By Dan Walsh
It started with a withering Wayne Bennett tongue-lashing, and claimed Latrell Mitchell’s home bar, Jai Arrow’s breakfast and Keaon Koloamatangi’s dessert.
To a man, the Rabbitohs are leaner and meaner in 2025 – some by as much as 10-12 kilos – after Bennett walked into Heffron Park on his first day in September last year and blasted the fitness and work ethic of his new players.
The difference is already plain to see in their 4-1 start to the year, in which South Sydney are finishing over the top of teams in the final 20 minutes and winning despite being comprehensively beaten in yardage battles and missing 40 tackles a game.
Not least, Friday’s 20-14 comeback triumph over the Roosters, which Bennett rated as one of the proudest of his 48-year coaching career, and came with just one fit player on his bench and Souths’ starting halves literally hamstrung.
As the longstanding barometer of all things South Sydney, good and bad, Mitchell’s svelte physique has been the talk of rugby league all summer.
The $1.1 million fullback is listed at 102 kilos on the Rabbitohs website after finishing last season 10 kilos heavier and has cut out booze and processed foods. Mitchell also knocked down the home bar in his garage and replaced it with a gym, ice bath and sauna.
His weight-loss efforts have been noticeably matched by Koloamatangi (down from 117kg to 107kg), who jokes that Uber Eats has lost out now he’s not ordering regular acai bowls for dessert.
Utility Bud Sullivan dropped 11kg across the course of his first summer at Souths, while Jai Arrow (down from 104kg to 96kg) has lost eight kilos as well in taking up the same 80-minute back-row role as Koloamatangi.
“I’ve lost a fair bit of weight,” Arrow said after defending out-of-position at centre against the Roosters once Cody Walker and Mikaela Ravalawa were forced off.
With the way the game’s going and the capacity of [running] for the back row, high-speed metres and things like that, I knew the workload of playing 80 minutes can put miles in the legs and fatigue you fairly quickly.
Latrell Mitchell is in the best shape of his life to start 2025.Credit: Getty Images
“So for myself it was best to drop a few kilos and see how I go. If I was getting rag dolled I’d re-assess and put some kilos back on – but so far, so good.”
The Queensland Origin veteran “isn’t a morning person anyway” so only drinks coffee until he is done training for the day, and eats a big dinner to keep himself going the next day.
Bennett’s Bunnies have adapted to the added demands of the six-again era with smaller forwards stepping out in the mould of injured skipper Cameron Murray.
Redcliffe recruit Lachlan Hubner (95kg) is a favourite of Bennett’s for his work-rate and has stepped into Murray’s No.13 jumper in his absence.
Small forward: South Sydney’s Tallis Duncan.Credit: Getty Images
Small forwards Tallis Duncan (95kg) Murray, Euan Aitken (both 96kg) and hooker Peter Mamouzelos (85kg) all weigh well under 100kg.
While props Tevita Tatola (114kg) and Davvy Moale (112kg) are the only Rabbitohs over 110kg with big man Shaquai Mitchell (listed at 116kg) out injured.
The Bunnies’ mobility and endurance is showing at the back end of games and in a scramble defence that is, statistically at least, not dissimilar to Canterbury’s last season.
Champion Data analysis shows the Rabbitohs have a 4-1 record this season between the 60th and 80th minutes this year. Wins against the Dolphins, Dragons and Roosters have all come after trailing at the hour-mark.
Their 2024 record over the same final 20 minutes was 10-13.
What makes the Rabbitohs’ winning start under Bennett even more remarkable is that only once, against the Dolphins in round one, have they run for more metres than their opposition.
Going into the Roosters clash, the Rabbitohs’ 1346 metres per game was the worst in the NRL, and the 1626 metres conceded was the most by any side.
So, too, the 13 offloads they allow each game. Their 39.5 missed tackles rank 14th in that category, and against the Roosters they missed 40 (17 more than their arch-rivals) yet still finished on top.
The Bulldogs produced similar numbers last season with their “check and release” defensive system that suits a smaller, fitter side able to scramble and cover any lapses.
South Sydney’s defence doesn’t fit the same mould as Canterbury’s, but Duncan’s 77th-minute chase-down and shove of Siua Wong into touch put the Rabbitohs’ new defensive energy on show all the same.
Bennett struggled to express the exact impact a win like last Friday’s against the Roosters can have on a side, particularly at a club that has been through the wringer in the past 18 months.
He himself questioned their commitment, fitness and effort areas the first time he saw them on his Rabbitohs return.
But like the kilos his players shed all summer, the change is now there for all to see.
Michael Chammas and Andrew “Joey” Johns dissect the upcoming NRL round, plus the latest footy news, results and analysis. Sign up for the Sin Bin newsletter.