It’s hard to read too much into a Saturday night slugfest with one side missing their two best players and the other club having an entire team on the sidelines.

But an ugly 14-0 win is a thing of beauty for a team like South Sydney after their hideous 2024 campaign sent them spiralling to the bottom of the ladder.

Now after knocking over a borderline NSW Cup Manly line-up that had been hammered by Origin, injuries and suspension, the Bunnies have won four on the trot under interim coach Ben Hornby following Jason Demetriou’s mid-season dismissal.

And they are just two wins adrift of eighth spot although they are still well down the ladder in 14th. 

With a roster that has NSW stars Latrell Mitchell and Cameron Murray, Dally M Medal winner Jack Wighton back in form after returning to his favoured five-eighth jersey and the likes of Campbell Graham and Tevita Tatola not far away from returning after long-term injuries, Souths cannot be counted out of the playoff equation after a month ago looking like they could finish with the wooden spoon. 

Bunnies give Sea Eagles the slip

Even without Mitchell and Murray, they were overwhelming favourites at Accor Stadium.

And that was mainly due to the fact Manly not only also had a star duo in Daly Cherry-Evans and Jake Trbojevic on Origin duty but they were also missing a dozen other squad members including Tom Trbojevic (hamstring), Taniela Paseka (thumb), Lachlan Croker (neck), Reuben Garrick (concussion), Matt Lodge (bicep) and suspended forward Josh Aloiai.

With Mitchell vacating the red and green No.1 jersey, Jye Gray was given another chance to show his wares and he was slipperier than usual at the back in the wet conditions.

After centre Richie Kennar surged onto a Damien Cook short pass to open the scoring in the 10th minute, Gray crossed for the second midway through the first half. 

After a Wighton bust put the Bunnies close to the line, Cody Walker spun the ball wide to Gray who sliced through on the right edge for an 8-0 advantage which the home side held until half-time.

Manly were playing like a team that had only recently been introduced to each other, which was fair enough because some players like Jake Simpkin and Aaron Schoupp had only lobbed at the club a few weeks ago. 

Schoupp was switched from centre to the second row and Karl Lawton filled in at halfback in Anthony Seibold’s patched-up squad.

The Sea Eagles gave their all despite their overwhelming lack of cohesion and they thought they had reduced the gap to two in the 65th minute when Tommy Talau touched down but referee Chris Butler rightly ruled Ben Condon had created the try-scoring gap with a decoy obstruction.

Stand-in skipper Luke Brooks could have been excused for having flashbacks to the final season of his Wests Tigers stint – he kept trying to spark his outclassed side until the final whistle but the final pass failed to hit the mark on multiple occasions.

The Bunnies hung on to record their fifth win of the year when Gray made a half-break and Damien Cook grubbered ahead for Keaon Koloamatangi to touch down.

“We still believe we can make the finals,” Cook said. “Our scramble was really good and I felt like we were in control the whole game.”

Manly have an even 7-1-7 record to be mired in 11th and they need Tom Trbojevic back from his hamstring injury immediately after the bye next round to be any chance of rising into the playoff mix over the closing rounds.