After an amazing weekend of wild brawls, send-offs and golden point results, the much-hyped clash proved a let down for the 40,094 crowd anticipating a cracker contest.
It didn't help that Rabbitohs coach John Lang was forced into two late changes to two key positions with try-scoring whiz Nathan Merritt and playmaker John Sutton both scratched.
Sutton's replacement James Roberts made the most of his call up, crossing for the opening try after just two minutes when halfback Chris Sandow caught Brisbane's left side defence napping.
The first half was littered with errors and turnovers as both sides elected to throw the ball wide early rather than bash it up the middle.
Brisbane levelled at 6-6 in the 14th minute when a neat-stepping Alex Glenn left rival Shaune Corrigan stranded before going 12-6 up when he came down with a Darren Lockyer cross-field kick in the 25th minute.
The second half produced just one try to Brisbane utility Ben Te'o off a lovely Darren Lockyer pass.
Te'o, who has had a tough season, breaking his arm twice, got outside winger Dylan Farrell and then wrestled his way over the line for his second try of the season.
Lockyer didn't have one of his best games, knocking on once, dropping the ball on two occasions and missing several tackles.
Corey Parker was again outstanding for Brisbane with 42 tackles and almost 200 metres carrying the football.
He was well backed up by fullback Josh Hoffman who had 216 metres for the game.
BRISBANE 22 (A Glenn J Reed B Te'o S Thaiday tries C Parker 3 goals) bt SOUTH SYDNEY 10 (C McQueen J Roberts tries C Sandow goal) at Suncorp Stadium. Referee: Tony Archer, Jared Maxwell. Crowd: 40,094.
- AAP
