A Century In The Making - Roosters VS Rabbitohs

Both the Roosters and Rabbitohs will be out to get each other in this Friday night blockbuster

It’s a script you could hardly have written; the 2013 NRL season kicked off with a blockbuster between the new look Roosters and the redemption seeking Rabbitohs. It was Burgess v Sonny-Bill, and now it’s Burgess, Burgess, Burgess and Burgess v Sonny-Bill - talk about an unfair fight! 

In Round 26 the game’s two oldest rivals will battle it out for the minor premiership, adding another chapter to the famous ‘Book of Feuds’ South Sydney part-owner Russell Crowe created upon purchasing the club. The Roosters last minor premiership was in 2004, while Rabbitohs fans have to search back to 1989 for a time when they last lifted the J.J.Giltinan Shield. 

It is approximately 105 years and one week since South Sydney met Eastern Suburbs in the first ever rugby league grand final in Australia, with the Rabbitohs running out victors 14-12 in front of approximately 4,000 spectators at the Royal Agricultural Society Showground (now redeveloped as the Entertainment Quarter and Fox Studios) at Moore Park - score one to the Rabbitohs.

It took another two years for the Roosters to gain revenge, that coming in Round 12 of 1910, but skip forward 92 years to 2002, where the Rabbitohs were playing their first game since re-admittance to the NRL. A 40-6 thrashing at the hands of the Tricolours ensued, a loss stuck in the middle of a 13 game stretch where ‘the pride of the league’ couldn’t get one over their local rivals.

100 plus years of history precedes what is without a doubt the game of the year, but that loss in 2002 still burns in the memories of modern Souths fans. The minor premiership is but a sideshow when these two sides meet, particularly since only three minor premiers have gone on to win the grand final in the past 10 seasons. 

An opening round win to the Rabbitohs kicked off what was supposed to be their year of dominance, but as we enter the final week of the season some six months later, the Roosters are here to spoil the party. No matter which side of the fence you’re on, there is one belter of a game ahead on Friday night.

Sellout Anticipated When SBW Runs On With The Roosters

HE HAS been cast as a mercenary and a villain by many, but there cannot be any doubting his pulling power. Sonny Bill Williams, who was accused of selling out on the Bulldogs, may now sell out Allianz Stadium, giving the NRL a record start to this year's season.

NRL and Sydney Roosters officials are hopeful the club's round-one season opener on March 7 against South Sydney, Williams's first match for his new team, will be sold out.

The hype around Williams's debut already had ticket sales tracking well, but the performances of the two sides in their final trials over the weekend - the Roosters' 28-16 win over Wests Tigers in the Foundation Cup and the Rabbitohs' 28-10 victory over St George Illawarra in the Charity Shield - have officials expecting a further surge in ticket sales this week.

 

 "Ticket sales are tracking along very well" ... chief commercial operating officer of the Roosters, Ted Helliar. Photo: Getty Images


''Ticket sales are tracking along very well,'' said the chief commercial operating officer of the Roosters, Ted Helliar. ''They've been extremely positive so far.

''I'd love nothing more than to put the sold-out sign up. It's probably a little too early to tell whether it will be. This time next week, we may have a better idea.''

A sellout would mean a crowd close to the stadium's capacity of 45,500, and a record for the Roosters in a home-and-away match.

Their SCG match against St George Illawarra in 2010 drew 37,994, a record for Roosters non-finals matches.

''It would be great to see a sellout,'' an NRL spokesperson said. ''It's the first match and the first round, and there's the Sonny Bill factor. But you can never make those sorts of predictions.''

It remains an unknown how supporters will respond to a Thursday night match but the television ratings for trial matches show the appetite for the start of the NRL season is
significant.

Friday night's Charity Shield match was the highest-rating contest over a busy weekend of televised sport on pay television, drawing 240,000 viewers.

The Foundation Cup - featuring an impressive Roosters side, without Williams but including other new signings James Maloney, Michael Jennings and Luke O'Donnell, dispose of the Tigers - drew 173,000, although the crowd at Allianz Stadium was small largely because of poor weather.

In comparison, Israel Folau's Super Rugby debut with the Waratahs against the Reds drew 174,000 viewers, giving rugby union the equivalent, perhaps appropriately, of a win by a late penalty goal over the NRL trial, screened on the same night.

The strong ratings for the Foundation Cup came despite the fact that Williams, who controversially walked out on the Bulldogs in 2008 to play rugby union, was sitting on the sidelines. Roosters coach Trent Robinson erred on the side of caution with the star signing, deciding to give him more time off the field as he recovers from a pectoral injury.

Robinson remained confident Williams would be fit to play the Rabbitohs.

The Roosters emerged relatively unscathed from their final hit-out before round one; Daniel Mortimer required eight stitches to a cut under his right eye, but is not expected to be in any doubt for the season opener.

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