Unfortunately for Jason Demetriou, none of this will be new to him.
In between staring at the hotel ceiling after a calamitous loss to Brisbane on Thursday night, Lachlan Ilias booting the ball up Tallis Duncan’s backside will have been on replay between the coach’s ears all night. In the ad breaks, blatant blocking penalties from his front-rowers.
In a week’s time, Souths could be 0-3 after next Friday’s clash with arch-rivals the Roosters. Or, such is the undoubted talent in Demetriou’s side, Latrell Mitchell, Cody Walker, Cameron Murray and co could take the Tricolours to school.
At Suncorp Stadium, though, a crisis of confidence collided with a faith shared right across rugby league: that this side is simply too good to fall this far. Cue Demetriou’s apt description of the whole shebang as a “horror show”, putting he and his side right where they finished 2023 again: squarely in the crosshairs.
Setting aside the blooper reel for a moment, Souths’ biggest issue emerged early and, but for 10 minutes after half-time, rarely abated.
Their first attacking raid ended with Taane Milne being bundled meekly into touch on the right edge as Walker and Ilias shuffled the ball wide, looking for speed the Rabbitohs don’t have to get around Brisbane’s outside backs, who are among the quickest in the NRL.
When presented with a midfield scrum soon after and three-on-three, Damien Cook and Ilias pulled a scrum move where everything that could go wrong did. Richie Kennar’s decoy line was a metre too wide, Ilias found himself too tight as a result, Cook’s pass went astray and Alex Johnston was left to fumble a bouncing ball over the sideline.
‘Horror show’: The seven deadly sins that have Souths in the crosshairs again
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15.03.2024
Unfortunately for Jason Demetriou, none of this will be new to him.
In between staring at the hotel ceiling after a calamitous loss to Brisbane on Thursday night, Lachlan Ilias booting the ball up Tallis Duncan’s backside will have been on replay between the coach’s ears all night. In the ad breaks, blatant blocking penalties from his front-rowers.
In a week’s time, Souths could be 0-3 after next........
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