Tom Burgess believes South Sydney's flurry of late points against Newcastle on Saturday night confirmed a basic blueprint for future success.
The Rabbitohs went down 20-18 but scored three tries in the last 15 minutes to nearly snatch victory. Burgess also had a try denied on review which he expected to be awarded.
South Sydney benefitted from all the momentum in the closing stages and their English prop reckons there was a simple reason why.
"It's running hard ... playing the ball [quickly]. That's what we just need to get back to if it's not going our way," Burgess said. "We did that [at the end] and we saw the results."
Damien Cook was a threat from dummy-half when they achieved a faster ruck. The No.9 brought halves Adam Reynolds and Cody Walker into the action and the Rabbitohs had the Knights backpedaling.
Match Highlights: Rabbitohs v Knights
Burgess forced his way to the in-goal in the 70th minute but the Bunker deemed that he lost possession in trying to score.
"I mean, I've seen them given," Burgess said.
"There was a bit of a bobble in there, it hit [a Knights player's] knee, but I thought I regained it before I got to the floor. I was pretty confident and I was pretty surprised when it wasn't given."
The front-rower conceded it was "frustrating" for Souths to have left their charge so late but he pointed out there were "good signs".
Classic Cook gets South Sydney back in the game
"I think we definitely let them out of their own half a bit too easy. Six-agains and stuff like that didn't help us early on and we just didn't react well enough to it," Burgess said.
"Our execution probably was a bit off in attack. We just didn't get into the arm wrestle, really. We were defending a lot in the first half. They probably could have scored more points.
"They gained energy off things like that, getting down the field pretty easy. And then obviously you're defending and using up your juice. It has an effect on you as a team.
"You've got to look at the positives. We did bounce back towards the end there and you've just got to look at ways of getting that earlier.
"It's mental. You've got to learn that if it doesn't go your way to not drop your head and just get on with your next job. Only you can control those things."
Burgess ran for 179 metres - more than any other forward - and made 23 tackles in an effective 43 minutes.
He's enjoying the increased demands of being a starting prop and has made more than 100 metres in all but one match in 2020.
"I'm feeling good, I'm feeling fit. That's a good thing for me. I'm moving around well at my weight – that's sort of one thing I've always managed," he said.
"I feel like I'm doing a bit more work through the middle there with Sam [Burgess] and other players not being there. I'm feeling good.
"I'm happy to take that role and I've just got to keep being consistent with it. There was a few missed tackles, obviously the error. I just want to get them out of my game."
