Bunnies brave but can't keep relying on miracles: Seibold
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For all the Rabbitohs' guts and grit in a fighting 16-12 loss to the Dragons, Anthony Seibold laments his side's reliance on the great escape to jag two competition points.
South Sydney staged a thrilling comeback against undefeated St George Illawarra on their own patch, storming home from a 16-2 deficit with nine minutes to play and almost pinching it at the death.
It was a similar story in last week's 20-16 defeat of Canterbury, only for the Rabbitohs to fall short this time round having come from further back.
With just 31 per cent of first-half possession Souths racked up 124 tackles to the Dragons 51, yet only trailed by a converted try at the break.
Seibold couldn't speak highly enough of the Rabbitohs' resilience, but was loath to rely on it in future.
Match: Dragons v Rabbitohs
Round 5 -
home Team
Dragons
1st Position
away Team
Rabbitohs
10th Position
Venue: Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, Sydney
"We won't give in. That’s the big take away, we kept fighting to the death and that's all of us in the group," he said.
"We keep fighting and give ourselves a chance at the back end of the game – that's what I said at halftime again tonight.
"With three minutes to go we had a penalty on their line and we could have stolen the result but we just weren't good enough tonight.
"You can't keep relying on that every weekend."
Rabbitohs press conference - Round 5
With inspirational Englishman Sam Burgess serving a two-week suspension and Adam Reynolds concussed out of the contest late, the Rabbitohs fightback is one they can hang their hat on.
The slew of errors and penalties that saw the Dragons dominate possession and field position for an energy sapping first half, they could do without.
Especially as the Rabbitohs now sit with a 2-3 record going into a bumper local derby against the Roosters next Thursday.
"It was a really good effort from the guys we certainly didn't get beaten on effort tonight but we're not happy with the result," Seibold said.
"I was really proud of our defence and our scramble, the resilience on our line.
"But any opportunities we did get we turned the ball over in the first half… we just weren't crisp enough to put a dent in them.
"Our execution in attack just wasn't good enough, we've got to be better to win against the best sides in the comp, they're top of the table for a reason."
