Check out the match preview and prediction for the 2025 National Rugby League round 14 clash between the Canberra Raiders and the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
MATCHDAY NEWS
MATCHDAY SCHEDULE
Canberra Raiders Vs South Sydney Rabbitohs
Venue: GIO Stadium, Canberra
Date: Sunday 8 June, 2:00pm (AEST)
MATCHDAY TEAM NEWS
Raiders: 1. Kaeo Weekes 2. Savelio Tamale 3. Matthew Timoko 4. Sebastian Kris 5. Xavier Savage 6. Ethan Strange 7. Jamal Fogarty 8. Josh Papali’i 9. Tom Starling 10. Joseph Tapine 11. Hudson Young 12. Zac Hosking 13. Corey Horsburgh 14. Owen Pattie 15. Simi Sasagi 16. Morgan Smithies 17. Ata Mariota 18. Noah Martin 19. Trey Mooney 20. Danny Levi 21. Jed Stuart 22. Ethan Sanders
Rabbitohs: 1. Latrell Mitchell 2. Alex Johnston 3. Jack Wighton 4. Campbell Graham 5. Isaiah Tass 6. Cody Walker 7. Jamie Humphreys 8. Jai Arrow 9. Siliva Havili 10. Keaon Koloamatangi 11. Euan Aitken 12. Tallis Duncan 13. Lachlan Hubner 14. Jayden Sullivan 15. Sean Keppie 16. Liam Le Blanc 17. Tevita Tatola 18. Davvy Moale 19. Jye Gray 20. Tyrone Munro 21. Thomas Fletcher 22. Jacob Host
Referee: Todd Smith
Bunker: Chris Butler
MATCHDAY PREVIEW
Sunday will be Milestone Day at GIO Stadium, with four players celebrating significant milestone games. The Rabbitohs’ Euan Aitken brings up his 200th NRL game, Canberra’s Matt Timoko and Corey Horsburgh bring up their 100th NRL games (which includes Horsburgh’s two loan games for Canterbury-Bankstown), and the headline milestone is Raiders front rower Josh Papalii breaking the all-time Canberra Raiders appearance record when he takes the field for his 319th NRL game, overtaking club legend Jason Croker.
Papalii haș been coming off the bench for most of the games this season but will start this Sunday so he can run out and soak up his record-breaking moment. Horsburgh – who normally starts at prop – shifts to starting lock with Morgan Smithies moved to the bench. Ethan Sanders, who had a great debut in Canberra’s 26-24 win over the Roosters, makes way for regular halfback Jamal Fogarty who returns from a one-week injury absence.
The Rabbitohs have been battling without key players throughout the season and welcome back two key players this weekend. Five-eighth Cody Walker returns as does centre Jack Wighton. This causes a reshuffle in the backline with Isaiah Tass moving to wing from centre, Jayden Sullivan moving to the bench for Walker, and Jye Gary being dropped to reserves, along with Bayleigh Bentley-Hape.
The Raiders and Rabbitohs have had some interesting battles over recent years, including the 2019 preliminary final where milestone man Josh Papalii scored his most crucial career try in the 16-10 Raiders win, putting them in their first grand final since 1994. Since then, the Raiders have held a pretty good record against the Rabbitohs, winning four of the last five meetings, most recently 32-12 at GIO Stadium in round 21 last season. The Rabbitohs have had to chop and change their line-ups all season and they still sit tied in seventh – but ninth due to for-and-against. This bodes well for them moving forward: they finally have Latrell Mitchell, Alex Johnston, Jack Wighton, Cody Walker, and Campbell Graham all on the same pitch at the same time. If the Rabbitohs can finally stay healthy I feel they’ll be able to secure a top eight finish come the end of the season, and then who knows what can happen, you have to be in it to win it as they say.
I predicted below that Canberra will win this by 12 points and that’s based on home advantage, milestone motivation, and simply the fact the Raiders are a pretty good football team this season. It wouldn’t surprise me if this game was closer than that, especially when Mitchell is in the mix. For me whoever wins the edge battle between Mitchell, Wighton, and Johnston against Savage, Timoko, and Weekes will likely win this match. Congratulations to Josh Papalii this weekend – it has been a magnificent career.
MATCHDAY PREDICTION
Raiders by 12 points.
Check out our round 14 predictions here.
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