Bunnies believe they can defy 113 years of history despite 50-point rout

Damien Cook is adamant the Rabbitohs are still in premiership contention despite history suggesting the club's title hopes could be over following last week's loss to the Storm.

The Rabbitohs were pummelled by the premiers 50-0 on Thursday to suffer their biggest defeat since 2006 in a result that coach Wayne Bennett feared coming even though they had been on a seven-game winning streak.

The heavy defeat means they would have to defy 113 years of premiership history to win the title as no side has lifted the trophy after conceding 50 points in a match during the regular season.

The 49 points conceded by Newcastle to Cronulla in 2001 is the highest total a team has allowed in a match before going on to win the premiership. 

"I know history says a team should never do that but the rules have changed this year so why not change history as well," Cook responded on Monday.  

"It hasn't knocked our confidence one bit, at all. We always knew it was going to be a tough game coming up against Melbourne. The scoreline did blow out.

"They did not give us a chance. I felt like we started well but from the chance, we had the disallowed try we had made a few errors, gave away a few penalties and just didn't turn up.

"I felt like the weeks leading in, the good sides get away with the win and that's what we did but there might've been some issues there we didn't bring to light because we won the game.

"To their credit, they nailed every opportunity they got. They don't miss their opportunities."

Bunnies prop Tom Burgess saw the lighter side to the result, referring to their efforts as a one-sided boxing bout while indicating the side had still only lost to one club this season after their season-opening loss to Melbourne in March.

"It was a bit like boxing, you go into it confident and then you get punched in the face," he said.

"We've just got to dust ourselves off this week and not get too down about it. Melbourne are a great team and can do that to most teams if they're off.

"You could tell [Bennett] was disappointed and embarrassed like we all were. You wear the shirt and want to do it proud, but we didn't do it proud."

Meanwhile, Cook said he had no follow-up issues with a knee scare suffered in the first half of last week's loss.

The NSW hooker was twisted awkwardly in a tackle from Cameron Munster with fears of a serious injury as the Storm scored their fourth try.

"It scared the shit out of me, to be honest," Cook said.

"But once I got going again it was all good. It more scared me when it happened and was a bit sore at the start but now it didn't swell up and I got through the rest of the game."

Rabbitohs teammate Adam Reynolds joined the squad for catching and passing drills on Monday morning but is no guarantee to make an early return from a thumb injury.