Rabbitohs v Sea Eagles: Guest coaches Kimmorley and Renouf go head to head

NRL.com experts Brett Kimmorley and Steve Renouf have donned their coaching caps and provided a rundown of what it will take to win, who the key players are and their all-important final instructions.

Renouf has put himself in Wayne Bennett's shoes for Friday night's duel, while Kimmorley is calling the shots for the Sea Eagles.

Plan of attack

Renouf

We have to take a leaf from the Roosters and the way they out-enthused us and had us playing on the back foot. We want to come out with loads of enthusiasm and energy with a real hunger for the occasion and get a good start, and our game will roll from that.

Kimmorley

We want to create some momentum through the middle with my two big front-rowers and allow my dummy-half to be a constant threat with quick play-the-balls. We'll look to get that going because the Roosters showed last week that South Sydney's defensive edge is quite happy to slide back. If we can get our outside backs running into some hard, straight lines like they did last week we've got the ability to score 20 points.

Plan in defence

Renouf

It's mostly about sticking to what we've been doing and not reading too much into last week because the Roosters were on fire. We need to be enthusiastic and disciplined defensively for 80 minutes, control the middle and stop Manly's big front-rowers from laying that platform for Cherry-Evans.

Kimmorley

We have to contain Liam Knight because he's been great lately and we want to control Cameron Murray because he's got excellent late footwork and wins a lot of play-the-balls. If we can do that it helps take Damien Cook out of the game, and that in turn should strengthen our chances because there's not too much shape coming from the Bunnies and we should be able to handle what the edge throws at us in attack.

My key player

Renouf

Cameron Murray is the standout. Our forwards collectively have to do their job in the middle to open it up for Walker and Reynolds, and Damien Cook needs to have a big game, but Murray is the guy who can really make a difference for us.

Kimmorley

Daly Cherry-Evans. His kicking game can build pressure and his composure in a big game like this is important to us. If he can come up with some really clever plays and get some try assists or execution, it'll allow us to build pressure into points.

The opposition danger man

Renouf

Addin Fonua-Blake. Manly will be happy to have big Marty Taupau back, but Fonua-Blake has had a great season and he showed how important he is to that team last week against the Sharks. He's surprised a lot of people this year and we have to limit his go-forward.

Kimmorley

Cody Walker. Obviously Adam Reynolds has a great kicking game and steers them around, but if Cody Walker can float around in that form we saw in the first 11 weeks, he's a real key for South Sydney.

We will win if we ...

Renouf

We have to do all the little things right and stay focused on the job at hand. If we stick to the game plan and win all the little one-percenters we should come out on top.

Kimmorley

We'll win if our team controls the middle of the park and gets up in their face and frustrates them a little bit. We want to make them lose focus by forcing them into errors and make them be poor with their discipline.

Final message

Renouf

Let's forget about last week because it's dead and buried. If we go out there and you boys stick to what I tell you and stick to what we know, it'll work.

Kimmorley

No-one's believing in us but you blokes know how hard we worked in the off-season and how much training we've done. Play to our structure, we've got a better forward pack than them and more creativity in our backline. The pressure is all on South Sydney so let's go out and have a bit of fun.