Wayne Bennett has denied his former apprentice Kristian Woolf an against-all-odds first win as an NRL head coach as South Sydney ran out 16-14 victors in their relocated clash with the Dolphins.
Fill-in halfback Jamie Humphreys gave Bennett plenty to think about in Friday night's game, which was moved 900km south to Parramatta and out of the path of Cyclone Alfred.
The cyclone warning forced the Dolphins to rush to Sydney on Wednesday night, leaving behind three players who opted to stay with their families, as they began their Woolf era.
But apart from Souths' error-prone start to the second half, second-gamer Humphreys and Cody Walker connected better than the Dolphins halves to help the Rabbitohs start Bennett's second coming with a bang.
Humphreys looked unfazed taking on the bulk of kicking duties in only his second NRL game.
The most memorable of those kicks was a cross-field bomb that put popular winger Tyrone Munro in for the second of his two first-half tries.
Munro did not return after half-time, with early reports indicating a collarbone issue - the same injury that restricted him to only four games in 2024.
Englishman Lewis Dodd will now have to prove himself worthy of usurping winning halfback Humphreys on return from his one-game suspension.
The Dolphins hit the front for the first time in the second half, with a Walker knock-on allowing the visitors to cross for a second try in five minutes through new second-rower Max Plath.
But after Humphreys hit the post with an attempt at penalty goal that would have equalised, a shift left put Isaiah Tass in and lifted the Rabbitohs back on top as the final 10 minutes approached.
In his first game for 553 days, luckless Campbell Graham made a crucial try-saving cover tackle on Junior Tupou in the final 10 minutes to deny the Dolphins the chance to snatch the lead.
Graham had been playing out of position on Souths' right wing following the injury to Munro.
Injury-plagued Dolphins captain Tom Gilbert was also strong in his first game for 657 days, coming up with the offload that led Jamayne Isaako to score the side's first try down the right.
Dolphins recruit Kulikefu Finefeuiaki is set to miss next week's clash with Newcastle after returning a category-one head injury assessment in the second half.
Rabbitohs centre Jack Wighton went on report for a raised forearm on Dolphins recruit Daniel Saifiti and could face scrutiny from the match review committee.