In 38 years of coaching at the top-level Wayne Bennett had never seen an injury toll like the one South Sydney endured last season.

In turn, it made for the worst attacking numbers and fewest points scored (17.8 per game) in arguably rugby league’s greatest ever coaching career.

Welcoming back a fully fit Cody Walker, Cameron Murray and Latrell Mitchell into the mix is the most effective balm Bennett has. But that’s not to say Souths attack can’t do with an evolution either.

Mitchell’s ball-playing and pure power has been shifted to left centre in favour of Jye Gray’s increased involvement and mobility at fullback. David Fifita, at his best, adds enigmatic strike power, so too Brandon Smith at the ruck.

The return of Murray’s leg speed and class in the middle is overdue, so too Walker’s ability to be “busy around the footy and getting offloads” according to the veteran five-eighth, a first in some time after battling through two years of various injuries.

South Sydney’s offensive numbers from 2025 make for sobering reading.

With Bennett at one point unable to field an 18th man late in the season, the Rabbitohs’ devastating injury toll understandably led to the safety-first approach of completing sets better than any other side in the NRL.

And struggling to convert that low error-rate into any regular attacking threat – ranking last in the game for tackle busts, line breaks, offloads, run metres and support runs.

© The Sydney Morning Herald