Paul Crawley believes the Souths are in danger of burning skipper Cameron Murray out as questions surround their ability to win a title with their current roster after five straight preliminary finals.
Souths led 12-0 in the preliminary final, before falling apart and must now face the reality they have failed to win a premiership despite a sustained period of success and near misses.
“I think they are killing him,” Crawley said of Murray on NRL 360.
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“He plays 80 minutes. The pressure was lifted on him this year with Adam Reynolds going.
“He became the link to the right side. If you put his stats up against Isaah Yeo, who are both world class locks, Cameron had 30 touches and Yeo had 25.
“Cameron made 51 tackles and Yeo made about 30. They do roughly the same runs.
“But I just think there is just too much pressure on this guy and it will shorten his career if they don’t give him a bit of a break.
“Out there on the weekend he could not have tried any harder. He needed a break, but they had nothing on the bench. But you have still got to take him off and give him a break.”
Crawley conceded the Rabbitohs were not helped by injuries and suspension to key forwards, but believes Souths need to use Murray more wisely to keep him fresh for the back end of games.
“They were missing Tom Burgess and Havili, but it was clear he needed a break,” Crawley said.
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“He needed to be the link, so when Latrell wasn’t getting involved in those sets late in the game it was because Murray wasn’t there.
“Reynolds is not there anymore and Ilias plays right side and pretty much stays there.
“They would be terribly disappointed with how that fell apart because they built a very strong lead, which was potentially match winning and they fell apart in the second half.
“They did lose it in that three minutes before halftime, but even towards the final 20 minutes there was still time to win that game.
“But Cody Walker dropped off. Latrell Mitchell had dropped off. Something had happened with their psyche. They weren’t ready to win that game.”
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However, Dave Riccio believes there would be uproar if Murray was taken off in a preliminary final.
“I would have concerns if you are taking your captain off in a preliminary final,” Riccio said.
“He is their link man and you are taking him off the field? Imagine what we would be saying then.”
“He was shot,” Crawley replied.
“You can give him a small break. I was watching and he was just shot the poor guy.”
Braith Anasta questioned if Souths need to improve their roster or just let the team evolve in its current form.
“So who do they buy or who do they re-sign and who don’t they re-sign?” Anasta said.
“Where do Souths go from here? Do they have the team to win the competition because they are not going to buy anyone else. They might buy one or two, but they want to keep that nucleus together.
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“Surely as they grow as a team. Latrell is only going to get better as well. He is only young.”
Paul Kent believes halfback Lachlan Ilias’ development is the key to the side’s success.
“You just wait for the natural progression of the halfback,” Kent said.
“Ilias was in his first season. he will be better next year for it. He will just naturally progress.”
Riccio believes Mitchell needs to be at the peak of his powers for Souths to win the title.
“When Latrell is at his best they can win the competition and that’s the question,” Riccio said.
Anasta believes Mitchell needs to shorten the gap between his best and worst performances after he went missing against Penrith.
“He needs to be not only at his best, he has got to be close to it even at his worst,” Anasta said.
“On the weekend he wasn’t in the game. He just wasn’t there. As soon as he wasn’t in that game, you could see it in his body language and his mannerisms early.
“He had an amazing year and they wouldn’t have been there without him, but you could tell Souths were in trouble.”
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Calls for Mitchell to move to centre came after the preliminary final, but Crawley warned that could take him out of the game even more.
“I guess that is the question, if you go back to the Cronulla game six or seven weeks ago where Latrell ended up playing in the centres for the second half and just never got himself into the game,” Crawley said.
“Going forward he is never going to be that Dylan Edwards or James Tedesco 25 runs a game fullback, but is he going to be the fullback that is going to get you to a premiership?”
Kent believes Mitchell needs to do more with less touches to justify his position at fullback.
“If he is going to only have 10 or 15 runs like he does have then they need to be better than what they were the other night,” Kent said.
“He only had seven runs the other night,” Crawley said.
Riccio believes Souths will stick solid with their current squad after they re-sign Mitchell, Walker and Cook, rather than go to market for star reinforcements.
“They won’t be making key buys,” Riccio said.
“They just don’t have the salary cap space at this point in time. I think it will be a case of trying to keep the squad together to the point of Latrell Mitchell re-signing.
“Cody Walker as well, it will be interesting to see the length of the contract that they go down the path there.
“But it won’t be about making big buys.”
Anasta believes key departures from the Panthers and Eels could yet open the door for Souths to win a premiership if they can keep their squad together.
“They have got the right team because let’s also remember that the Panthers are going to lose a couple of players next year and a couple of players the year after,” Anasta said.
“Parramatta are losing a couple of players. Souths are going to have that same team and they got close.”
Crawley still feels Souths had a strong season and can build on it for next year.
“It was a successful season,” Crawley said.
“They were 12-nil up in a preliminary final.”
