Every player rated from the Bulldogs' brave but beaten side in the 2014 NRL Grand Final.
Rabbitohs crowned NRL premiers at last
Rabbitohs Grand Final Player Ratings
Record crowd for 2014 NRL Grand Final
1. Sam Perrett – Safe as houses at the back, fielding the high ball with relative ease and cleaning up Adam Reynolds' stabbing grubbers into the in-goal. Fans groaned when he appeared to lose the ball running back a bomb off his line after just six minutes, with Lote Tuqiri crossing for a 'try' before replays showed Perrett was the victim of a swinging arm. Made three tackle breaks in the first half but was kept quiet in the second 40 as Souths gained the ascendancy. 7
2. Corey Thompson – Left his man when hoodwinked by Luke Keary in the 20th minute, leaving Alex Johnston open to score Souths' first try. But he supported well and made no errors under the high ball despite some repeated attention. 5.5
3. Josh Morris –Well contained by the Rabbitohs but was dangerous on occasion, narrowly missing a four-pointer when spilling a Tony Williams offload just a few metres out from Souths' line early in the first half as the Rabbitohs defence swarmed on him. Felled in the air and appeared injured but played the rest of the game without a problem. Made a couple of errors and like his teammates was mostly quiet in the second stanza. 6.5
4. Tim Lafai –Hardly sighted in attack and his side of the field was constantly targeted by the Rabbitohs' attack. Made more than a dozen tackles. 6
5. Mitch Brown – Made a turnover error early in the second half that set the team on the back foot. Made a couple of tackle busts but only posted 35 metres with the ball in hand. 5
6. Josh Reynolds –Kept his team in the contest with a masterful kicking game, with a towering 40/20 (more like a 35/15) on the half hour that caught even the refs by surprise before it was awarded. It was Reynolds' pinpoint grubber from 10m out that saw Tony Williams score for the Dogs to draw level at 6-all after 49 minutes. Failed to take on the line though, running just twice. Defended stoutly with 22 tackles. 7.5
7. Trent Hodkinson – Played linkman only, making just one run and leaving all the kicking duties to Reynolds bar two occasions. Made just 10 tackles. 5
8. Aiden Tolman – The Dogs' best forward, shading co-captain James Graham. Got through his usual mountain of defensive work with more than 30 tackles and made 15 hit-ups for almost 110 metres, throwing in a deft offload to boot. 8
19. Moses Mbye – Gave a good if not spectacular service from dummy-half. Piled on nearly 40 tackles. 6.5
10. James Graham (c) – Involved in nasty head clashes with Sam Burgess and Dave Tyrrell that injured both opposition players yet he played on without batting an eyelid. Was a workhorse in the centre of the field, making more than 100 metres from his determined runs and contributing 31 tackles. 8
11. Josh Jackson – Showed grit and determination, with 10 hit-ups and 35 crunching tackles. 7
12. Tony Williams –Trailed through to gather Josh Reynolds' grubber to score in the 49th minute to make up for three awful first-half errors. Was their most dangerous weapon with the ball in hand, making six tackle breaks and three offloads. 7.5
13. Greg Eastwood –Was an enforcer in defence, particularly in the first 40 minutes, constantly upending the opposition and landing them on their backs. Finished with 21 tackles. 7
Interchange
14. Tim Browne –An offload and plenty of defence. Raised eyebrows when he appeared to intentionally clash heads with injured Rabbitoh Sam Burgess packing into a scrum. 5.5
15. Dale Finucane –Was lucky not have been sent to the sin bin for a professional foul defending his line in the first half. Made some hard hits in defence, none better than his bell-ringer on George Burgess just before halftime. 6.5
16. David Klemmer – Tried to inject some momentum into the engine room but didn't have any time to settle into his rhythm. 5.5
17. Frank Pritchard –Tried hard to spark the Dogs late in the game but couldn't get his arms free to contribute any trademark offloads. Just six tackles. Honest effort in limited game time. 5.5
