Souths coach Jason Demetriou accused his side of not valuing the two points in their upset 36-16 loss to the Eels and believes his side’s kicking game wasn’t up to scratch.
The Rabbitohs had plenty of motivation in Indigenous Round, but Demetriou believes they went away form what has worked for them in the last six weeks.
“The motivation is there, but you have still got to nail your process and we just didn’t do that,” Demetriou said.
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South Sydney Rabbitohs Press Conference | 04:12
“They were more motivated than us in key areas of the game and you have got to credit Parramatta. They came to play.
“When we did get through our sets we were not ending them well.
“We were giving them field position and we put our forwards under a lot of pressure and we didn’t handle that pressure.
“We haven’t conceded six tries like that. The last four weeks we conceded six combined.
“It was a good lesson for us. We have got to find ways to be on the up every week.”
Souths clawed their way back to lead early in the second half, but again Demetriou felt his side let themselves down and were out-enthused by the Eels.
“We go 16-12 up and early in the second half and our process just breaks down,” Demetriou said.
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“We didn’t get to the end of our sets. Our discipline let us down a little bit with six agains and kicking the ball out on the full.
“In the end the pressure just turned too much and I felt like we were just waiting for something to happen instead of making it happen.
“We weren’t great, but I thought you have got to give credit to Parramatta. I thought they were excellent.”
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Parramatta Eels Press Conference | 04:26
Demetriou isn’t about to panic, but conceded his side need to be a lot better with their kicking game and value every game they play to get to where they want to go.
“It’s not worrying,” Demetriou said.
“Our forwards have been outstanding for the whole season so far.
“We weren’t quite at that mark tonight and that happens. If you are not there you will get turned over and it is a good lesson for us.
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“If I’m being brutally honest I don’t think we valued the two points as much as we should have tonight and that’s a good lesson for us.
“We probably just expected things to happen and going up early in the second half made us a bit more comfortable than we were.
“We didn’t kick well and when we did we piggy backed them out, so we spent a large part of the game playing off our own line and in the end fatigue took its toll on us.”