NRL 2016: Canterbury Bulldogs thrash shell-shocked South Sydney Rabbitohs in Good Friday blitzing

IT was billed as a Good Friday thriller. What unfolded can only be described as a thrashing. What went wrong for the Rabbitohs?

Bulldogs thrash Burgess-less Bunnies

Don’t blame it on Sam Burgess being out injured _ and don’t blame it on the dreaded five-day turnaround.

In the aftermath of one of the ugliest defeats of his NRL coaching career, Michael Maguire wasn’t searching for any excuses last night.

He’d just watched his team slump to one of the most embarrassing losses of his NRL coaching career with a 42-12 thumping by the rampaging Bulldogs.

It’s only the third time under Maguire’s coaching that the Bunnies have suffered a 30-point defeat, with their biggest loss against the Broncos in round 25 last year when they were hammered 47-12.

So as you might imagine, by the time Maguire made it to the post match media conference last night he was in no mode to sugarcoat the reality.

“At the end of the day it is a game where you have to put your body in front and we didn’t do that in the first half,’ a filthy Maguire said.

“So we have got to make sure we fix that.

“That game is not acceptable from where we are at so we will have to have a good look at ourselves.”

Asked what impact the absence of Burgess or the five-day back had on his team after last Sunday’s 8-6 loss to the Dragons, Maguire said: “Nothing at all there, nothing at all.

“I have a team in there that can perform better than what they did and it is up to us to make sure we do.”

But the way the Rabbitohs played yesterday, you are entitled to question how serious a force they can be this year without their inspirational forward leader.

During the week the TAB declared Sam Burgess was the equal of Johnathan Thurston when it came to having the most impact on his team, and on yesterday’s performance you could hardly argue that.

But the question about the five-day turnaround is also worthy of some kind of debate.

Despite Maguire’s unwillingness to use it as an excuse yesterday, it obviously is.

So far there five of the six teams who had to contend with the five-day back up have lost, with the Cowboys the only team to beat the odds when they downed the Roosters who were also coming off the five-day break.

Yesterday the NRL went to the bother of sending out a media release in the morning detailing their new measures to assist with short turnarounds that would include extra accommodation for travelling teams.

But it hardly makes up for the fact that they didn’t even bother to consult the Rugby League Players Association prior to the draw being released last November.

At the time RLPA president Clint Newton was furious.

“It’s disappointing that five-day turnarounds haven’t been reduced at all,” Newton said in November.

“Now we go away and think about what that means for our players moving forward.”

And we are seeing it now.

Sam Perrett of the Bulldogs scores a try.

From the moment they hit ANZ Stadium yesterday Souths looked as flat as pancakes.

But in in fairness to the Bulldogs, the way their big men went after their opposition deserved much of the credit.

On the back of their barnstorming performance, Josh Reynolds and Moses Mbye took charge and Souths’s defence was blown apart.

All up, it was eight tries to two with Josh Morris crossing for a double in his 200th game while Mbye, Craig Garvey, Will Hopoate, Sam Perrett, Chase Stanley and Curtis Rona all scored.

“It’s funny what a difference a week makes and what sport can do to you as an individual and a group,” James Graham said.

Will Hopoate of the Bulldogs (right) celebrates after scoring a try.

“Last week we were scratching our heads and looking for answers and I think we learned a lot from last week.”

Des Hasler added: “A couple of times in that first half against Parramatta we missed some opportunities to score points and I guess we kind of made amends for it this week.”

It wasn’t as if their effort against the Eels last week was poor, it’s just yesterday was more like the brutal hard running, hard hitting effort that saw them pulverise Manly in round one.

Souths now have to back up against Manly next Thursday when Sam

Burgess will be joined by his brother Tom who is also due back, while

the Dogs return to Belmore on Monday week to tackle Canberra.