If they ever make a move about the Rabbitohs’ 2023 season, the film will be an emotional rollercoaster sure to be classified as a drama.
The word tumultuous doesn’t quite do it justice. At the halfway mark of the season you could have written your own ticket on Souths missing the top eight.
The only thing at longer odds would have been club legend Sam Burgess walking out on his beloved Bunnies.
In unbelievable scenes, both tickets ended up paying out.
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Throw in superstar fullback Latrell Mitchell missing seven games injured before getting suspended for their biggest clash of the season over a brain snap that summed up Souths’ 2023 season.
Nobody will have a longer summer trying to pick up the pieces than coach Jason Demetriou who watched the club make five straight preliminary finals before this year’s disaster.
Read on for South Sydney’s 2023 season in review.
SEASON REVIEW
2023 record: W12, L12 – 50% win rate
Grading: D
What went right: The first half of the season.
Souths sat on top of the ladder after Round 11 following six straight wins including consecutive victories against premiership heavyweights Penrith, Brisbane and Melbourne.
Then Latrell Mitchell went down with a calf injury and a slide that nobody saw coming quickly turned into a death spiral.
But we’ll focus on what went right for now.
The Rabbitohs stunned the competition when they signed 2020 Dally M Medal winner Jack Wighton in one of the biggest poachings of the past decade.
Wighton inked a deal a few days after the Rabbitohs beat the Panthers in Round 8, claiming he wanted to leave the Raiders to chase his elusive premiership. Ironically, Canberra played finals this season and Souths missed out.
Meanwhile, winger Alex Johnston continued his try-scoring heroics and bagged another 21 as he closes in on Ken Irvine’s all-time record of 212, which has now stood for over half a century.
Johnston has scored more than 20 tries in each of the past four seasons and has 187 to his name.
Young gun Tyrone Munro looks like he could make the right wing spot his own next season after making his NRL debut in Round 18 and scoring three tries in three appearances.
The Rabbitohs also unearthed talented backrower Tallis Duncan – named after Broncos legend Gorden Tallis – who made his debut in Round 13 and played seven games.
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What went wrong: Just about everything after Mitchell got injured in Blues camp following Round 12.
It’s hard to remember a spiral quite as spectacular as South Sydney’s in the second half of the 2023 season.
After beating the Wests Tigers in Round 11, they won just four of their next 13 games and were dumped out of finals contention in the last round by arch rivals the Roosters.
Mitchell returned from his calf injury in Round 22 and the Bunnies won two of their next three games, but a brain fade saw him suspended for the crunch clash against the Roosters.
Mitchell was frustrated in the final minute of a loss to the Knights when he decided to elbow former NSW teammate Tyson Frizell in the back of the head.
The 26-year-old was marched and copped a one-game ban which the club didn’t even try to overturn at the judiciary given the blatant nature of the foul play.
The losing run was compounded when Rabbitohs legend Sam Burgess walked out on the club – where he was working as an assistant coach – before their final game.
Burgess accused Jason Demetriou of not holding Mitchell and fellow superstar Cody Walker to the same standards as the rest of the team.
What started as an internal dispute blew up into a full-blown public spat, with a week of headlines culminating in Burgess and the club parting ways.
“There are some big internal issues going on there, you can’t go from the middle part of the season as competition favourites to rolling out of making finals the way they did,” NRL great Corey Parker told foxsports.com.au.
“Every week we all thought this week will be the week and it just didn’t end up happening.
“There are some huge issues going on there and I’m sure it will all come out at some point because their roster and where they finished doesn’t add up at all.”
Young halfback Lachlan Ilias came under fire for the Rabbitohs’ collapse but Parker said the criticism was way off the mark.
“He’s a young kid still learning his craft, so to pin what’s going on there on him isn’t right,” he said.
“I think he’s a solid, solid player and will be for a long time. People only remember Andrew Johns and Johnathan Thurston at the back end of their career… nobody remembers where they started.
“Cooper Cronk was a No. 14 coming off the bench just doing a job… Nathan Cleary is the only exception and he will surpass every one of those players, he’ll be the greatest No. 7 the game has ever seen if he’s able to continue on the trajectory he’s on right now, nobody will come close.”
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What they need: To get on the same page.
The Rabbitohs have an opportunity to turn the adversity they suffered this season into a positive next season.
The hurt of missing finals will burn all summer – and so it should – but they can channel that pain into preparing perfectly for 2024.
The board drew a line in the sand during the Burgess saga and declared Demetriou the man to take the club forward. Now he must get everybody buying into his philosophy.
The 51-game NRL coach should forget about trying to play favourites Wayne Bennett-style and simply treat every player equally this summer.
Egos must be left at the door because as the first half of 2023 showed, talent isn’t the problem at Heffron Park.
Going: Hame Sele (Dragons), Blake Taaffe (Bulldogs), Jed Cartwright (Knights).
Coming: Jack Wighton (Raiders).
