South Sydney’s faltering premiership campaign has hit another hurdle with star five-eighth Cody Walker facing potential sanctions with police investigating his involvement in a late-night incident.

The Rabbitohs dropped out of the top eight on Thursday night with a 4-5 record when they were thrashed 32-12 by a Brisbane team led by the halfback they snubbed at the negotiating table, Adam Reynolds.

Walker, according to a Daily Telegraph report, was involved in a scuffle outside a hotel in Terrigal on the NSW Central Coast in the early hours of last Saturday with police called to the nightspot at 2.30am after reports of men fighting. They were not there when police arrived.

The Rabbitohs reported the incident to the NRL Integrity Unit while Walker’s manager Matt Rose said the former NSW representative was wrestling with his brother in a foyer and they returned to their rooms after being told to keep the noise down.

Walker lined up for the Rabbitohs at Accor Stadium on Thursday night but his former halves partner, Reynolds, had the last laugh, scoring a try and booting six goals in the Broncos’ upset victory over last year’s grand finalists.

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Brown key to Blue & Gold hopes: Cronin

Eels legend Mick Cronin thinks Dylan Brown holds the key to their chances of finally ending their 36-year premiership drought.

Brown is back at five-eighth for Friday night’s showdown with local rivals Penrith at BlueBet Stadium after spending the past couple of weeks filling in at centre, which prompted social media trolls to accuse coach Brad Arthur of nepotism for selecting his son Jake in the No.6 jersey.

Cronin, speaking on The Big Sports Breakfast on Friday morning, said he would love for the Eels to finally lift the trophy again for the first time since 1986 so he and other legends from that team wouldn’t have to be asked about the drought all the time.

He said it would “annoy the crap out of me” if he was a current player having to put up with the constant reminders of the past.

Cronin had a similar situation in his career before Parramatta’s first title win in 1981 when critics would annually question whether they would ever get their hands on the trophy after going close a couple of times in the 1970s.

“You always hear about it being there window and I think in some ways this year it is because they are going to lose a couple of handy players next year,” he said in reference to Reed Mahoney going to the Bulldogs, Isaiah Papali’i joining the Wests Tigers and Marate Niukore returning to the Warriors.

“You don’t like putting a lot of pressure on certain players but I think it’s going to revolve around their half and five-eighth. I’m a fan of their five-eighth but he’s had three years where he’s had interruptions injuries suspensions but I really think he’s a really good player so a lot’s going to depend on him.

“Hopefully he has one of those games that Parramatta fans are looking for. The five-eighth’s improvement is going to dictate how well they’re going to go at the end of the year.”

(Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

Gus fumes over ‘stupid rule’ fiasco

The ARL Commision has copped plenty of stick for continually tinkering with the fabric of the game with rule changes but an incident in Brisbane’s win on Thursday night over South Sydney demands immediate attention.

Referee Grant Atkins nearly let slip that he thought it’s a stupid rule but Phil Gould on Channel 9 commentary did it for him when Broncos centre Herbie Farnworth was penalised for diving on the ball when Souths did not have a dummy half. 

“You can’t do that mate. The laws of the game say you can’t just dive in behind the ruck,” Atkins explained after blowing a penalty in the 35th minute.

“He’s got to try and pick it up and run. I know it’s a s… it’s just the laws of the game, you can’t dive on a loose ball.”

Gould interjected: “He wanted to say it’s a stupid rule. It is a stupid rule. So what happens here is they’ve got no dummy half, he [Farnworth] runs around and dives on the ball. What he said is you’ve got to pick it up and run with it, you can’t dive on it.

“Is that not the most stupid rule you’ve ever heard? 

“The referee said ‘I know it’s a stupid rule’. He had to stop himself halfway through it otherwise he’d get fined.”