GREG Inglis got turned on his head yesterday in the ugliest spear tackle seen this season. The next minute he was turning the match on its head in a way only the Rabbitohs fullback can.
South Sydney avenged last year's preliminary final loss to Canterbury in front of a record 51,686 crowd at ANZ Stadium yesterday on a day that saw Bulldogs fullback Ben Barba make his long-waited return from a club suspension to deal with personal issues.
However, it was a tackle by Krisnan Inu on Inglis in the 68th minute that proved to be the biggest talking point.
The Canterbury centre is looking at a lengthy suspension after he grabbed the Rabbitohs fullback between the legs before lifting him upside down and driving him head-first into the ground.
Referee Shayne Hayne put the incident on report but Inu was lucky to stay on. Fox Sports commentator Greg Alexander described it as one of the worst spear tackles he had seen.
Rabbitohs coach Michael Maguire declined to talk about the incident after the match but forward Roy Asotasi said: "It was a pretty bad-looking tackle.
"That's one of the worst ways to land. Pretty much head first. We're trying to look after the welfare of all players and the judiciary will sort that out."
Even Bulldogs coach Des Hasler offered no excuses apart from that fact that Inu has a clean record at the judiciary. "It went wrong, that tackle. Let's not kid ourselves," Hasler said.
"It didn't look too good but Krisnan has got an impeccable record and he's not that kind of player, so we'll wait and see now just how it's graded.
"The way the gradings are going, we might get off lightly."
The tackle certainly didn't affect Inglis. A minute after being dumped on his head he was back on his feet and throwing a long cut-out pass for winger Nathan Merritt to set up the match-winning try.
With Souths leading 10-6, Merritt somehow managed to get his arms free and flick a pass out the back for Bryson Goodwin to elude the Bulldogs' goal-line defence before stretching out to score.
Halfback Adam Reynolds landed the conversion from the sideline - and would add a field goal in the dying minutes - to give the Rabbitohs four straight wins to start the season. The last time the club did that was in 1971 when it won the premiership.
Reynolds turned in a strong performance, which went some way to making up for the disappointment of last year's grand final qualifier where he was forced off the field with a torn hamstring.
It wasn't easy for him. The Souths halfback fluffed a kick after being tackled by Bulldogs five-eighth Josh Reynolds and spent the rest of the afternoon hobbling. He ignored the pain to land a pinpoint kick for Nathan Merritt to score in the corner for a 10-6 lead.
The Souths No 7 is seen as a threat to Mitchell Pearce for the NSW jumper and Maguire said he would excel if given the chance. He added that five-eighth John Sutton had worked well with Reynolds and deserved a chance.
The Bulldogs haven't performed badly this season but last year's grand finalists have only one win to show for their efforts after four rounds.
Their cause wasn't helped when captain Michael Ennis left the field with concussion late in the first half. The incident coincided with Souths scoring through George Burgess to level the scores at 6-all. The Rabbitohs would never look back from that moment on.
"The games we've been involved in have been good games of footy and the sides are obviously coming ready to play - it's probably a reverse compliment," Hasler said. "We've just go to find ways to win those games. I'll remind you again, it's only round four."
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