Taaffe’s No.1 in eyes of Bennett
WAYNE Bennett has backed Blake Taaffe to handle the biggest test of his career with the Rabbitohs rookie clinching Latrell Mitchell’s No.1 jumper for the NRL finals showdown against the Panthers on Saturday night.
Bennett has opted against major surgery on his playmaking spine, with Cody Walker to return from a week’s rest at five-eighth as the super coach shows faith in Taaffe to fill the Mitchell void in the qualifying final at Queensland Country Bank Stadium in Townsville.
Mitchell’s season-ending suspension has thrown up a selection headache for Bennett, who was considering shifting Walker from five-eighth to fullback and slotting premiership playmaker Benji Marshall into the halves for the playoffs.
But Bennett is keeping faith in the 22-year-old Taaffe, who played soundly in South Sydney’s 20-16 defeat of the Dragons on Saturday when he replaced Mitchell in just his fifth top-grade game.
The quick-stepping rookie will be officially named by Bennett in the No.1 jumper on Tuesday and Souths skipper Adam Reynolds said Mitchell’s presence at training would help Taaffe prepare for a Panthers onslaught in his NRL finals debut.
“Latrell will be good for Blake this week,” said Reynolds, who was impressed with Taaffe’s composure in just his third starting appearance at the weekend.
“Latrell’s experience will help him out in key areas at training and get him prepped for the big moments.”
Reynolds said Mitchell was coping OK with the impact of his suspension.
“Latrell is all right, he is doing fine,” he said.
“He is still a big part of what we are doing this year and he will be helping us prepare to get ready for the finals.
“He is still training and doing things with us, whether we need him to mimic an opposition player.
“Latrell is a good person to compete against at training because he is very good at what he does.
“He will play a great role for the rest of the season.”
There was a push for Walker to return to the backfield, which he has done before but Bennett is reluctant to destabilise his lethal scrumbase strikeforce with Reynolds, who will square off against Penrith halfback maestro Nathan Cleary.
Souths will carry psychological scar tissue into their finals clash with Penrith.
They were flogged 56-12 by the Panthers in round 11 and surrendered an early lead to lose 25-12 three weeks ago, but Reynolds is adamant Souths can dismantle Penrith without Mitchell.
“We are trying to come up with ways to break down the big teams and Penrith’s defensive structures are a bit different to what we’ve played throughout the season,” Reynolds said.
“It’s exciting because we have to come up with a new way to break them down.”