South Sydney’s inconsistency has almost got to the stage of being “embarrassing” according to Wayne Bennett as the Rabbitohs coach also gave an update on a hobbled Latrell Mitchell.
Watch every game of every round of the Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.
While all the headlines out of Friday night’s loss to the Dolphins surrounded the superstar Souths centre, Bennett delivered a welcome message to Blues coach Laurie Daley in his post-game press conference.
“He’s okay, he’s not too bad. I don’t think it’s anything serious there,” Bennett said, with fears Mitchell may have re-aggravated the back injury which sidelined him last week.
“He just kind of cramped up a bit. Nothing major… with a 12-day turnaround I think he’ll be alright.”
While it doesn’t sound like Rabbitohs fans will have to worry about Mitchell’s health, Bennett admitted there are plenty of reasons to be concerned with their up-and-down form.
South Sydney was coming off a dominant win over Cronulla, having already followed up their statement victory against Melbourne last month with a high-scoring loss to Newcastle.
It has left the seven-time premiership winning coach lost for answers.
Get all the latest NRL news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!
Origin stars in doubt after Phins upset | 02:03
“We’ve had three really good wins and next week we’ve turned up and played rubbish,” he said.
“… It’s worse than frustrating. It just kind of gets to the embarrassing stage because there is no logic to why they’re doing it except what’s probably happening in their heads through the week, happy with themselves, I don’t know.
“It’s an obvious trend right now, so we’ve got to get on top of it.”
Woolf endorses potential Origin debutant | 05:22
Rabbitohs skipper Cameron Murray echoed his coach’s concerns, telling reporters that while the players need to get to the bottom of the problem it is a “hard one to put your finger on”.
“If you spend too much time thinking about it, you’re probably not thinking about what you need to think about, which is the next week and being consistent the next week,” he said.
“So, we’ve just got to try and fight and win it back I guess and turn up every week and play the footy we know we can play.
“We speak pretty consistently about the blueprint of how we know we can play and what works for us.
“But it’s just a matter of doing a week in, week out. (There are) a lot of inconsistencies around what we’re saying and what we’re not doing out in the field. So, we’ve just got to train good and play good.”