Manly centre Dylan Walker has ruined Robbie Farah's first outing in South Sydney colours with a starring performance in a 22-16 NRL trial win at Campbelltown Stadium.
Playing on Saturday night in his favoured right centre spot following the retirement of former captain Jamie Lyon, a sharp Walker scored a try and set up another.
The incumbent NSW State of Origin centre capped off a strong night by kicking two goals from three attempts, including one from the sideline, before bowing out on the hour mark.
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His effort overshadowed that of late inclusion Farah, who was solid without being spectacular in a 40-minute stint in front of 2564 fans on his old home turf.
The ex-Wests Tigers' captain, whose first pre-season at Redfern was hampered by a bicep injury, almost dummied his way over early but dropped the ball over the line.
The Blues' rake tried hard to create out of dummy-half but was otherwise well contained.
Manly's own new face in Blake Green proved why the club fought hard to steal him from Melbourne, showing good vision with a cross-field kick that resulted in a Jonathan Wright try.
The experienced pivot combined well with Daly Cherry-Evans, who assisted on a Peter Schuster try in the second half, before both were substituted at the third-quarter drinks break.
Rabbitohs prop George Burgess also looked in good nick ahead of the season proper with a handful of powerful carries in the first half.
However his contributions weren't enough to stop Manly racing out to a 16-0 lead that included a Jarrad Kennedy try set up by a jinking Walker.
The Rabbitohs hit back with four-pointers of their own to Sitiveni Moceidreke and Siosifa Talakai within the space of five minutes.
Schuster's reply put the Sea Eagles back in control before holding on in a trial that was delayed until 8pm due to Sydney's heatwave, with temperatures at 39 degrees at kickoff.
Sea Eagles coach Trent Barrett was impressed with Walker's speed, despite putting on weight over the summer, in anticipation of his return to the three-quarter line.
"He has trained hard. He is a lot heavier than what he was last year. He has that X-factor. That try he scored, there aren't too many that can score them. He has worked really hard," he said.
"I thought there were some things which were good. There are some things we need to work on. Overall, there were a lot of new combinations there that we did that we've been working really hard on."
Rabbitohs coach Michael Maguire was similarly pleased with Farah's effort, but said the Blues' rake was certain to show more as the season went on.
"It was a good little hit-out for himself. He hadn't played in a fair while but he's been a pro all the way through and it was good to see him get through 40 minutes," he said.
"I like to see more and more as we keep moving forward. It was 40 minutes and the combinations are going to grow. Just building combinations is a big one for him at the moment."
AAP
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