South Sydney will be without Jamie Humphreys when they begin their comeback from a dismal 2025 season after the halfback received a two-game suspension.
Humphreys went to the sin bin for a hip-drop style tackle on Siua Wong in the second half of Friday’s 36-6 loss to bitter rivals Sydney Roosters.
The Rabbitohs leaked two tries without Humphreys and fell 16 points behind, thwarting their hopes of ending the season on a high.
On Saturday morning, Humphreys was charged with grade-two dangerous contact and will miss the first two games of next season with an early guilty plea.
He would miss a third game if he unsuccessfully challenged the charge, and is unable to count pre-season challenge matches towards his ban.
The irony is unlikely to be lost on Humphreys, who became the Rabbitohs’ regular No.7 while Lewis Dodd missed the start of the 2025 season through suspension.
Highly rated recruit Jonah Glover could begin the 2026 campaign next to Cody Walker in the halves, while Ashton Ward is another option.
The ban may also mean Humphreys misses the chance to play alongside Alex Johnston on the night he reaches rarefied air.
The winger needs three tries to pass Ken Irvine’s mark of 212 four-pointers and become the outright leading try-scorer in NRL history.
Souths will finish an injury-plagued season in the bottom four, with coach Wayne Bennett hopeful of better health among the troops in 2026.
“Probably tonight was as close as we got to getting (a full-strength team), we’ve still got six or seven top players not playing,” Bennett said.
“The last couple of months we’ve had 10-plus players that have played in the NRL this year that weren’t available for selection.
“I’m looking forward to getting everybody cleaned up that we have to with injuries, and hoping we can all start the pre-season together and not have a whole lot of players on the bikes and sitting watching everyone else train.”
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