Souths’ ‘laughable’ injury toll gives Dodd rare chance

Jasper Bruce | July 22, 2025

Jai Arrow can only laugh at how bad South Sydney’s injury crisis has become as a fresh blow paves the way for Lewis Dodd to finally earn a second chance starting in the halves.

A head knock has ruled Jamie Humphreys out of Saturday’s clash against Cronulla, so English recruit Dodd will earn a first chance at halfback in a season spent out of Wayne Bennett’s favour.

Dodd had been tipped to become Souths’ starting halfback on arrival from St Helens this year but has been restricted to only four games, stuck behind Humphreys, Jayden Sullivan and Jack Wighton for opportunities.

He has made only one start, at five-eighth in a heavily depleted Souths side that fell to Newcastle at Magic Round in early May.

Humphreys joins Latrell Mitchell, Keaon Koloamatangi, Cam Murray, Pete Mamouzelos, Jayden Sullivan, Cody Walker and Campbell Graham among others in a packed casualty ward at 15th-placed Souths.

“This morning, I went in and saw the physio and the rehab crew, there’s a pretty solid 1-13 (team) there,” Arrow said at the media launch for Saturday’s Beer Footy Food Festival at Henson Park.

The ankle injury Koloamatangi suffered against Penrith will mean Arrow finishes the Sharks clash as one of only two Rabbitohs to have played every game this year – along with Tallis Duncan.

For comparison, Cronulla have had seven players feature in every game so far.

Arrow could only laugh when he heard the club had been struck by even more misfortune out of last week’s loss to the Panthers, which effectively ended the club’s finals hopes.

“I just started giggling to myself, to be honest,” Arrow said.

“It’s pretty crazy and pretty laughable with the amount of people we have missing at the moment.

“But it is what it is, all you’ve got to do is keep turning up and enjoying each other’s company and turn up for each other on the field. That’s all we can do, really.”

The last time the Rabbitohs met the Sharks, they were in the midst of a promising start to the season, with the 27-12 loss in round three their only defeat across the first five rounds.

Arrow has resisted temptation to ponder what might have been this year for Souths, who are now fighting to avoid a first wooden spoon since 2006.

“It’s funny, I think back, we were 4-1 at one stage,’ he said.

“But I’m not one to dwell on the past. It is what it is. The most important thing is that we’ve got to have faith in each other and just enjoy this next six weeks of playing footy together.”

Arrow expected Murray would soon make his return from the achilles injury he suffered in the pre-season, with the NSW representative easing back into field work at training.

Pundits have questioned why the club would risk bring Murray back from such a delicate injury so late in a campaign destined to finish without finals, but Arrow held no concerns for his captain.

“Someone like Cam, he won’t play unless he’s ready,” Arrow said.

“I’m sure he’ll make the right decision whether he comes back and plays or not but I’m pretty confident we’ll be seeing him back in weeks to come in a Rabbitohs jersey.”