Cook addresses major Souths issue after 'awful' display

South Sydney hooker Damien Cook has admitted he and his teammates are shaking their heads trying to work out the root of their on-field problems.

On his return to the side after being dropped to the reserves, Cook made five runs as the Bunnies were flogged 54-20 by the Storm on Anzac Day.

Speaking on 2GB’s Continuous Call Team on Saturday afternoon, Cook agreed with Sharks great Paul Gallen’s assessment the Bunnies had been “awful” for a side as full of quality players as they are.

FOLLOW LIVE: NRL round eight Sunday

“We’re shaking our heads trying to figure out what is going on here,” he said. “Why are we doing this and why are we playing like that?”

Cook said it was his side’s defensive resolve that needed the most work, and pointed to their performance against the Bulldogs as an example of when it all comes together.

That 20-16 victory is their lone of the season. It’s also the fewest points they’ve conceded in a match. But a week later against the Warriors, they got pumped 34-4.

That Warriors loss and their 48-6 loss to the Roosters in round three are comfortably their worst attacking efforts of the season. They’ve scored at least three tries in each of their other five matches,

“Our resilience to a second set of (defence) at the moment is not there,” Cook said.

“Go back a couple of weeks to our last victory against the Dogs, we defended almost 50 tackles inside our 20 and showed some great resilience … we lost that the week after.

“(On Thursday against the Storm), we showed some good sets where we locked them in, but as soon as we gave them a six again or a penalty … it looked like we were under stress straight away.”

This poor start to the season, coupled with their disastrous back end of 2023 has led to well-publicised uncertainty around the future of coach Jason Demetriou.

But Cook said Demetriou still had the confidence of the playing group.

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and 9Now.

“I think he’s got the whole support of the players (but) at the moment it’s just not happening,” he said.

“But we’ve still got a lot of confidence we can turn this around and click. We’ve got a great side on the roster, we just need to do what we’re trained to do come game day.

“At the moment, it’s not the best of times, but all we can do at the moment is keep going back to training and working hard.”

He said the effects of David Furner’s arrival as defensive coach were already being felt.

“I’ll say he’s done a great job and made an impact – it might not look like it at the moment, and it’s only been one week, but I’m really loving the energy and his coaching.”

The struggling Rabbitohs take on the Panthers at Accor Stadium on Thursday night.