RUGBY LEAGUE
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This is a weird week for Souths supporters. We're not really sure how we're supposed to feel.
For years we've watched in envy as fans rallied behind their teams in grand final week, enduring the nightly news footage of painted faces shouting "Go the Roosters, go Manly, go the Storm, go Tigers, go the Dogs, go the Dragons ... "
Now that we're finally there, we feel a bit like the shy bloke who sits in the corner at the school dance before a pretty girl finally leads him to the floor and asks him to show off his Michael Jackson moves.
Aside from the previous two years when Souths lost in the week prior to the grand final, they hadn't been close to a grand final since winning the minor premiership in 1989.
As it turned out, that season ended in misery when the Bunnies crashed out of the title race with consecutive losses to Balmain and Canberra.
So conditioned are Souths fans to failure and mediocrity that many of us seriously wondered if we would ever see the Bunnies in a grand final.
This Souths follower was two when the club won its last premiership in 1971.
Fuzzy memories of shaking Reggie the Rabbit's hand is one thing, but premiership euphoria doesn't ring a single bell.
That 43-year dry spell has provided mates and work colleagues with an endless supply of sledging ammunition.
You can only come back with "But we won the most premierships before they played grand finals" so many times.
There's a saying in this country that Australian cricket is strong when NSW cricket is strong.
Some people reckon a similar theory applies to the Rabbitohs, that rugby league is thriving when Souths are successful.
It's been so long since the Bunnies reigned supreme that such a saying is difficult to gauge.
If they do beat Canterbury in Sunday night's grand final, the Rabbitohs will know they earned it.
There probably wasn't a single Souths fan who didn't want a crack at the Roosters at some stage of the post-season.
A grand final showdown with the Bondi boys would've been fitting, but most Bunnies supporters viewed the Roosters as the team they had to go through at some stage of the play-offs. That probably explains why most Souths supporters looked more relieved than elated after last Friday's 32-22 win over their long-time rivals.
Now we have to win one more game against those bloody Bulldogs, a truly resilient club boasting one of the best grand final resumes of the modern era.
Last week was a tense one for Bunnies fans, but this week we should just take the lead of the players and "enjoy the moment", just in case we have to wait another 43 years to get back on the big stage. Souths are a better team than Canterbury, yet only a fool would expect that to guarantee success.
The Rabbitohs will win because they have learnt valuable lessons from the past two years. They will win because they are driven by the fear of letting down many thousands of fans who have waited so long for this occasion.
They'll win because they have two of the game's elite players in Sam Burgess and Greg Inglis, both of whom are on a mission to deliver Souths a premiership.
On behalf of every Souths fan that doesn't get on the news this week - Go the Bunnies!