After the club failed to make the finals, despite sitting in first place on the ladder, former NRL player Denan Kemp has revealed he is concerned for the future of the Rabbitohs.
In Round 11 and with the Rabbitohs sitting on top of the NRL ladder, many pundits believed that the club would receive retribution for their preliminary final loss last season and would be an easy shoo-in for the Grand Final.ย
However, South Sydney would take a dramatic fall after multiple on-field and off-field issues. Not only did they lose the top spot on the ladder, but they would end up not even making the top eight, in what can only be described as a fall from grace.
Now, former NRL winger Denan Kemp has revealed his concerns for the club and believes things will get worse for them in the future rather than better.
โMy biggest concern out of all three of those teams is the Bunnies,โ Kemp said on SEN 1170 The Captain's Run.
โIt's one thing to just have bad form and fall out of finals footy, it's another thing (to) have all the drama off the field (that's) what I'm more concerned about.
โNearly every club, sometimes they just don't play good footy for whatever reason it's just not clicking but the concern for the Rabbitohs is, at the very least in the last game we would see some semblance of, they were united, but they were nowhere near where they should be in regards to effort.
โWhen I see that I go, โI don't really feel like the off-field stuff is resolved'.โ
Kemp's comments were backed up by Melbourne Storm legend Cameron Smith, who believes the off-field issues, including the fallout with Sam Burgess and comments of Rod Churchill, played a part in them missing the finals.
โThere's a lot going on there I feel, a lot, I think with some of the things that you hear have happened at the organisation, I think people are deeply hurt by it,โ Smith added.
โMaybe it might take more than a fortnight to get over, it's a shame because they're a great footy club, they've got a great history, this current side, it's a team that should be playing finals.
โThey were leading the comp in May, from about Round 12 or 13, they just looked a shadow of themselves.โ
