South Sydney’s faltering NRL season reveals a playing roster whose desire has disappeared

SOUTH Sydney look big, cumbersome and unfit. Maybe these are byproducts of a team whose desire to achieve great things has disappeared, writes MATTHEW JOHNS.

Johns: Success ruined the Rabbitohs

SOUTH Sydney Rabbitohs have not adapted at all well to changes to the game in 2016.

The reduction in interchange and the shot clocks have seen fast, mobile men dominating the giants of the middle defence, because the big men can no longer dominate the rucks through wrestling.

Souths look big, cumbersome — and I’d never thought I’d say this about this Rabbitohs squad — but they look unfit.

Maybe all these things are simply byproducts of a team whose desire to achieve great things has disappeared.

There were not so subtle hints last year, a season that started to fall to pieces midyear and coach Michael Maguire questioning his players’ hunger to go back-to-back.

By finals time Souths were a shadow of their former selves and continue to be.

In 2016 so far the Rabbitohs have had two performances of note; a round one smashing of the Roosters and a round two annihilation of the Newcastle Knights. Looking back, there’s plenty of context in both victories.

The Roosters, reeling from a horrific pre-season and Newcastle, a young inexperienced team who are facing an uphill battle to avoid the wooden spoon.

Their only other win came in round five against Manly, a match in which the Sea Eagles showed where the true vulnerability in Souths lies.

After skipping away to an early 16-0 lead, Souths suddenly were under siege from a Manly side who altered tactics and started running their speed men in and around the Rabbitohs’ middle forwards. Souths somehow held on to victory, but were completely out on their feet, and looked vulnerable.

The Souths middle defence were once the backbone of their success, but that has changed dramatically. In 2016 so far, that middle defence has conceded more soft tries than the previous three seasons combined.

While many in rugby league circles believe it’s a case of the playing group being burnt out from a relentless training regimen, it may actually be the opposite.

I wrote in The Daily Telegraph’s NRL season preview that the talk in rugby league was that the players had gone to coach Maguire and asked him to lower the intensity of training.

Maguire is from the Craig Bellamy school of rugby league conditioning, in that it’s a tough, hard, military style operation.

Bellamy learnt it from Wayne Bennett. It’s fair to say this type of conditioning, which installs physical and mental hardness, has delivered Bellamy and Bennett great success.

It also delivered Souths their first title since 1971. But after winning the premiership in 2014, the Souths players began to grow tired of that level of intense training.

South Sydney players are rumoured to be tired of coach Michael Maguire’s methods.

Stories started to circulate that some players were choosing to leave Souths rather than endure another summer of physical torture. Word is, leading into this season Maguire listened to the players and pulled back on the training intensity.

Rumours surround losing teams like fleas on an old brown dog, but this was a story before a ball was kicked in 2016.

If Souths were top of the table I’d be talking about the benefits of a fresher Rabbitohs squad, but the bottom line is they’re struggling.

The very fact players went to Maguire requesting a less intense regimen must in itself signal a drop in desire.

My old coach Warren Ryan used to say “Nothing weakens a player’s resolve like success and positive press”, and deservedly this Souths squad have enjoyed plenty of both in recent years.

Handling success can be difficult; it’s the true mark of a champion.

No amount of titles has seen Cameron Smith ask Bellamy to change his ways, and it’s why Melbourne remain a constant title contender year after year.

Sam Burgess’s NRL return hasn’t exactly gone to plan.

If ever there was a season which requires a player to be rock hard fit, it’s this one. Cardiovascular endurance hasn’t been so important since the early 1990s.

I’ve never known a player who loves a preseason. Getting flogged until you’re physically sick remains my least favourite memory of the game, but it’s a vital ingredient in success.

Souths aren’t the first playing group to front their coach asking for a lighter load. But sometimes it’s a case of being careful what you wish for.

Maguire’s hardcore training methods took George and Tom Burgess from being a couple of fringe first-graders to household names.

George was the most damaging front-rower in the NRL. So far this year both are a shadow of themselves.

It’s the fringe first graders who most need tough, hard training. Again it’s why Bellamy takes journeymen and turns them into very good players. What they lack in talent, they make up for in physical and mental toughness.

Greg Inglis loss of form still hasn’t been cleared up.

Sam Burgess isn’t near peak fitness but his champion qualities get him through the 80 minutes, although at this stage that little bit of explosiveness is still missing.

While Greg Inglis must be carrying a significant knee injury, he’s nowhere near himself.

Souths are no doubt missing Issac Luke and the underestimated Chris McQueen.

But their most significant loss is desire. On Friday night Souths take on their former selves. A hard, fit, hungry Brisbane team determined to win this year’s title.

The Broncos have adjusted perfectly to the aforementioned changes in the game. Anthony Milford is terrorising middle defences. He and Ben Hunt make more defenders miss than any other halves combination in the game.

On form and attitude it’s hard to see anything but a Broncos victory.

Originally published as South Sydney’s faltering NRL season reveals a playing roster whose desire has disappeared