him miss playing in his third grand final, but his attitude and leadership since that incident has the potential to drive the Rabbitohs to go one better in 2022.

Mitchell was in arguably the form of his career when his season was cut short by the tackle on Manu and he won’t feature in the NRL again until Round 3 of 2022 against the same opposition.

Shaquai Mitchell, 25, is now tipping the scales at below 120kgs just a few years removed from reportedly ballooning to 167kgs as he fought depression and anxiety.

Shaquai and Latrell were SG Ball teammates at the Roosters in 2014 when they won that competition together.

Milford was handed a one-season lifeline by Souths after the Broncos opted not to renew his $1 million-per-year contract, but was arrested in late September following an incident in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane.

Milford is accused of three counts of assault occasioning bodily harm after allegedly assaulting three bystanders - a man and two women - who intervened in an argument between Milford and his wife Miri. He also allegedly threw a garbage bin at a car, leading to a charge of wilful damage involving a vehicle.

Crowe and Packer both reduced their stakes to 25 per cent each, while the South Sydney members own the remaining quarter.

Cannon-Brookes is worth $37 billion after he founded Atlassian, one of the largest computer software companies in the world.

He became the first Australian in history to own a minority stake of an NBA team when he invested in the Utah Jazz in 2019.

The old adage about a team needing to lose a grand final to win one may be a myth, but there has rarely been a case of third time lucky for a side beaten in back-to-back premiership deciders. 

“We finally did it,” Nathan declared. “We’ve climbed Everest.”

The Panthers had to do it the hard way and their 14-12 triumph over South Sydney was built on the lessons they learned from last year’s grand final loss to Melbourne.