Burgess appeared to be breathing fire after missing the past two weeks due to suspension and looked determined to make up for lost time with a dominant performance on Saturday in front of 15,134 fans at Central Coast Stadium.

However, Burgess is in danger of missing more football after being put on report for an ugly high shot on Aidan Sezer which had set off a scuffle midway through the second half.

The English enforcer was given a standing ovation by the Rabbitohs' faithful as he went off in the 61st minute after running 179m and making two line breaks.

"I'm not going to make any comment about that," coach Anthony Seibold said of Burgess' lapse in discipline.

"But you're right - he was brilliant.

"He saw two pretty gritty performances from us and, him being a competitor, he wanted to get back out there."

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said Burgess was lucky not to be sin-binned and was likewise upset after skipper Jarrod Croker was sat down for 10 minutes for pulling back Angus Crichton.

Seibold was disappointed his side leaked two late tries after leading 42-12 and their lack of a ruthless edge.

But it was the Rabbitohs' fourth win from their past five starts and a performance that reinforced them as top-eight contenders.

Burgess carved up the Raiders' middle all day and burst through a hole in the 44th minute, with fullback Jack Wighton doing well to stop him in his tracks.

Richie Kennar landed the knockout blow for the Rabbitohs in the 52nd minute to make it 32-12.

And it was Burgess who created the opportunity when he sucked in three defenders and still managed to get an offload away.

After leading 24-12 at halftime, the Rabbitohs iced the game with tries to Kennar and Robert Jennings after Croker was sin-binned for a professional foul.

The Rabbitohs had great contributions all over the park - Cody Walker was again dominant, Adam Reynolds' kicking was superb, Tom Burgess charged for 128m and hooker Damien Cook did his NSW Origin aspirations no harm.

Greg Inglis also showed signs he was getting back to his best.

He had been slow out of the blocks in the first six rounds but hit full flight as he latched on to a wayward Sezer pass to run 80m untouched in the 30th minute.

Earlier, South Sydney's left side ran riot in the opening exchanges, running in three tries to make it 16-0 after 16 minutes.

"We didn't start well at all and it transpired from there," Stuart said.

"The first couple of sets we rolled down the field, they rolled down the field, then possession equals penalties which equals points. We couldn't get possession in that first 20 minutes and it made it really hard for us.

"They outplayed us."

Australian Associated Press