South Sydney coach Michael Maguire says his players must get used to opponents raising their game against the defending NRL premiers.

After a dominant start to the season there had been suggestions Maguire’s side could go through the campaign unbeaten but Friday’s 29-16 loss to a rejuvenated Parramatta brought the Rabbitohs crashing back down to earth.

The Eels ran in five tries in a thrilling contest at Pirtek Stadium as they ended a run of seven successive losses against the men from Redfern.

Maguire admitted his side weren’t at their best and made to pay the price by a hungry side as they tasted defeat for the first time since going down to the Sydney Roosters in round 26 last year.

“I think every game, and it doesn’t matter who you are, if you are a bit off you’re in for a tough game,” Maguire said.

“People make reference to us being premiers and that sort of thing.

“But for us it’s a new season and we’ve addressed it in that form and as shown from last year and this year every time your are even one per cent off you can give the game to the opposition.

“We’ve had a bit of a chat about that performance and it’s not what we live up to,” Maguire said.

“We didn’t complete well and defensively they came at us hard.”

Skipper Greg Inglis admitted the Eels caught the Rabbitohs off-guard with their performance after successive defeats to Canterbury and the Warriors.

“We just didn’t live up to our standards and made fundamental errors as a team,” Inglis said.

“They have a lot of big boys and that allows them to give the halves the chance to play.

“They came home with a strong tail, they outplayed us and out-enthused us the whole game.

“Within our club we have to turn up each week ready to play and we didn’t do that.”