South Sydney coach Jason Demetriou says the return of fullback Latrell Mitchell from injury next week will bring accountability to a side that has been sadly lacking in that key quality the past two months.
The Rabbitohs, in danger of slipping outside the top eight by the end of round 21, slumped to their sixth loss in eight matches in the 36-20 defeat by Brisbane on Friday night.
After leading 14-12 at half-time against the Broncos, Demetriou said his side’s performance went “from bad to worse”.
He said it was “pretty embarrassing” by the end of the match and identified a “poor attitude” and a reluctance to get in the fight physically for the performance.
Mitchell has not played since round 12 due to a calf injury. The inspirational No.1 was on the cusp of a return to action against the Broncos but was a late scratching. Demetriou said he would be back for Friday night’s clash with Wests Tigers.
“We are lacking a bit of accountability and a bit of intent, and Latrell brings that,” Demetriou said.
“Our numbers defensively when he plays are a lot better than when he doesn’t play.
“Tonight, that is on the playing group. Latrell will bring what he brings when he comes back next week but there are 16 other blokes that have got to find a better performance.
“I know he is ready to go. It is just a matter of getting more load into his calf and making sure that of next week and onwards his calf is ready to go. The decision (to delay Mitchell’s return) was made and it was the right one.”
The Rabbitohs were outstanding early in the year with their defensive clout but in the past eight games they have conceded an unacceptable 242 points.
“There are process things that we know aren’t in our system that we are doing,” Demetriou said.
“There were points where we wanted to fight. Blokes like (second-rower) Jai Arrow were absolutely ripping in (against Brisbane) and giving everything but we had too many blokes that weren’t good teammates.
"Too many of them weren’t even close to rating what is an acceptable level at NRL. Our job through the week is to find out why and fix it, because we need to fix it quick.
“I am obviously not happy with the points we are leaking but a few weeks ago when we went to New Zealand we had great defensive resolve (in a 28-6 win), one of our best performances of the season.”
The Rabbitohs were their own worst enemies against the Broncos with their poor ball control funnelling into their all-round display.
“That just creates frustration and separates your group,” Demetriou said.
“We weren’t one team out there by the end. We were a group of individuals looking for excuses, finger pointing…blame. We have got to come together and look inward. That’s myself, all the staff and the players. We’ve got to get this back on track.”
