The Wests Tigers have all but ended the South Sydney Rabbitohs' finals hopes with a crushing 54-20 victory over the disappointing Bunnies in front of 14,856 fans at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.
Wests virtually blew their finals chances last week with a loss to the Dragons, but drowned their sorrows in emphatic fashion in a match that saw skipper Robbie Farah send a blunt a message to NSW selectors who may have been considering dumping him for the Origin dead rubber in Brisbane on Wednesday week.
Farah played a role in three of the Tigers' five first half tries as they raced to a 26-10 lead at the break before the merged club surged to its 100th NRL win with a convincing five tries-to-two second stanza.
The Rabbitohs have now dropped their last five matches and could well be five points shy of eighth position at the completion of this round.
The game was only three minutes old when the Tigers struck the first blow thanks to a well-weighted cross-field Farah kick that found the clutches of ever-present winger Taniela Tuiaki for the first of his three first half tries.
A weight of possession in good field position for the Rabbitohs finally took its toll on the Tigers in the 13th minute when full-back Luke Capewell brushed off a woeful Benji Marshall grab to score wide out.
The Tigers reclaimed the lead at the 20 minute mark courtesy of a smart blindside dummy-half pass from Farah to send Tuiaki over for his second.
Farah continued to keep the Rabbitohs on the back foot with a probing dummy-half run to link with lock Corey Payne, who shrugged off a poor Michael Crocker tackle for the Tigers' third try.
Marshall's conversion pushed the visitors out to a commanding 18-6 lead after 27 minutes.
A well worked left-side play executed by Marshall put Tuiaki over for his hat-trick in the corner on the half hour to push the Tigers' lead to out to 16 points.
Souths cut its deficit back by four points in the 37th minute when a fine run and inside pass from centre Colin Best put Capewell over for his second.
But it was the Tigers fans cheering into the break when a short kick-off bounced back for Wests centre Blake Ayshford to send half-back Tim Moltzen over for a freakish try and a 26-10 half-time lead for the visitors.
It was Moltzen's turn to pop a pass for an Ayshford try just after the break, extending the Tigers' lead to a virtually unassailable 22-points.
Further tries to winger Beau Ryan (44th), veteran forward John Skandalis (68th), full-back Shannon Gallant (76th) and Ayshford on full-time helped the Tigers to the half-century mark.
Souths' tries in the second stanza came via winger-come-full-back Nathan Merritt in the 57th minute and Capewell five minutes later.
South Sydney Rabbitohs 20
Tries: Capewell 3, Merritt
Conversions: Sandow 2
Wests Tigers 54
Tries: Tuiaki 3, Ayshford 2, Payne, Moltzen, Ryan, Skandalis, Gallant
Conversions: Marshall 7