Second star dumped as Bunnies shake-up deepens

The shake-up at South Sydney will reportedly continue when Origin star Damien Cook is benched on Friday. The Sydney Morning Herald reports Cook will be benched in favour of Siliva Havili when the Bunnies take on arch enemy the Roosters in round three. It follows young halfback Lachlan Ilias being axed from the side on Tuesday. Head coach Jason Demetriou is feeling the heat after losing to the Sea Eagles and Broncos to start the 2024 season. The Redfern team has won only four of its past 15 games. The Rabbitohs led the NRL midway through last season before falling off a cliff and missing finals. Cook, 32, is the incumbent Blues hooker at State of Origin level and has been one of the best in the business for a number of years. But Havili is a big body and his promotion suggests Demetriou plans on bashing the Roosters into submission early in the contest, before letting Cook off the leash to use his speed later in the game. When speaking to media on Thursday, Demetriou bristled when probed about dropping Ilias in favour of Dean Hawkins. "I won't explain my reasoning," Demetriou said. "It's a discussion for Lachie and myself, and we've had that in depth and we'll continue to have those discussions. "Lachie knows it's a step sideways to go forwards again, and that's how we'll approach it. "He's fine. It's footy. You pick 17 blokes every week, so it's not that dramatic."