Fullback return primes Doueihi for Raiders threat

Rabbitohs fullback Adam Doueihi says a return to fullback boosted not only his performance in Friday's win over Manly but the side as a whole.

Following the Rabbitohs' 30-6 loss to the Roosters in week one of the finals, South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett admitted his decision to move Doueihi to the wing and Alex Johnston into the No.1 jersey had backfired. 

Both reverted into more familiar roles against the Sea Eagles, a move which saw Doueihi return to his electric best.

A series of hard-running kick returns and half breaks were followed by him repeatedly defusing Manly kicks before eventually being forced off early by a head knock and missing the last 22 minutes of the match.

"I was pretty disappointed with my game last week playing on the wing," Doueihi said.

"I struggled to get into the game. My confidence was down a bit, I let in a try early."

While it was his coach's plan to move the Lebanon international to the wing, Doueihi said he had fully believed his experience in a variety of positions including the halves and particularly centre would stand him in good stead.

"I thought because I played centre a few times it wouldn't be much of a difference," he said.

"I never played wing before but I worked hard last week during the week on my combo with Jimmy inside me.

"I guess they exposed our edge pretty early and I personally struggled to get into it afterwards and confidence was low.

"I'm feeling very confident at fullback and I guess the more games I play there the more confident I feel so I'm happy playing fullback. No more wing for me."

Spending the week at training back at fullback helped the confidence return and he aimed to get some early carries to get into the game early on.

"I was really confident under the high ball and attacking the ball. I was pleased with my first half, second half still room for improvement but just happy to get the win," he added.

"With the make-up of the team at the moment, I fit in there best at the moment. Where they see me I'm still not sure but I feel really confident there."

In more good news for the Rabbitohs and Doueihi, he said the HIA he underwent during the second half of Friday's game was one he passed.

Looking ahead to the Raiders, Doueihi was expecting a tough battle on the Green Machine's home patch.

"They're playing good footy. Last week to go down to Melbourne and get that win is pretty impressive," he said.

"Their confidence should be high at the moment. They've got quality across the park, their forwards are really moving forward and [Aidan] Sezer and [Jack] Wighton are steering the ship in the halves and [Josh] Hodgson's taking over at dummy half.

"We're going to have to be on. If we perform like we did [against Manly] I don't think we'll be anywhere near that scoreline. [We need to] review this game, bump it and move on pretty quickly and worry about ourselves again."