Social media ban and truth sessions: How Rabbitohs ended losing streak

An embarrassed Jack Wighton deleted his social media accounts and advised Rabbitohs teammates to "take a deep breath" as they plotted their first win of the season.

Wighton, who joined South Sydney after 13 seasons at Canberra, admitted he didn’t realise just how big a club the Rabbitohs were until making his debut in cardinal and myrtle the previous week against Sydney Roosters.

After crashing 48-6 to their arch-rivals before a 37,594 crowd at Allianz Stadium, the pressure on Souths coach Jason Demetriou intensified and players held an honesty session as they prepared for the Easter Friday clash against Canterbury.

“I feel for him,” Wighton said. “I've been here only recently and he's a great bloke and a great coach.

“What he’s copping he don't deserve so to get the win for ourselves, but definitely for him, is huge.”

The former Test and Origin centre scored two tries as the Rabbitohs hung on to secure a gritty 20-16 win before a crowd of 35,235.

I deleted Instagram. You’ve got to surround yourself with positive thoughts and positive people, and that's not where I was at.

Jack Wighton

The Bulldogs had 48 play-the-balls within 20 metres of South Sydney’s tryline but after leaking 112 points in their previous three losses to the Roosters, Broncos and Sea Eagles their defence held firm.

“I think the negative is we give them a lot of chances, and the positive is we stopped them, so we will take that,” Wighton said.

“We've been trying so hard. We’ve got a great team that’s been in the wars a little bit, it’s been backs against the wall, so to get them two points is just a great feeling and just a relief too.”

During their meetings after the Roosters loss, Souths players admitted that too often they had been trying to come up with a big play or a big shot in defence, but they were solo efforts.

“We were really honest [with each other] and we also said just to take a deep breath,” Wighton said.

“There was no lack of effort, and anybody who says there was a lack of effort, I think, that was just wrong. There was a lot of effort, it just wasn't effort together, and those small areas led to our losses.

“But take a breath and let’s work together, and we got there. It wasn’t perfect but it's all about getting to training, reassessing what we've done wrong again, and being a little bit better.

“That was our goal this week; to be a little bit better than last week. We were a little bit better, and we got the two points, so we’ll take it.”

However, in the lead up to the match Wighton said he felt the need to remove himself from social media as the outside noise grew after the club’s worst start to a season since 2008 left them at the bottom of the NRL ladder.

The 31-year-old had played 242 matches for the Raiders but he said the history and support for the 1908 foundation club was on a level he'd never encountered in the NRL.

“I was a bit embarrassed last week. I had a few bad errors early in the game, just purely because I was too excited,” Wighton said.

“To be honest, I deleted Instagram off my phone at the beginning of this week. You’ve got to surround yourself with positive thoughts and positive people, and that's not where I was at, so I just done that.

“There was a lot going on and, I suppose, I see what it means to be at a big club like Souths now. There was a lot of noise for the first two or three rounds and the pressure is there.

“Canberra's got a lot of beautiful history, but Souths is the oldest club in the NRL.

“It is based in the middle of Sydney, and in the middle of the biggest rugby league supporters in Australia, so that comes with the territory; that type of pressure to perform so it was good to get the two points.”