South Sydney coach Ben Hornby has insisted his side’s Round 19 loss to the Dolphins was not as a result of poor goalkicking, despite the Rabbitohs scoring the same number of tries as their opponents.
Hornby’s side were beaten by eight points on Thursday night, though scored the same amount of tries (six) as the home side. Both Cody Walker and Taane Milne slotted just one from their three conversion attempts, but the Rabbitohs coach was adamant his side’s loss can be put down to a variety of reasons.
“It shouldn’t come down to goalkicking. We had a couple of opportunities to score points in the second half that we should have put away,” Hornby said in his post-game press conference.
“That’s not the reason we lost the game.”
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Speaking post-game, Walker, who’s only successful conversion came in the 11th minute, said his poor performance with the boot increased his respect for the game’s goalkickers.
“You probably underestimate the importance of goalkicking,” Walker said.
“I have a newfound respect for all the goalkickers in the NRL. It’s a tough ask.”
Walker took “full responsibility” for his conversion misses, though his coach was certain his side’s loss came down to more than Walker’s inability to add two points to the end of every Rabbitohs try.
“We probably started a little bit under the intensity we’ve been playing at (and) they took advantage,” Hornby said.
“Tonight we were just a little bit under where we needed to be.”
Walker agreed the Rabbitohs’ performance against the Dolphins was deficient in some of the areas that have inspired the club’s recent turnaround.
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“We probably took a step back in terms of our discipline tonight,” the 34-year-old said.
“We’re just making it hard for ourselves.
Where we’ve been good over the last couple of weeks is where we’ve probably taken a step back (tonight).
“Our discipline. Our kicking probably took a step back. Our scramble on a couple of tries in the first half probably took a step back.
South Sydney entered Round 19 in red-hot form having won five consecutive matches, and a win against their future coach Wayne Bennett would’ve gone a long way to making their faint finals dream feel like a more achievable reality.
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Despite the loss, which widens the divide between the Rabbitohs and the top eight, Walker believes his side can rebound and make a late push for the finals, so long as the team don’t get too far ahead of themselves.
“We can’t keep looking at what three weeks down the track,” he said.
“Our most important game is always our next game.
We need to dust ourselves off, work out where we need to be better and go into next week’s game.”
Source Agencies
