Souths were too cocky, admits Te’o

Ben Te’o admits South Sydney’s poor run of form was a result of the players believing their own publicity.

The Rabbitohs ended a run of three straight losses with a comfortable 26-6 win over St George Illawarra on Saturday at the SCG and the Queensland back-rower admitted it was vital result for a side that was tipped to be premiership contenders this year.

“We needed that win to get out of this rut,” Te’o said.

“We’re still not fully out of it but we got the two points.

It’s been 43 years since the Rabbitohs won the last of their 20 title and after blowing away the Dragons in the Charity Shield and doing the same to reigning premiers the Sydney Roosters in round one saw expectations once again reach fever pitch.

“We went away from what was working for us, read our own press and got too confident,” Te’o said.

“But the NRL is so hard. Every team is good and you have to turn up and perform at your best or you will get beat. We’ve learned that now.”

Having spent four seasons with Brisbane Te’o said he’s well versed to every loss being analysed and a team’s failings being dissected by the media.

However, he admitted being taken aback at the pressure heaped upon Souths by their supporters to end their 43 years of hurt.

“I didn’t think it would be when I first come down,” he said.

“At Brisbane everything is magnified. You lose a game and people start to point fingers. I didn’t really think Souths was like that with the expectations of the fans and ourselves.

“There is a lot of pressure here and you just have to roll with it.

“But if you are a good team and have the ability people expect teams and you’d rather that people write you off altogether.”

South travel to Penrith next week and Te’o said a better performance would be needed against a side who are 100 per cent at home this season.

“It’s another really hard game. But this club is a defensive side that works hard for each other and we need to keep doing that.”

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