With the coaching decision now made, eyes will turn to the roster calls that have contributed to the downfall of Jason Demetriou.
The one that looms largest is the decision to offer Adam Reynolds a one-year contract when he wanted three.
Standing before the media on Wednesday morning to explain the Demetriou sacking and lay out a vision for the future, South Sydney CEO Blake Solly was asked if he regretted the club’s call to “let Reynolds go”.
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He corrected the journalist, arguing that the Rabbitohs wanted the star halfback to stick around, just not on his terms.
Solly added that the Rabbitohs were in no position to offer Reynolds the contract he desired due to salary cap constraints but few will buy that comment.
Ask Bulldogs general manager Phil Gould about the player market and he’ll tell you it’s never been more fluid. Salary caps that are bent out of shape can be straightened up easily enough, it’s all about priorities.
Simply put, the Rabbitohs prioritised other players due to their misplaced faith in Lachlan Ilias to seamlessly take over the No.7 jersey and keep the premiership window wide open.
Ilias was just 21 when he was given that responsibility.
A cursory glance across the NRL is all that’s needed to reaffirm what Andrew Johns has been saying about halfbacks for several years now: they don’t mature until their mid to late twenties and they don’t start to dominate until they turn 30.
The only game managing half who has effectively bucked that trend in the last five years has been Nathan Cleary and he’s proving to be one in a million.
Despite Solly’s reluctance to admit it, the Rabbitohs gambled the house on an unproven youngster and lost when they had one of the best halfbacks in the NRL in their grasp.
When that decision was first made Demetriou doubled down with a statement that raised eyebrows at the time and looks truly foolish now: Ilias would be “the best halfback the club has had in a long time”.
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It was more than likely designed to give his young No.7 confidence, but it came across as flat out disrespect to the club’s only premiership halfback for 43 years.
Reynolds had just turned 31 at the time he departed the Rabbitohs and despite private concerns that a chronic knee injury would slow him down and then send him into retirement before he could deliver another title, he’s still going strong in Brisbane and looks every bit the key jigsaw piece of a premiership puzzle.
With Ilias sent packing after breaking his leg in reserve grade, the bungled handling of Reynolds’ contract negotiation that led to his exit is no longer defensible.
His absence from a team that is searching for answers is glaring.
Asked at Wednesday’s press conference if a player cleanout was on the cards, Solly was bullish about the talent available to interim coach Ben Hornby and the permanent coach who takes over in 2025.
Yet, even accepting that the Rabbitohs have been dealt a shocking hand this season due to injuries and suspensions, there are serious questions to be answered about the balance of the current roster.
Star five-eighth Cody Walker is 34 and is off contract at the end of next season. Even if Souths believe he has one more year in him after that, it’s unlikely he’ll be around long enough to win a premiership unless the Rabbitohs can find a halfback capable of getting the team around.
As Demetriou was being sacked, the Rabbitohs head of football was in the UK attempting to sign St Helens halfback Lewis Dodd.
The 22-year-old Englishman looks an exceptional talent but is he, like Cleary, a one in a million unicorn who can take charge of a premiership contending team in his early twenties? If not, the chances are the Rabbitohs are at the start of a rebuild that will put Walker into retirement before they are capable of mounting a challenge.
Meanwhile, Reynolds and the Broncos look best placed to end the Panthers’ dynasty and potentially start one of their own.
