South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett has challenged his team to do better in the big games if they want to return to premiership success.
The Rabbitohs were left chasing a 22-0 lead against Melbourne in Thursday’s opener and while getting to within six, they were forced to settle for a 26-18 loss.
Bennett described their first half as “awful” and said his team didn’t give themselves a chance, completing at 62 per cent and with 15 errors.
“I was pleased for 30 minutes and then we self-destructed again,” Bennett said.
“We had a chance to win and then did all the stupid things.
“We played for 30 minutes, and the other 50 we were just wasting our time.”
He said they needed to be able to go 80 minutes with the competition heavyweights if they had hopes of going further than last season’s preliminary final defeat.
While Souths hadn’t won at AAMI Park in nine previous attempts, they came to Melbourne with high hopes after being a stand-out in the pre-season.
“I know what the team is capable of, I’ve seen enough but we’ve got to get to these big games and do better than we do and that’s the challenge for us.”
Bennett said if there was any hype around his team, he was glad it was now gone.
“There could have been a bit of hype but there will be no hype around them now or for the next week or so, which will be good,” he said.
Benji Marshall made an immediate impact when he came on after 30 minutes to fire up the attack, with winger Alex Johnston crossing soon after.
Playing mostly as a first receiver he also had a hand in Johnston’s second as Souths clawed their way back.
Marshall, 36, joined the Rabbitohs from Wests Tigers when he appeared headed for retirement.
“I thought Benji was really good for us – he made a difference when he came on so I was pleased with that,” Bennett said.
Rabbitohs prop Tom Burgess was taken from AAMI Park to hospital for precautionary x-rays but Souths were confident his neck injury was only a “burner”.
© AAP
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