‘Fix your attitude’: Wayne Bennett’s blunt response to question

South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett wasn’t in the mood following his side’s loss and one journalist found himself in the firing line.

Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett has criticised his team’s attitude in a tense press conference following Saturday afternoon’s Magic Round loss to the Newcastle Knights in Brisbane, claiming they’re not playing like first-graders.

In wet conditions at Suncorp Stadium, the Knights cruised towards a commanding 30-4 victory over South Sydney, with five-eighth Fletcher Sharpe celebrating his 21st birthday with a hat-trick.

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The undermanned Rabbitohs, who conceded three tries in the opening 12 minutes, were plagued by handling errors throughout the one-sided contest, during which Jye Gray (leg) and Peter Mamouzelos (elbow) each suffered injury setbacks.

Speaking to reporters in the post-match press conference, Bennett offered a three-word response when asked about his team’s performance.

“Not very good,” he said.

Asked to elaborate, he continued: “I don’t want to go into a lot of detail about it, but the start was poor, 18 points down pretty early. After that we weren’t too bad.”

Wayne Bennett wasn’t in the mood after the loss.

The Rabbitohs were missing several first-choice players due to injury, but Bennett brushed aside questions about the club’s wounded roster.

“If we use that as an excuse, we’re not going to get any better. That’s a fact,” Bennett said.

“We’re just going to have to live with that, and we can do better than we did today.

“I don’t want my players to use it as an excuse. They all get well paid, they all think they want to be first-graders, well they’ve got to play like first-graders, simple as that.”

The Rabbitohs, currently sitting at 13th on the NRL ladder, have now suffered four-consecutive defeats, which Bennett attributed to poor attitude among the players.

Asked by a reporter how he could resolve the matter, Bennett snapped: “Well how do I fix your attitude? I can’t. Can I? Can I fix your attitude? I can’t. It’s personal.

“They’ve got to fix it, they’ve got to own it first.”

It was an ugly outing for the Rabbitohs. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Rabbitohs captain Tevita Tatola agreed: “It’s an attitude thing.

“We’ve got be honest with ourselves. We’ve all got to have a good reality check when we get home.”

Bennett confirmed that Gray had suffered a corked leg, while Mamouzelos dislocated his right elbow during the Magic Round clash.

“They can’t get (the elbow) back in right now, so he’s in a fair bit of pain,” Bennett said of Mamouzelos.

The Rabbitohs mentor didn’t know whether Gray or Mamouzelos would be fit for next week’s game against the Brisbane Broncos in Sydney, but declared that superstar Latrell Mitchell would make his long-awaited return from injury.

South Sydney will next face the Broncos at Accor Stadium on Friday, with kick-off scheduled for 8pm AEST.

Originally published as ‘Fix your attitude’: Wayne Bennett’s blunt response to question