Ben Hornby's uphill battle to ignite South Sydney's season has been thrown further into doubt as Dean Hawkins and Jye Gray went down injured in his first game at the helm, a 42-12 loss to Penrith.
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The last-placed Rabbitohs ushered in the post-Jason Demetriou era on Thursday night but it was a case of new coach, same old Souths before 8155 fans at Accor Stadium.
This was a performance that epitomised the Rabbitohs' lacklustre season as injuries, errors and lapses in concentration left their early promise a distant memory.
Frustratingly for Souths, the clunky defending premiers were there for the taking for most of the night, only putting the game to bed with two quick tries midway through the second half; it had been 18-12 to Penrith after 57 minutes.
The Rabbitohs ran out to a handy 12-0 lead after Panthers centre Izack Tago went to the sin bin for a hip-drop tackle on young fullback Gray, the hosts reigniting their lethal left edge in the opening 10 minutes.
Without rested halfback Nathan Cleary, the Panthers appeared rattled in the face of Souths' steely goal-line defence, but as has often been the case this year, Souths crumbled once under adversity.
The Rabbitohs lost Jai Arrow to the sin bin after repeated infringements defending their goal-line midway through the first half.
Only seconds later, Cleary's injury replacement Brad Schneider helped Sunia Turuva over the try-line with a cut-out pass.
Schneider fooled Cody Walker with a dummy to nab a try himself shortly thereafter, putting the Panthers back on level terms.
There were moments of madness aplenty for the Rabbitohs, both accidental and of their own making.
Stand-in halfback Hawkins aggravated a right quad injury kicking off after the Panthers' second try and needed to leave the game.
The injury finally pushed prized recruit Jack Wighton into the halves, and the Rabbitohs were forced into more reshuffling when Gray succumbed to an ankle injury at half-time. In his 200th game, Damien Cook moved from hooker to fullback.
Wighton was denied two tries, one for as obvious an obstruction as you will see and the other when Cameron Murray illegally tried to push him over the line.
Wighton and Walker each threw passes over the sidelines attempting to spark their side's attack, but the Rabbitohs saved their sloppiest move for midway through the second half.
Walker kicked the ball dead and Dylan Edwards ran the ball back up for a quick tap.
The Panthers fullback practically waltzed through the Rabbitohs, who still had their backs turned, and then found a flying Taylan May on his outside.
The centre sprinted all the way to the tryline as the Rabbitohs wondered how they could have given up a try so soft.
The game slipped out of reach all too quickly after that, and there is a sense Souths' season will follow suit without major improvement under their new coach.
Australian Associated Press
