South Sydney coach Michael Maguire insists Friday’s NRL clash against Manly is not a defining match, but concedes his side will need to lift their game if they’re to break their two-year hoodoo against the Sea Eagles.

The Rabbitohs haven’t beaten Manly since round four in 2011 and go into this week’s Brookvale blockbuster against the NRL heavyweights with a last-start loss to fellow big guns Melbourne.

But Maguire on Wednesday dismissed the Rabbitohs’ record against the competition’s elite, saying his key focus was on moving the team forward.

“Those sorts of things are in the past,” he said.

“It’s about this Friday, us making sure that we go over there and perform the way we can and I’m sure that’ll sort itself out.

“Obviously Manly are a quality team and they’ve been doing that for a long time.

“We’re raising in our performances each week and we’ve got to make sure that we do that this week. This is another game for us to progress further forward to where we want to get to.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a defining game, it’s another game that we need to perform at.”

Maguire said his squad had learned a lot from their 17-10 loss to the Storm in round six, noting that Manly play a very similar game to last year’s premiers.

“We got a lot out of that game (against Melbourne) and we need to be better. Simple as that.

“The players themselves … looked at that game very closely and we’ve identified areas that we need to improve on.

“When you’re playing at that level and those type of teams, particularly with the quality players of Melbourne, they take their opportunities.

“We had some opportunities there where we could’ve done the same but we just need to probably be a little bit sharper in our execution at times.”

While Maguire said his team were fit and ready after last weekend’s break and representative matches, the second-versus-third clash will give him the chance to assess his squad and make changes where he sees fit.

“I’ve got some great players playing in reserve grade that can perform at high levels, so the competition within us at the moment is the strength of us,” he said.

“Everyone’s training hard and playing well.”