Penrith captain Luke Lewis had a typically no-nonsense summation of his side’s 40-24 NRL thrashing at the hands of South Sydney on Sunday.
“We were shit, they were good,” said Lewis.
After a spirited victory over the Sydney Roosters last week, the Panthers fell back to earth with a thud at Centrebet Stadium on Sunday, overrun by a rampant Rabbitohs side that had their measure from the opening whistle.
“They outplayed us everywhere … everything they did was faster than us and you see what happens,” Lewis said.
From the moment five-eighth Travis Burns dropped the ball off the kick-off, the home side were on the back foot and South Sydney never let up.
Three tries in the opening 13 minutes gave them a lead they would never give up, despite a valiant first half fightback that drew the Panthers to within six points nearing halftime.
“We were just outplayed today in every facet,” coach Ivan Cleary conceded.
“They were too big, too strong.
“In both halves we started poorly and (that put us) behind the eight ball … the best side won.
“We fought back, admirably (but) were beaten to the punch at the start of both halves. That’s probably an understatement actually.”
Penrith now face a short turnaround and have just five days to work out what went wrong before they travel to Parramatta to face the winless Eels.
“It’s pretty obvious what went wrong,” Cleary said.
“It’s pretty hard to win footy games if you start the game in that fashion.”
Despite his early error, Burns was a shining light for the Panthers, scoring a try in each half in a typically tireless performance.
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