Kiwi veteran Benji Marshall was reduced to tears on Friday night as his South Sydney team beat Manly 36-16 to win a place in the NRL Grand Final.
Should Marshall play, it will make a new record for the longest gap between Grand Final appearances - 16 years.
The 36-year-old last played in a Grand Final in 2005 when his Wests Tigers won the Premiership - playing a starring role in victory over the North Queensland Cowboys.
Rabbitohs coaching great Wayne Bennett, who recruited Marshall at the start of the 2021 season to add experience to his talented squad, has the chance to claim his eighth premiership as a coach, winning six with the Brisbane Broncos and another with the St Geroge Dragons.
Bennett is also the first NRL coach to take four different clubs to the NRL Grand Final having first achieved the feat with the Canberra Raiders in 1987.
The victory earned Bennett, who will depart as Rabbitohs coach at the end of the season, a 10th grand-final appearance.
Souths scored seven tries to three against the Sea Eagles, jumping out to a 22-0 at halftime, with standoff Cody Walker running riot over a Manly side that completed just seven of 17 first-half sets.
The Sea Eagles opened the scoring in the second spell through Rueben Garrick, but when Marshall laid on a try for centre Campbell Graham three minutes later, the result was all-but sealed
The Rabbitohs will face either the Melbourne Storm or Penrith Panthers in the Grand Final on October 3, with those two sides set for battle on Sunday afternoon.
