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AAP
AAP
Sport
Scott Bailey

Brooks the hero as Tigers shock Souths

Luke Brooks kicked the Tigers to back-to-back one-point wins with a late field goal against Souths. (AAP)

Luke Brooks has gone from Wests Tigers punching bag to match-winner, making it two straight for the joint-venture with a shock 23-22 victory over South Sydney.

A week after Jackson Hastings sent home a drop goal to sink Parramatta on Easter Monday, it was Brooks who was the hero on Saturday night.

Standing on almost the same patch of CommBank Stadium turf with 59 seconds to play, Brooks nailed the field goal from 25 metres out to secure the win.

The kick capped an enthralling clash, which swayed both ways and claimed a number of casualties with the Rabbitohs finishing with just one on the bench.

On a brutal night for the Bunnies, Jacob Host hurt his shoulder and Liam Knight his leg after Hame Sele was concussed in the opening minutes.

The Tigers' win also came at a cost, with fullback Daine Laurie suffering a suspected medial ligament injury in his knee and sitting out the second half.

Ken Maumalo also limped off late, before Brooks' final-minute heroics.

Often maligned for their lack of organisation and with Brooks under fire after their poor start to the year, it was the Tigers who handled the final minutes better.

While Jackson Hastings missed two shots for the Tigers, Taane Milne made a late attacking error and Jai Arrow also rushed a panicked shot at field goal.

His mis-kick that barely left the ground put the Tigers on the attack, and while Jock Madden was initially charged down an accidental offside gave Brooks the defining chance.

In truth, the Tigers had always looked the better team.

With Hastings at halfback and Brooks at five-eighth, Michael Maguire's men look a completely different side that went 0-5 through the opening five rounds.

They completed at 98 per cent, making just three errors for the match while still throwing plenty at the Rabbitohs defence.

Laurie was in everything before his injury, putting David Nofoaluma over for the Tigers' first with a quick catch-and-pass from Hastings.

Bizarrely, Souths scored both their first-half tries while down to 12 men, with Milne sin-binned for a late high hit in the lead up to the Tigers' opening points.

They also bagged their first try of the second half with the Tigers down to 12, with Alex Twal off the field for a professional foul just before the break.

At that point the Rabbitohs led 16-12, and the Tigers of the first five rounds would surely have faded out.

But they first levelled the scores through Nofoaluma, before Brooks scooped up a loose ball and went 70 metres to score to make it 22-16.

And while Lachlan Ilias put Keaon Koloamatangi over with eight minutes to play to level the scores for South Sydney, it ultimately only set up Brooks' grandstand finish.

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