South Sydney Rabbitohs' disappointing campaign sunk to a new low on Saturday night as they slumped to a sixth consecutive defeat, losing to Brisbane by 20 points at home.
Any hopes of finals football seem all but gone for the 2014 champions, who could finish the round as low as third last on the table.
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Broncos too strong for Rabbitohs
Brisbane deliver Souths sixth straight defeat.
It wasn't just the lopsided 30-10 score in favour of the Broncos that was so painful for Souths, but the meek and lacklustre performance, particularly in defence. An abundance of stars and just as many bright young prospects highlight their roster, but for all the profile of their squad, Souths looked increasingly devoid of any confidence as Brisbane cruised to a comfortable win.
Poor handling by South Sydney was at the core of their woes with two tries conceded coming off the back of their own unforced errors in possession.
"We're just not giving ourselves an opportunity at the moment with the games we're playing, I don't think we've won the completion rate for a couple of months now," Souths coach Michael Maguire said.
"The dropped balls just created pressure and a couple of tries we should have stopped."
It began after just five minutes when Souths' hooker Cameron McInnes wasn't looking at the play when an offload went his way, allowing Brisbane to steal the ball. They made the struggling Rabbitohs pay further when Lachlan Maranta scored from the resulting set, racing his way to the line from an overlap.
Endemic of their horrendous defending of late it may have been, however the Rabbitohs showed they still have some fight left in them when Luke Keary deceived Brisbane's goal-line defence to find space and draw his side level with a try.
It gave them some hope in attack but failed to strengthen their defence, which raised plenty of questions with a meagre effort allowing Brisbane's Ben Hunt to restore their lead with a simple, solo run.
The paltry crowd that attended was left aghast at the lacklustre defending of the Rabbitohs, who leaked a third try in 19 minutes when Corey Oates beat his marker to the try-line, scoring inside of the corner post, further insulting poor defending with an incredible finish to make it 18-6.
The 21-year-old was brimming with confidence and when bursting through with another line break, he decided to simply try and overpower Rabbitohs' fullback Cody Walker en-route to the try-line. Despite carrying Walker for nearly 10 metres, he lost the ball in his finish, letting Souths off the hook.
The gloss on Brisbane's impressive first half was taken off when Jordan Kahu suffered a pectoral injury, one that may put his season in jeopardy.
"[Kahu]Â Re-aggravated his pec again so we're not sure how bad it is. It's probably no worse than what he did last time," Broncos coach Wayne Bennett said.Â
It failed to unravel the Broncos' stern defence and despite everything the Rabbitohs threw at them after the restart, they held them at bay. Maranta was unlucky to be denied a second when narrowly going into touch in his attempted finish though it was only a minor delay to the inevitable.
The Broncos effectively sealed the result when James Roberts split Souths' defence with a stunning burst of pace, turning inside Walker to score the fourth try of the evening. Anthony Milford's successful conversion made it 24-6.
Brisbane hooker Andrew McCullough was put on report for a high tackle on Angus Crichton but there was still no stopping last years' runners-up. Any hopes of a Rabbitohs comeback were dashed by Oates who pounced on yet another poor error by Souths in possession, picking up a forward pass to race 95-metres to the try line, extending the Broncos' lead to 24 points.
Souths' Walker took matter into his own hands and provided some respite from the onslaught with a brilliant individual try which he converted himself. However, it was too little, too late and unless Souths win all remaining seven games, they can start pencilling in their Mad Monday celebrations for September 5.
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