South Sydney are the first team in 20 years to lose three straight preliminary finals, but Wayne Bennett is confident his team can only improve next season.
The Rabbitohs’ 20-16 loss to Penrith on Saturday night added another year of torment for Bunnies fans, after their stellar run from sixth to the third week of the NRL’s finals.
They were beaten by the Sydney Roosters in the 2018 grand final qualifier, before falling to Canberra last year.
In turn, it makes them the first side since Parramatta between 1998 and 2000 to fall at that stage for three consecutive years.
“I think we’re a better team than we were last year,” Bennett said.
“And if we can be better next year hopefully it’ll get us over the hurdle and put us in a grand final.
“We had a great end to the season, there’s no doubt about that. We struggled at the beginning and we struggled when we came back from COVID.
“But each week we got better and we played our best football in the last month. Lots to look forward to if we can handle it properly.”
The most electric team in the competition over the past three months, Souths were unable to replicate that fluency in attack on Saturday.
Penrith handled their edges well, while Cody Walker was well contained and Damien Cook managed just one run out of dummy-half.
But it’s scary to think how good they could be with ball in hand when back to full strength next year.
Latrell Mitchell should start the season fit on return from a hamstring injury, while James Roberts will also be able to slot back into the side.
Jai Arrow will also be added to the pack, while the likes of Bayley Sironen and Keaon Kolomatangi will no longer be in their first full season.
Their only real loss comes in the form of Ethan Lowe, with Bennett confirming the injured Queensland State of Origin second-rower would retire.
“We’ve overcome so much this year with injuries and that,” Bennett said.
“We just kept patching the team up and getting on with life.
“We’re not losing anyone that (played Penrith), and if we get the injured players back that’ll be good as well.”
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
Put Arrow in the pack next year and get Mitchell back I see a team on paper which compares very well with the great recent Manly teams. One of the top two back lines in the comp with a strong forward pack .
Nico
Roar Rookie
Most impressive is what Bennett did with the Bunnies' attack. Start of the season saw Walker and Reynolds getting in each other's way and a lot of drop ball. Since the thrashing they have Manly, Souths became the entertainers of the league, playing the type of free-wheeling attack that made the Broncos so good to watch in the 90s. They went from 17ppg in '19 to 26 ppg this year. Particularly loved seeing the halves combination between Reynolds and Walker develop, a la Walters and Langer. Hope they can go one better in '21
Greg
Roar Pro
They done very well to continue to impress after the Latrell Mitchell injury. Im surprised though so many are saying they overachieved this year. Beginning of the season I thought they were top 4 certainties and the best value bet for the premiership. I wrote them off after Mitchell's injury but it didn't slow them down at all. Will be expecting nothing less than preliminary finals again next year, and a genuine title threat if key players are fit.
Tony
Roar Guru
Crispy, if it's any consolation, I also got it badly wrong and didn't rate the Souths forwards good enough to make the 8. :shocked: They did really well, particularly with the loss of Mitchell who was starting to hit top form when he went down with injury.
Chris.P.Bacon
Guest
You must be very proud of your boys BM! I honestly didn't think they had the forwards to reach the prelims but was proven wrong. It was a fantastic run they went on playing some very attractive attacking footy - a joy to watch (especially that mauling of the Chooks). The Bunnies will be very good in '21 that's for sure. :thumbup:
Big Mig
Roar Rookie
This year was a successful year for the Bunnies given in the previous 12 months they had lost Greg Inglis, Sam Burgess, John Sutton and George Burgess. Bennett proved again to be the master coach that he is, he did an awesome job of getting an underrated forward pack into a successful team-winning formula, just as he did with the baby Broncos in the years before (then Seibs screwed it all up). The Rabbitohs rightly deserved the Prelim Finals, and matched it with an amazing record breaking Panthers team. Bennett will have the finals hardened, hard working bunnies up for it again in 2021.
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
Yep one point now.
grant
Guest
Can't understand why there were no field goal attempts from a scoring position 2 points and the opposite side kicks the ball back from center. Have rules changed since I played?