South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett remains optimistic about his team’s NRL title chances despite falling short in their top-four clash with Melbourne.
Playing without inspirational skipper Sam Burgess, the Rabbitohs showed plenty of courage in coming back from a two-try deficit to draw level on Sunday.
However Storm stars Cameron Smith and Cameron Murray delivered late to leave the league’s pacesetters on the cusp of officially claiming the minor premiership.
But when it comes to the major prize, Bennett saw enough in the performance in Gosford to believe he could still bring glory, glory to South Sydney.
“Yeah well, (the players) feel that,” the seven-time premiership-winning coach said.
“If we had played like we did last week (in the loss) against Cronulla, I would’ve said, ‘We might as well not turn up in September.’
“But we’ve shown some real quality there (on Sunday night). Not perfect, but most of the things that we can do better, we can fix up.”
The return of Burgess will likely bridge the gap, with the English international missing the match because of a minor quad strain.
He remains questionable for next week’s tricky encounter with Canterbury, who sit second last but have claimed victory in four of their past six.
Centre Braidon Burns is a week-to-week proposition due to a hamstring injury, while Sam’s brother George won’t be back until the finals.
Bennett insists there is belief in his team even after losing Sam last week.
“We didn’t know until (Saturday) morning that he was out. But I gotta say, none of them blinked,” Bennett said.
“They just said, ‘Okay coach, let’s get on with it.’
“So they gave me a feeling of confidence that they were up for a tough game but they were also up to do that without Sam.
“I think it was a really good performance by them to do that. He’s such an instrumental player in the team and his leadership is second to none.”
Bennett also allayed concerns over halfback Adam Reynolds, whose back seized up midway through the second half but finished the match.
“He’s got a lower back problem that he’s had since he got the (back) fracture, and it’s just seizing up on him,” Bennett said.
“He couldn’t train Saturday because it was sore through the week… It should’ve been gone by now, but it hasn’t. Obviously we’ve got to manage it now.”