Moore confident kennel lid is on
Canterbury coach Kevin Moore has no doubts about his new look side's ability to keep a lid on things after a bright start to the NRL season.
Moore got just what he wanted from new recruits Frank Pritchard, Kris Keating and Trent Hodkinson, and was equally happy with excitement machine Ben Barba's move to fullback in the 24-14 upset of the Wests Tigers on Monday night.
"It was probably the start I was looking for," Moore said.
"I was quietly confident the other night.
"We've had a really good off-season, we've trained well, we've done a lot of opposed work and the people that we've brought into the place I've got a lot of confidence in.
"Bringing them in and the fact that blokes like Andrew Ryan and David Stagg and Mick Ennis are professionals, I didn't think it would take too long.
"I still think we've got a fair bit of improvement in us so that's a positive."
The Dogs were looking for a fresh start after a dismal 2010 but few would have predicted they'd get it in round one, and it has the Belmore kennel buzzing.
"We've got enough experience in the side to not get carried away with things," Moore said.
"We've had a good off-season, we started the competition well but I just keep coming back to the fact that we've got to just turn up again and do it this weekend."
Moore was still yet to name a replacement for injured representative centre Josh Morris (knee) on Saturday, with Jonathan Wright, Dene Halatau and Junior Tia-Kilifi in the mix for Sunday's ANZ Stadium clash with South Sydney.
Star Souths centre Greg Inglis will definitely play after a midweek scare, setting up a monster clash with opposite Jamal Idris.
The Rabbitohs lost forwards Sam Burgess (shoulder), Scott Geddes (ankle) and Ben Lowe (foot) in last week's 40-29 loss to the Sydney Roosters.
They have included Eddy Pettybourne, Dave Tyrell and veteran Michael Crocker in their starting team.
"They're a side that are hurting a bit from last week so we expect them to be very strong and certainly through the middle of the ruck they'll be aggressive and looking forward to trying to get on top of us," Moore said.
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