"In my time here we have developed young academies and Souths Juniors have been a big part in helping us to develop these young kids in better ways," Maguire said. "They are the first crop and those boys really are committed to their training and committed to what we are doing here at Souths." It is why Souths only recruits this season were Lote Tuqiri, Joe Picker and Joel Reddy, despite losing 10 players the calibre of Roy Asotasi, Michael Crocker, Matt King, Nathan Peats, Dylan Farrell and Jeff Lima. They also signed 22-year-old centre Kirisome Auva'a from Melbourne and his rise into the NRL side alongside Walker, Johnston, Turner and boom five-eighth Luke Keary has given the Rabbitohs greater strike power for their third consecutive finals series, which begins with Friday night's match against Manly at Allianz Stadium. "I knew we had this crop of kids coming through and I always had high expectations for these young boys," Maguire said. "We are lucky with Souths Juniors that they do provide some good kids coming through and now we have got our academies and development squads and those sort of things that we started when I first got here we are seeing the rewards of the time we put into those kids." Souths Juniors chief executive Luke Curry, who is the club's representative on the Rabbitohs board, was SG Ball coach before Maguire arrived and has had charge of Walker, Johnston, Turner and hooker Cameron McInnes, who played first grade earlier this season when Issac Luke was injured.

Curry said he had no doubt the initiatives undertaken by Maguire had fast tracked their progress to the NRL. "The blokes who are coaching the first-grade team are now assisting to coach these boys and it exposed them not only to extra work but those kids were going up and dealing with 'Madge' [Maguire] and dealing with Kurt Wrigley and Wayne Collins," Curry said. "It is about giving them the experience and making them feel there is a bit of a pathway for them and Madge knows them by their names, and those sorts of things. "I have got to say Madge is probably the first coach since my involvement who has really focused on that. I think Madge has probably seen that development is the best form of recruitment and he has only got to cherry pick the odd guy here and there in the senior grade to complement the young guys coming through." Walker and 22-year-olds Turner and Keary played together in Rabbitohs under-20s teams before advancing to first grade. Walker, 19, and Keary made their NRL debuts last season, while Turner made his this season, along with 19-year-old Johnston, who has scored 17 tries in his 15 NRL appearances.

"You always knew those guys were going to be something, the skills they had were unbelievable and I think they have really grown in the last 12 months," said Turner, who joined the Rabbitohs SG Ball team in 2010 after finishing school at Coonabarabran. "The senior players have been really accommodating and that has made it a lot easier coming into first grade. Guys like Greg Inglis and John Sutton are just natural born leaders. They tell us what to do and we just do it because they have been around so long and are such good players. "They always thought there was something in us young boys and they wanted to bring that out. They just used their experience and mentored us and I think that has really helped us to step up and perform the way we have." Inglis said he enjoyed seeing how the young talent at Souths was developing. "They are pretty much the next generation coming through and they have learnt a lot this season," Inglis said. "The way they have been playing footy, they are preparing well and they play with a lot of happiness, I can just tell that from the looks on their faces every time they run out there.

"Kyle Turner hasn't been getting that many raps throughout the year but he has done a terrific job for us in the forwards and I just sit back and enjoy the skill and enthusiasm these young men bring to the team." With Johnston (17), Walker (11), Auva (eight) and Turner (six) having scored 42 of the Rabbitohs' 101 tries, Maguire said they also provided the team with a greater attacking potency than they had last season Loading "They have given us a real different dimension to the way we play," Maguire said. "Every time we go sideways now we have got a bit of strike with Alex and young Kirisome on the left and with Dylan Walker on the right. "We have always been noted for our big men through the middle but I think now we have got these edges we can actually play a little bit of a different game, which we will see over the next few weeks."