Wayne Bennett is convinced his side’s chances of a premiership aren't dwindling despite South Sydney bowing out in three consecutive Preliminary Finals.
Bennett’s men went down 20-16 against the minor-premiership winning Panthers on Saturday night, and the Souths coach believes the extra week’s rest was too great to overcome.
"That's what you saw in Brisbane last night, that's what you saw here," Bennett said, referring to Melbourne and Penrith having the extra week off.
"The benefit of the week off is huge. It just gives you fresh legs, enthusiasm, all the things that you need out there because you're just feeling totally different to how you felt the last 20 weeks.
"That's what you saw them do in the first half. It took them about seven or eight minutes before half-time before they came back to our speed."
Despite their disappointing finals exit, Bennett still hailed the Rabbitohs' 2020 campaign.
"We had a great end to the season, there's no doubt about that," Bennett said.
"We struggled at the beginning and we struggled when we came back from COVID but each week we got better and we played some of our best football in the last month."
Despite failing to reach the Grand Final in 2020, Bennett doesn’t believe that another Preliminary Final exit suggests that the third week of finals is the ceiling of his side’s potential.
“I think we're a better team than we were last year and if we can be better again next year it might be enough to get us over the hurdle and put us in a Grand Final,” he added post-match.
"We're not losing anybody that's here tonight. We're getting a couple on top of what we've got and getting the injured players back will help as well."
Bennett will be hoping the injured trio of James Roberts, Brandon Burns and Latrell Mitchell can help propel his side to new heights in 2021 upon their return.