It all comes down to habits. Losing is a habit, and so is winning.
For a team like South Sydney, with four wins from their last 16 games, it can be a nightmare to break.
With the Bunnies, it is doubly so: their style of play, which foregrounds attacking footy, is predicated on a willingness to take risks and, inevitably, make errors, with Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell often in the firing line.
The correlation between success and errors on an individual level is well established – currently topping the count in the NRL are Tom Trbojevic and Kalyn Ponga and last year’s ‘worst’ culprit was Reece Walsh – and the ability to make mistakes without fear will be central to any recovery that coach Jason Demetriou can inspire at South Sydney.
Walker, for example, made five errors on Friday night in the landslide defeat to the Roosters, but also laid on one of Souths’ tries with a high-risk pass that put four points on a plate for Jacob Host.
The Roar asked Demetriou after the game how he would empower his players not to act with fear in this week’s Good Friday showdown with the Bulldogs despite the clear weight of pressure that was bearing down on the likes of Walker and Mitchell.
“In patches we looked good,” he said.
“Cody was getting his hands on the ball more and was as creative as he has been since the start of the season, which is a positive going forwards, but it was one of those nights where the last pass for us was forward and the last for them landed in their hands.
“You make your own luck, you know. We need to have more red and green jerseys in the frame and making sure that whatever takes we’re protecting our try line.
“We know if we can do that, there’s points in this footy team. There’s no doubt about that.
“But at the moment, we’re carrying the burden of the end of last season and we’ve carried into the start of last season. The only way to get that off our back is to train hard and play well next week. That’s what all the focus is about.”
Ahead of this week’s meeting at Accor Stadium, The Roar League Podcast spoke to elite sports psychologist Dr Jo Lukins, who has over 30 years working in the NRL and with some of the best players in the world, about how to build the mentality to cope even when errors occur.
“It’s likely for most people, including the elite, that the way you choose to interpret a situation and the ability for you to be able to flush it, is a habit of thinking,” she said.
“If you don’t pay attention to that, it will control you. You can’t do anything about it unless you notice it.
Cameron Murray talks his teammates at Allianz Stadium. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
“One thing that I say to athletes, particularly the elite, is that the first thing they need to do is pay attention.
“You’ve had something go well: where did your head go to? If something didn’t go too well: where did your head go to? Be curious about that.”
Lukin further explained that realising that time was fleeting was vital to maximising performance.
“It’s about the athlete’s ability to navigate through the three passages of time,” she said.
“All of us have three passages of time: what’s happened in the past, what’s happening to us right now and what’s going to happen in the future.
“That last moment, whether I was scoring the try or the try was scored behind me, is gone. It’s now history. It’s recent history, but it’s history.
“It’s a good chance that me standing on the field beating myself up mentally for being so terrible and letting this thing happen doesn’t get me closer to my goal of what I have to do in the next moment.
“Being able to navigate past, present and future mentally is a really important skill for athletes.
“Physically, it’s easy because you’re in the moment and I’m in the moment. I know that because neither of us have the superpowers to magic ourselves into eight o’clock tonight or what I was doing yesterday.
“Physically, you can only ever be in the moment. Mentally, you’re a time traveller.”
Johnathan Thurston (Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
Lukins worked extensively with Johnathan Thurston and used his experience in the 2015 NRL Grand Final, in which he missed a late kick in regulation time but then landed the winning field goal, as a perfect example of how a player can respond to setbacks.
“That is the example from the 2015 Grand Final is about an athlete’s ability to get their head in the right place at the right time,” she explained.
“What serves me best eight now? Where should my focus be? What do I need to be doing?
“That ability to park it, use a black box, flush it, there’s lots of different analogies used in sport that athletes have to find what’s going to work for them. It’s about spending enough time in the past to learn the lesson.
“If I was working with a player and they were walking off the field at half time, then it is useful for them in that moment to reflect on that half and see where the lessons are.
“What did they do well? Where’s the room for improvement? What happens as a result of that?
“There’s definitely merit in thinking back in that moment, because you have time to do it. Then you head into the sheds, you grab a water, you get the coach’s address and then, perhaps, as you walk out and back onto the field, your mind might gravitate to what you do next. What does this next 40 minutes look like for me?
“What I see in elite athletes is their ability to understand getting their head in the right place at the right time. It’s all timing.”
How players got over mistakes was both a question for them and for the coaches, in terms of creating an enviroment that allows the right type of mistakes to happen.
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
“In rugby league, errors are part of the game,” said Lukins.
“When you understand that and can use an error as an opportunity for learning. Coaches tell me that they don’t mind their players making errors because that means they’re out there having a go.
“They probably don’t want to make the same error four times, but errors are part of the game and it’s how you respond to them that’s going to be most important in moving forward.
“The term I use is error recovery. How do you recover from an error? It’s even the language around it. The athlete who says I just made a mistake, that was a failure, instantly that would be the first thing I’d want to talk to them about.
“Was it a failure or did it just not go the way that you want it to? What does it mean? I might define a failure for me and it might spur me on and be helpful, but someone else might say it’s a failure and they’ll have a terrible negative spiral and you might as well take them off the field.
“Everyone responds to that self talk in a different way. The art of coaching is understanding the humans in front of you and how to get the best from each of them.
“Striving for perfection is setting yourself up for failure, and where athletes will be more benefitted is focussing on excellence.”
Hear the full interview with Dr Jo Lukins on The Roar Rugby League podcast on Apple Podcasts here and on Spotify here or by searching wherever you get your podcasts.
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
Demetriou is trying to use misdirection to distract from the elephants in the room. The lack of involvement and enthusiasm by Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker and Demetriou's utter inability to discipline is star players.
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
Exceptional talent and heart can make up for a lack of size. Alan Langer, Geoff Toovey, Preston Campbell, Matt Bowen. The first 3 were smaller than Gray and Matt Bowen was only marginally bigger. Sometimes smaller guys can give bigger guys headaches. I remember Alfie Langer once picking up a rampaging Paul Sironen and driving him backwards into the ground. Geoff Toovey has done likewise on larger players as well. It comes down to heart, technique and commitment. Going high and grabbing jerseys won't work.
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
Would you make any changes to the team? Specifically Souths spine? If so who and why?
Nathan Absalom
Roar Guru
I mostly agree, but not entirely. I think that when I compare Souths to Melbourne, a striking thing is how much faster players are when they play for the Storm. Without any inside information, I would hazard a guess they have a very good sprint coach who works on their running techniques, so fast players run fast and slow players run efficiently. I'd hire a sprint coach first and hope that as a placebo it works better than the psychologist.
Hoy
Roar Guru
Losing is a disease, as contagious as polio... Losing is a disease, as contagious as syphilis... Losing is a disease, as contagious as bubonic plauge... Impacting one, but infection all. AHHH... but curable.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
The issue for me is how meaningful is the "assist"? In the case of the Brooks example, there was at least one pass inside that set up what amounted to an overlap that led to the try. The real assist was not Brooks, but the guy who threw the cutout that created the overlap. I'm sure coaches will know who really "assisted", but it's got to be kinda frustrating for players who really do the hard work early in a movement, only for someone to be given stats credit for basically doing almost nothing.
steveng
Roar Rookie
Spot on Cam and very well analyzed, as I've been harping on about when this was beginning to be apparent 2 years ago, as Souths peaked, and their last big effort was R8 against the Panthers and R9 against the Broncos in 2023 and then this side has fallen away miserably until today. Souths needs an injection of forwards as fast as possible as Tatola, ShaquaiM, Kappie are just not up to the standard to compete in NRL 2024 and especially against the top sides, as the only goers are Cam Murray and Keaon Koloamatangi who can't do it all on their own. Lets see what happens as imo Souths main problem is that 80min effort especially Mitchell as they look at each other and if their main playmakers don't have a go, they just fall away systematically and things go from bad to worse..
Andrew01
Roar Rookie
Try assists has always been a bit of a junk stat. If DCE puts up a bomb and Turbo catches it and scores - DCE gets the try assist. If DCE puts up the bomb, Turbo catches it, then pops an offload to Garrick to score, Turbo get the try assist - even though DCE's involvement was exactly the same. Similarly, Dylan Brown throws a no look pass to Shaun Lane who makes a line break, runs 10m and he scores, Brown gets the try assist. But if Brown throws the same pass to Lane, who makes a line break, runs 30m and before he gets mown down passes to Gutho to score, Lane gets the try assist. Brown contribution the same, just it was 20m further back up field. I believe they are tinkering with it a bit these days with different try involvement stats or whatever. Either way, never an exact science.
SSTID
Roar Rookie
Andrew Webster from the SMH was on TV last Sunday saying his mail was the Board has given JD until round 6 to turn things around, or otherwise he is being shipped out. If true, we will know after round 6 what his fate is. But they are no certainties against the Dogs this week (they beat them once last year), Warriors (on a roll) and Sharks (who knows there and it all depends on who turns up for both sides).
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
On the weekend, Luke Brooks was credited with "yet another try assist" by the commentators, when he threw a regulation pass about 2 metres to a bloke running unmarked outside. There's not a player in the game who could not have got that one right, but I think they wanted to continue the narrative about what a great player Brooks has now become.
Andrew01
Roar Rookie
I would warn JD that to suggest they are carrying baggage from last year, he is admitting he has failed in his job to prepare his team for the season - be it through, not addressing the issues, addressing the wrong issues, or not engaging the right professionals to help his team move on.
Andrew01
Roar Rookie
I think there are so many variables with errors. Dropping the ball on a hit up 10 out from your own line on tackle one, would seem a bigger mistake than, ball has been shifted through the hands on the last tackle and in trying to push the ball along with three guys hanging on to you, it goes forward. Kicking a ball out on the full from your own 30m, a bigger error than jumping for a 50/50 bomb on the attack and getting a touch. Making an error after your team has failed to complete its last 3 sets, would seem to have greater impact on the team mentally, than making your teams first error of the match in the 38th minute. Time, score, all sorts of variables in addition to what you raise. Same with assists. The author gave Walker a "..laid on one of Souths’ tries with a high-risk pass that put four points on a plate for Jacob Host". No he didn't. He caught the ball and shifted it along the line. Host ran a great line - but being a non-star, it didn't get recognised as such. Point being, there are assists, like say the Junior Paulo offload on the weekend for Moses, and there are assists. where a simple shift pass and the player runs a great line, or defender just misses a one-on-one tackle, and we give an assist to the pass.
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
Remember, Jye Gray has played both 5/8 and FB in Souths lower grades. So he can cover either role. So if they were to have switched places, can you honestly say you think Ilias would have gotten even half the stats that Gray got in that game?
MannyK
Roar Rookie
My comments from The Roar 2021 "If you watch south games religiously, as I do, lattrell is never in position in defence and never hungry for the important defensive plays. No urgency in defence…. ever. He was terrible vs panthers. Mansoor a couple times looked across at Mitchell wondering when the fullback was gonna take responsibility for kick catch and diffusal for a kick that was in the fullbacks catch zone. So it was easy for the panthers on Friday – kick at mansoor and or Mitchell or in between them and you’ve got a ready made error one way or the other. Once or twice a match ‘trell will amble into the oncoming defence after taking a kick. Otherwise he’ll pass to a centre or winger to hit up. OR Maybe that’s the game plan – there’s probably no point asking him to do more, he just seems not to want to do more. Except in games versus bottom 8 where even I would look good zipping into that left backline for a momentary touch of the ball."
Slammin_Sam
Roar Rookie
1000pc agree and maybe, just maybe, they are now pay the price for an average recruitment policy, backing the wrong players (and coaches for that matter) and allowing the lunatics to run the asylum....
Cam
Roar Rookie
I think there a few issues going on simultaneously at Souths, but key to their current losses is defence through the middle, which is kind of concerning, but also reassuring. Let me explain, middle defence is often less about technique and more about effort, communication and staying connected with those players around you. Lack of effort is often symptomatic of other issues, but effort can often be fixed and fixed quickly. Much like Bennett did with the Dolphins, smashed in R1 and then put on a 38-0 clinic in R2. The lack of effort from Souths forwards also impacts the one bloke having a red-hot go, with Cam Murray having to make a massive 55 tackles last week and basically killing his attacking upside. That soft middle kind of questions Souths willingness to outlay $3m in cap money for a centre, when they already had elite-level centres in Campbell Graham, Isaiah Tass, as well as arguably the best centre in the past 10 years in Latrell Mitchell. Surely Souths powerbrokers look at their poor middle rotation and say, “hang on a minute, let’s take that $3m and get Addin Fonua-Blake to the club”. Because Tatola, Moale, Keppie, Burgess and Shaquai Mitchell aren’t going to foot it with many packs this year.
Big Mig
Roar Rookie
Kevin Walters has effectively banned his players from talking about Broncos GF loss last year, the team's reviewed it and moved on. I believe the lingering issue from Souths' capitulation last year continues to cast a large shadow over them. It seems to have seeped into their mindset, impacting their confidence significantly.
Big Mig
Roar Rookie
GB, talent can sometimes outweigh physical stature, but Jye Gray is the smallest bloke I've seen on the footy field in the last 10 years. He is smaller than Taafe and that is Taafe's Archilles Heel - his size. FBs need to have size, and Gray is a FB. Total waste. As for him as a half back that is an unknown, of course we can talk about Alfie, Toovey et al but they were exceptions and now relics of a by-gone era. Physicality is often important for defensive tasks and attacking runs and at least. As for Illias that is a positive, Illias is excellent in defence and puts 100% in, I'm pretty sure if Illias was under the Storm system by now he'd be one of the best 7s in the game. My guess is Illias isn't the problem and Gray isn't the solution.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
But there's also a difference between an error of execution, eg a pass that just misses its mark and an error caused by poor form, a lack of concentration, etc. I saw Reece Walsh, for example, make plenty of the first type of error last year, but that seemed to make him more determined to get it right next time, whereas I'm seeing plenty of the second kind this year from guys down on confidence, including Walker, who then become reluctant to get adventurous.
Amesy
Roar Rookie
I hope there was also some discussion around defence and effort areas as I think that has been the biggest difference between souths and their opponents so far. The odd dropped ball, mistimed pass etc all happens and is held under a microscope when a team is out of form and losing as regularly as South have been, however, I think thats more a symptom rather than the cause. Apart from a handful of players, the effort just doesn't seem to be there, particularly in defence. To concede over 30 points a game for such an extended period is a major concern. The lack of resilience in that area and willingness to work together has been the biggest disappointment for mine. Couple this with poor kick pressure and kick chase, it's a recipe for disaster as the stats show. We all know defence is an attitude and Souths attitude stinks. If there is to be a turnaround, their attitude needs to be readjusted and hard work in defence and the other effort areas should be their priority. Do the hard work and it will be amazing how often the ball/passes start to stick.