South Sydney‘s stars believe the return to form of Latrell Mitchell could deliver the club into finals, as they look to enter the top eight.
The Rabbitohs currently sit 14th on the ladder and are six points outside a finals spot.
Mitchell was one of the stars for NSW in game two after hitting his straps in the rounds before Origin II.
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Souths forward Keaon Koloamatangi declared when the Bunnies fullback is in form, “he’s the best player in the competition”.
“What he can do with the ball and the aggression he brings and obviously when he’s in the team he can give everyone a little bit more confidence and that’s what he’s done when he’s come back (from suspension) and you saw last Wednesday night how good he is and how much aura he has about him,” he told media on Monday.
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Fellow big man, Thomas Burgess, added it’s only good for the Rabbitohs to see Mitchell tearing up the Origin arena.
“It was just really pleasing to see him do that and go and show he can do that on the big stage,” he said.
“We all know what he can do, he’s a great player, a great man to be around. We were just really happy to see him do that for the Blues and get them to a decider. I think that’s what everyone wanted, especially around here and I think it’ll only do good for us.”
South Sydney will come into their clash against the Eels on Thursday off the back of a bye and four wins in a row.
The first of those victories came against the Eels before the Titans, Broncos and Manly were all taken care of.
Koloamatangi declared his side “can beat any team”.
“The more wins we’ve got together the more confident we can get that we actually reach finals,” he said.
“The way we’re playing we feel like we can beat any team.”
Burgess added the release of pressure on their performances has worked out.
“I think in 2016, we worked out mathematically we couldn’t make the finals and that week we went and won and started winning, so it’s a funny thing, pressure in a team sport,” he said.
“We’ve just got to keep doing the little things right, focusing on simple things.
“… No one’s looked at it (the maths), it’s not like we’ve sat down in a team meeting and looked at it. No one’s good at maths here really. I think I might be the best at maths.”