South Sydney superstar Latrell Mitchell may be grabbing the headlines with his return to top form in the NRL but it's the Rabbitohs' forwards who are sparking the club's charge into finals football.
Mitchell was at his eye-catching best in last Friday's 26-0 rout of Parramatta at Commbank Stadium, with 211 running metres, three line-breaks and a try assist.
Having missed several weeks due to a serious hamstring injury, the 25-year-old's return has many believing Souths are premiership contenders heading into finals.
It's the platform being laid by a dominant pack however that is giving talents such as Mitchell and five-eighth Cody Walker to shine.
In the Rabbitohs' past three matches every member of the Rabbitohs' pack except for hooker Damien Cook has clocked over 100 running metres, including their bench front-rowers.
Tevita Tatola has averaged 193 running metres in Souths' past three games, while Keaon Koloamatangi has also topped 150-plus running metres in all of those matches.
Lock Cameron Murray has also surpassed 150 running metres in all three games including the golden point loss to Cronulla where Tom Burgess racked up 181 running metres and 10 tackle busts from the interchange bench.
Burgess is poised for a return in Thursday's mouth-watering grand final rematch against premiers Penrith, further boosting coach Jason Demetriou's forward grunt.
"If we all turn up and we play, we feel like we've got one of the best forward packs in the game," Kolomatangi told reporters on Monday.
"Obviously with Cody and Trell at the back, they're pretty much the best in the game, so we've just got to do our job and make it easy for them.
"Points just come with them."
Burgess is returning from a groin injury and only did light running at Monday's training, while Mitchell didn't finish the session.
Club officials though say Mitchell is managing groin tightness and should be clear to face the Panthers.
Campbell Graham (cheekbone) completed training and looks a good chance to return while halfback Lachlan Ilias also took part in the second half of the session after sitting out early due to an ongoing back issue.
Koloamatangi said it was encouraging to have so many players finding their way back to fitness with three weeks left in the home-and-away season.
"We're sort of where we want to be, sort of hitting our stride at the end of the year," he said.
"We had a bit of a tough start to the year (but) obviously at the end of the year is where it counts, leading into the finals
"It's great that we have all the major players back."
