Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou has called out his side's performance against the Cowboys, claiming they won't make the finals unless they are able to turn things around.
South Sydney have lost four of their past five games, dropping them into 8th spot on the NRL ladder as the ongoing absence of Latrell Mitchell continues to plague their football.
Their latest effort was perhaps the most concerning, falling 31-6 at their home ground on Sunday to North Queensland, who were also missing their marquee man in Jason Taumalolo.
Speaking to the media after the game, Demetriou was scathing in his review of the performance and urged his team to fix their attitude issues heading into the business-end of the season.
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“They played like a team that was motivated and knows that they need to get results like this to keep their season alive... we played like a team that is probably comfortable, to be honest," he said.
"I thought in the first-half, we were resilient and defended quite well, but just way too many dumb things in the game that put us under pressure.
"Our attitude to our defence is a problem, there’s no doubt about that.
“There were probably half a dozen dumb things… it just shows we are trying to solve things individually and we’re not sticking – we’ve got to stay together.
“If we wait any longer, we won’t be in the finals – it’s as simple as that. We’ve done a great job to put ourselves in a position to have a crack at this competition, but unless we get back on the horse and get back to being the Rabbitohs that we have been – we’ll be in some trouble.
"The competition is tight and if you win two or three in a row, you’re flying and if you lose two or three in a row, you’re under pressure and that’s where we find ourselves.
"The beauty of where we are at is that we know the team is in there is a high-quality footy team – they’ve just got to get back to the things that we value and live them a bit better."
Jason Demetriou's honest call over Cody Walker performance
With their superstar fullback in Mitchell sidelined until Round 21 with a lingering calf issue, the attack for the Rabbitohs has become a shell of what we've seen over the past 18 months.
Cody Walker produced an uncharacteristically poor display against the Cowboys, while the likes of Lachlan Ilias and Blake Taaffe struggled to make an impact.
Quizzed on whether or not Latrell's injury was placing extra pressure on Walker's shoulders in the No.6 jumper, Demetriou didn't shy away from the truth.
“I think so, a little bit yeah – but we’ve got to step up and deal with that," he said.
"But he’s not there, so there’s no point worrying about whether he is or he isn’t. We’ve got to come up with ways to ease the pressure on Cody. The best way to handle pressure is not conceding points – if you don’t want to be under pressure, defend your line.
“Latrell is a world-class player… we miss him, there’s no doubt about that. But he doesn’t stop six tries, he’s not gonna be out there to stop that.
"I can understand with our attack, maybe he is gonna offer us plenty, but some of the long-range tries are just poor."
