'Stop the Choc' has become the mantra out Redfern way this week, with South Sydney setting their sights on controlling the one-man wrecking crew that is Anthony 'Choc' Watmough.

The NSW Origin backrower is the most destructive forward in the game today, his powerful running seen at its best in last Monday night's one-point NRL defeat by Wests Tigers.

Down 18-0 at the break, the Sea Eagles were dragged back into the contest by Watmough; his impressive statistics of two tries, 269 metres and 13 tackle breaks hardly doing the performance justice.

It was enough to have the Rabbitohs on alert ahead of Saturday night's meeting at Brookvale Oval, with five-eighth John Sutton claiming the key to limiting Watmough was taking care of his Manly team-mates first.

"Everyone just has to be strong in defence and do their job - we just have to stop their momentum and then it's hard for him to get his big run ups and really charge at our line," Sutton said.

"We just have to get up off our line and just cut his running time down.

"He's running pretty hard and strong and we're just going to have to get numbers on him and get our bodies in front of him and stop him that way."

While Sutton claims the Bunnies have put a lot of their focus on limiting Watmough, there's no doubt Manly will be having similar thoughts about the Souths pivot.

After struggling mid-season, Sutton has in recent weeks rediscovered the groove that had some talking his up as a possible NSW Origin bolter.

A hand injury suffered during the City Origin game ruined any chance of higher representative honours, but Sutton said he was pleased to be showing some consistency.

"The last month or so has been good for me," Sutton said.

"I can't really blame the injury, I just missed a couple of games ... but I think I've turned it around now. I've just got to continue playing well through to the end of the season."

The Rabbitohs need to win all five of their remaining matches to guarantee a finals berth, while Manly will be after the two competition points in a bid to keep their top-four hopes alive.

The Sea Eagles trailed fourth-placed Melbourne by three points heading into the round, while the Rabbitohs are three points behind Newcastle who are in eighth spot.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP