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‘Something was wrong’: How Souths’ finals run had genesis in two huge defeats

Wayne Bennett didn’t want to talk about it, so it must have been important. But the Rabbitohs coach knows a pair of crushing defeats midway through the NRL season have shaped South Sydney’s finals run just as much as any of their 20 victories.

Souths are in another preliminary final, this time against Manly, and Bennett will have the chance to depart the head coaching ranks with yet another premiership should they progress on Friday night at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.

Andrew Johns and Danika Mason talk through some of the big issues and talking points in the NRL after the second week of the Finals.

It would be a fitting rewards for another impressive season that saw them finish third and right on the back Melbourne-Panthers breakaway. They lost only four games, two of those in a demoralising three-week period in May when they were cannon fodder for the sides most thought would contest the decider.

In round nine, the Rabbitohs would add their name to a season of blow outs when they were smashed 50-0 by the Storm. It took seconds for the statistic every team dreads to be hoisted on social media: No side that had conceded a half-century had ever won a grand final.

After a steadier against the Sharks a week later, round 11 saw them on the wrong end of a 56-12 belting from the Panthers. According to Rabbitohs hooker Damien Cook, it was that period that consigned them to the ‘best of the rest’ category for the remainder of the season.

Bennett was in no mood to enlighten reporters as to what changed within the walls of the Burrow after the Penrith loss, although it was clearly a meaningful moment for the Rabbitohs. After that, they went on a 10-game tear before losing to the Panthers again in round 23. They would turn the tables in the first week of the finals.

Damien Cook said Wayne Bennett was shattered after the mid-season Penrith defeat. Then everything changed. Getty Images

“Things did have to change but I’m not in the mood to talk about it,” Bennett said on Thursday. “Maybe another day, maybe you’ll never find out what changed. It’s irrelevant.

“We’re here, great credit to them (the team) to take those defeats they took and be able to stand here with the last four teams at the end of the season.”

Cook was more expansive. He said the loss to Melbourne was written off as just a really bad night at the office. When the same thing happened two weeks later, the alarm bells were ringing loud and clear and Bennett and the senior players knew something had to change.

“It comes back to when we got flogged by both teams earlier in the year. At that stage we were definitely the best of the rest, we just weren’t up to scratch against the top two sides,” Cook said.

“When we got flogged during the year by those two sides, the Melbourne one, we pretty much just let go. There was nothing to get out of that game, don’t even bother. But once it happened again, obviously something was wrong, to be beaten by two good sides by that much.”

Cook there wasn’t panic at Redfern but the team shifted towards a more defence-focused mindset, while Bennett reminded them not to bottom out on the emotional lows, just like he keeps a ceiling on the emotional highs.

“We changed a few little things around, the way we defend, but playing the long game, Wayne is big on that. You wouldn’t want to start the season with a few losses in a row but it wouldn’t bother him either, he knows you don’t win the grand final earlier in the year,” Cook said.

“Everyone understands their role in the side now. For me and the forwards, we understand how important it is to have a defensive mindset and front load all of our energy into that.”

Souths need only look at Manly’s victory over the Roosters last week to realise how that defensive mindset must tie up halfback Daly Cherry-Evans and star fullback Tom Trbojevic, who had their way against the undermanned Tricolours.

Bennett is a huge fan of both players but hasn’t spent a great deal of time thinking about either ahead of the game. If conceding a few cricket scores in May reminded Souths of anything, it’s to make sure things are squared away inside the tent instead of worrying about the strengths of others.

“We’ll make sure we don’t spend too much time worrying about it,” Bennett said when asked how his side will put the brakes on Trbojevic. “We’ll play our own game. If he gets the ball, tackle him. It’s a pretty simple process.”

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