‘Clubs should be chasing him’: Damien Cook backs Ben Hornby to be a head coach very soon, confident Souths will improve next year

South Sydney interim coach Ben Hornby is confident his side can bounce back in a big way in 2025 following a disastrous year on and off the field that saw them finish second last after they lost seven-straight games to round out the season.

It’s a mighty collapse by a club that was on top of the ladder after 11 rounds last year but ended up missing out on the finals, with that poor form continuing to start the 2024 campaign which cost coach Jason Demetriou his job.

They’ve had to deal with serious injuries to key men with Campbell Graham, Jai Arrow and Junior Tatola headlining their casualty ward, while the Latrell Mitchell saga dragged on for more than a month and must have been a distraction at times.

Wayne Bennett will return to the club next year and will hopefully get Mitchell back on track, and while the injured brigade will return, the master coach will have to do it all without club legends Damien Cook and Tom Burgess who played their final game for Souths in Friday’s loss to the Roosters.

“The ladder is usually pretty fair after the 27 rounds, so we can’t really argue with that,” Hornby said following the 36-28 defeat.

“I think you’ve seen that we’ve put in a lot of good efforts. When we had a side that was close to doing what we were capable of, we were winning games.

“Next year, I can’t see why if we’re not somewhere near our full-strength side that we won’t be winning games.

“We’ve got a lot of really, really good players missing at the moment, so if we get those guys back and do the right thing, the wins will take care of themselves.”

While Bennett’s arrival is going to be massive, Cook – the ultimate clubman – made sure the public appreciated just how big a job Hornby has done under difficult circumstances this year.

The Rabbitohs’ season was threatening to spiral out of control before he took over, but they were quickly back in finals contention after winning five on the trot.

Those hopes were extinguished once Mitchell went down before the State of Origin decider, but they haven’t given up with the Bunnies staying in the fight in most games.

“Clubs should be chasing him, that’s for sure,” Cook said.

“We were in a bad situation when he came in with a lot of injuries and everything going wrong, and he sparked something in us to make sure we finished the year strongly.

“With everything against us, we still turned up every week so that’s a credit to him.

“If Wayne wasn’t available and they took their time, you never know. He might have just gone on as head coach next year.

“It’s been a year of learnings for me and the club. I’m sure they’ll bounce back with the squad they have next year. They won’t double up this season, that’s for sure.”