Dominic Young, Jason Demetriou, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Cody Walker, Round 4 vs Bulldogs – MASHAHER

The Rabbitohs have come under fire for failing to secure the services of Dom Young as their squad was blasted as slow amid calls for a rebuild of the club’s roster.

“Jason Demetriou is facing the toughest test of his short career after the Rabbitohs were obliterated by the Roosters on Friday night,” Braith Anasta said on NRL 360.

“Despite the mounting pressure, the coach is adamant he can turn things around.

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“This is the big story of the NRL at the moment, the poor form of the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

“The coach is still confident that he can get this team back this year, but the start has been very ordinary to say the least. What is going on at the Bunnies?”

Gorden Tallis believes Souths are struggling to meat fire with fire in their pack,

“It’s really been a tough start,” Tallis said.

“He just said the right things. They’ve got to train hard and turn it around, but I still, I believe their forward pack doesn’t have the punch in them and they’re playing off the back foot.

“They haven’t beat anybody up since Sam Burgess and Ben Te’o left and that’s my opinion.

“I don’t think that their pack dominates. I think they play off the back foot.”

However, Paul Kent believes Souths are also lacking speed out wide.

“And they’re slow out wide,” Kent said.

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“Alex Johnson’s not slow. Alex Johnson could beat the rest of them wearing thongs.

“But the rest are slow, trust me. Adam Reynolds, who two years ago they said was busted and got out of there, ran down Cody Walker the other day.”

However Kent believes selections are not the root of the problems at Souths.

“That’s the surface level of the problem,” Kent said.

“The problems go much deeper at the club. The club’s got this refusal to actually admit to it. “There’s a couple of things you don’t want to hear if you’re a fan. One is the coach’s got the full support of the board. That’s yet to be said.

“Another one you don’t want to hear is the coach coming out saying, I’m the man to turn them around.

“Now, when I hear Jason Demetriou say that, and look, I’m not going to go after his job, right? I like the man. I think he’s a good person. I think he deserves a chance.

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“But if I’m giving him advice, he’s saying too much because he’s got nowhere to go. He came out last Thursday the day before the game and he gave all these answers about no, we’ve handled it. We’ve dealt with it. Then they went out and they got 48 put on him by the Roosters the next day.

“So what he said after the game is exactly what he said before the game, except there’s a 48 point flogging in between.

“He came out after the game, he gave all the correct PR answers, but he’s given himself nowhere now to go.

“If they don’t win, if they don’t start winning immediately and they don’t start putting some wins together, you’re going to go, well, hang on, this is the guy who told us a month ago, he’s got the answers. We need to start working on it. Well, where is it? You’ve got to have somewhere to go.”

Anasta believes Souths are not getting the basics right and need to show more commitment.

“That’s what worries me. They’re lacking energy. They’re lacking enthusiasm. They’re lacking intent,” Anasta said.

“They’re the simple things really that create successful rugby league teams, but they’re the basics.

“You talk about a lack of confidence. They’ve got a lack of confidence at the moment, which therefore all of them have got doubt in their mind, which causes hesitation.

“And hesitation in rugby league is a killer. They’re not jumping on the loose ball. The one percenters is their kick chase. Their speed of the line.

“These are all pretty simple things that you’ve got to be good at to compete in this competition.

“And they couldn’t get that right against their arch enemy on the weekend with their backs against the wall.”

Anasta believes Demetriou is guilty of making too many changes in a bid to spark his side into action.

“You mentioned positional changes and I feel like JD is throwing darts at the moment a little bit,” Anasta said.

“You’ve got Hawkins coming in for Ilias. Not sure about that. Then you’ve got Havili starting, Cook back to the bench. Not sure about that.

“And then this week I’m hearing they could make a few more changes. But is he making the right changes? And is there a clear vision behind these decisions?”

“I don’t think he has got the right squad,” Kent interjected.

James Hooper believes Demetriou is being forced into rash decisions due to the mounting losses.

“I think they’re panic decisions because of the poor results and the way that they’ve started,” Hooper said.

“I think the plan going in was that they were going to win games, Lachie was going to be the halfback.

“JD’s gone on the record saying that Lachlan Ilias will be one of the greatest halfbacks South Sydney’s ever produced.

“He has pushed all in on him a long, long time ago, and now to abandon him at this stage. I don’t think it’s a right call.”

Kent believes Souths are in need of a roster overhaul, which sparked debate about the squad they have assembled.

“They’re in need of a rebuild the Rabbitohs,” Kent said.

“I think the signs started to come last year. No one really identified it, but I think the way they’ve gone this year, they are getting beaten up through the middle, so they had some authority in there.

“They can’t rebuild,” Anasta said.

“They’ve got representative players all through their forward pack,” Hooper said.

Cameron Murray is a superstar. Jai Arrow plays for Queensland. Keaon Koloamatangi played for New South Wales. Tom Burgess plays for England.

“And they’ve just re-signed Cook, Walker and Latrell on big Deals, so where’s the money to rebuild?” Anasta asked.

“Perhaps where they’ve erred is that they’ve pushed all in big money on those three key position players, and at the moment, they’re not getting value for money,” Hooper said.

Anasta revealed Souths had Dom Young signed before he eventually switched to the Roosters due to club infighting.

“You talk about speed, and you’ve mentioned it a few times, a lack of speed. Now, they had a chance to get Dom Young and Addo-Carr and missed out,” Anasta said.

Kent revealed that Sam Burgess delivered fellow Englishmen Young to Souths, but they blew the deal.

“Well hello, Dom Young was delivered on a plate last year by Sam Burgess,” Kent said.

“Ready to go. All done. Agreed. And because of the infighting at the club, which they still deny actually happens.

“But then Dom Young was knocked back by the coaching staff, didn’t go there. He’s gone to the Roosters, kicks on.

“And the fact that they are so light on speed, and they’ve knocked back a guy like this who honestly, they couldn’t get near him on the weekend.

“It just shows it makes you wonder about the decisions that are being made within the club.

“Addo-Carr flirted around the club a few years back before he went to Canterbury.

“He was willing to go there, wanted to go there and for whatever reason, the club said no. “Again, another absolute flyer. Another guy that you just give in the ball, and off he goes.

“And when you see that, to your point, the Broncos really exposed lack of speed that’s in South Sydney.

“Mariner and Cobbo and all that. They just really exposed where South Sydney are at. They made numerous breaks, and within about 15, 20 metres, they were run down.”

Anasta was stunned the club passed on Young, which sparked a fiery debate.

“The glaring one is Dom Young because they had him,” Anasta said.

“He was there. He was over the line.”

“I think the coaching staff stepped in, because Sam had basically played a key pivotal role in making the introductions and everything, getting the deal done,” Hooper said.

Kent believes the lack of clarity and decision making is a worrying sign for Souths fans.

“So the problem with that for the club, and this is what Souths fans have got a right to start getting the shits a bit,” Kent said.

“Souths are in denial about any sort of stuff going on, whereas it is very clear that the internal fighting within the club was such an issue that Dom Young, who was ready to go there, didn’t go there.

“Yet the internal fighting stopped that happening. And yet the club sits back and goes, there’s nothing going on here. It’s a media beat-up. People just don’t want us to be successful. That’s a load of rubbish.”

“They need to stop playing the blame game,” Hooper said.

“Stop blaming everybody else because it is imploding internally.”