SOUTH SYDNEY have warned the Sydney Roosters that if they want to get tough with Craig Wing in the season opener at ANZ Stadium on Friday night, the rest of the Rabbitohs will accommodate them.
"We're a tight unit. Everyone protects everyone here," Souths centre Nigel Vagana said after training yesterday. "I don't expect the game will reach the stage where something will happen, but if it does, we'll be handling it.
"We would have to deal with it in whichever way we felt necessary, but within the limits of the rules. We would be ruthless, not reckless."
It will be the first time halfback Wing has played against the Roosters since leaving them to return to his original club, and the Roosters will be desperate to make sure Souths don't get an immediate return on their investment through Wing starring in a Rabbitohs win.
"He [Wing] is someone who, if you can get one over on him, you would like to - and be able to remind him about it after the game," Roosters second-rower and captain Craig Fitzgibbon said yesterday. "When you play against friends it does add a bit of spice to it."
Vagana, who used to play alongside Roosters forwards Willie Mason and Mark O'Meley at the Bulldogs, said he knew from playing against them at Cronulla and, more recently, Souths, that they liked to give their former teammates a rugged welcome.
He didn't expect it to be any different with Wing, even though they arrived at the Roosters after Wing left. Just the fact Wing once played at their new club would be enough for them.
"'Mase' and O'Meley and [Nate] Myles all went to the Roosters from a culture [at the Bulldogs] where they like to bash," Vagana said. "I think it's going to be a fiery game. The Dogs boys still come after me, so I'm sure they'll come out firing. Every club will this weekend."
Not that Wing can't look after himself. He might not be ugly enough - since he is one of the competition's pin-up boys - but he is big enough. And tough enough, having established himself as a top player in a decade of first grade, and at State of Origin and Test level.
"I think Wingy is ready to have a big game," Vagana said.
Wing will have enough to worry about in getting the job done for Souths, without worrying about the Roosters, since the player who was due to link up with him in the halves - five-eighth Ben Rogers - is unlikely to play. Rogers has a gluteal muscle problem he sustained at training last week and which forced him to retire early from yesterday's training session.
Souths coach Jason Taylor said that unless Rogers showed considerable improvement overnight, he would leave him out when he finalised his team today.
"Ben is struggling," Taylor said. "He's not definitely out yet, but we'll have to make a decision tomorrow. Hopefully, he'll come good, but I'm ready to go with another option if necessary."
Taylor is likely to choose Jeremy Smith as five-eighth.
Much has been made of the fierce rivalry between the two clubs, but the Souths players said that while there was always extra motivation to beat their neighbours, it was not the driving force.
"I think it's more something for the fans and the media," utility John Sutton said. "Every game is a fiery clash, really. I don't hate the Roosters or anything like that. I love to beat them, but I love to beat every team in the competition."
Forward Luke Stuart added: "The two clubs like to talk about it, but we as players don't really go into it. I think the officials get more of a buzz out of it than anyone else.
"People are talking about Wingy, but he can handle himself. If he gets tackled hard, he'll look to get one back. We're concentrating on what we have to do as a team to win this game."
