Souths captain Sam Burgess cut a dejected figure after his side's 64-6 loss to the Storm on Saturday night and says it didn’t help that his players couldn’t get back into the match.
The Rabbitohs missed 52 tackles on a horror night at AAMI Park, a venue the Bunnies are yet to win in seven games.
Burgess says he could only motivate his troops to a certain point but admits the Storm were just too good.
"There are only so many times you can say something," he said.
"[I said] just to do our jobs. Individually we were just missing tackles and not in the right spots at times, and [missing] a bit of focus in certain moments.
"I didn’t get much of a reaction, which is disappointing. We've got a great set of guys in there. I know how hard we are working and I know what it means to everyone. That’s why it's disappointing."
It wasn’t all one-way traffic, with the visitors defending stoutly for a 20-minute period in the first half. Hooker Damien Cook got a try disallowed which would have made the score 12-6 and they held off a number of Storm attacking raids.
With a number of young players all getting experience against the Storm's talented line-up – like Campbell Graham, who was studying for his HSC exams when he made his debut three weeks ago, second-rower Angus Crichton and lock Cameron Murray – Burgess felt they'd be better for it.
"They're very young in their careers and tonight, coming down here and playing against some of the best players in the world is a great experience for them, and a great learning curve," he said.
"As I said, we need to get better. The moment we start accepting tonight, then that's not where we want to be."
