South Sydney Rabbitohs coach Ben Hornby has waived away suggestions that Cody Walker's goal kicking cost his side two points against the Dolphins on Thursday evening during the opening match of Round 19.
In a game that finished with the Dolphins taking a 36 points to 28 victory over South Sydney, Walker kicked just one from five, before handing duties over to Taane Milne for the final kick of the game.
The contest finished six tries a piece in a high-scoring nail-biter, but the difference on the scoreboard was ultimately Jamayne Isaako managing to nail six from six conversions.
While Cody Walker admitted he had a "newfound respect" for goal kickers after taking over duties from the injured Latrell Mitchell, who will miss a month of action with a foot injury, Hornby said it wasn't the reason they lost.
โIt shouldn't come down to goalkicking. We had a couple of opportunities to score points in the second half that we should have put away,โ Hornby said during his post-game press conference.
โThat's not the reason we lost the game.
โWe probably started a little bit under the intensity we've been playing at (and) they took advantage.
โTonight we were just a little bit under where we needed to be.โ
Walker suggested the Rabbitohs took a step back during the game against the Dolphins, but believes the club can still make the finals.
"Where we've been good over the last couple of weeks is where we've probably taken a step back (tonight)," the veteran five-eighth said.
โOur discipline. Our kicking probably took a step back. Our scramble on a couple of tries in the first half probably took a step back.
โWe can't keep looking at what three weeks down the track. Our most important game is always our next game. We need to dust ourselves off, work out where we need to be better and go into next week's game."
The Rabbitohs have won just 5 of 16 games so far this year, and based on traditional qualification marks for the top eight, would likely need to win at least seven, if not all of their remaining eight games to qualify for the finals given their for and against currently stands at -104.
South Sydney's run home is tricky as well, with Hornby's side facing games against the Cronulla Sharks, Melbourne Storm, Penrith Panthers and Sydney Roosters over the final eight weeks, as well as the Wests Tigers (twice), Canberra Raiders and Newcastle Knights.
