In a dramatic fall from grace, the Rabbitohs have slipped from premiership favourites barely a month ago to clinging to eighth spot on points differential ahead of Friday night's clash with the contrastingly in-form Warriors in Auckland.
Centre Campbell Graham on Tuesday admitted a disconnect between teammates was behind the side's alarming defensive efforts during Souths' run of four defeats from their past five games.
"It's pretty obvious that it's defence that's letting us down. We've been leaking far too many points for a few weeks now," Graham said.
"We understand that it's not an individual problem to solve, it's as a group that we need to come together to get back to playing the footy we know we're more than capable of.
"No excuses. We've missed a few players through Origin and injury but we've got the depth in this squad to handle that situation and to handle players being out.
"So it's more just a mindset thing and getting back to playing tough footy and playing for 80 minutes.
"That's what we were doing really well at the start of the year. It's just about sticking together now and getting the results.
"Now's definitely the time to turn that around."
NSW Origin star Cam Murray believes escaping the glare of Sydney and getting across the Tasman together for a few days is just the tonic required for the Rabbitohs to emerge from their mid-season funk.
While the loved-up lock is blissfully happy to be at home with his fiancee after getting engaged this week, Murray said the Rabbitohs had a proven history of galvanising on road trips.
"We had a really good time up there in the (Queensland) bubble in 2021 when we were away from home and away from family," Murray said.
"We just do it well and we enjoy each other's company. Getting closer off the field can improve things on it.
"We're looking to having some fun and enjoying each other's company, and hopefully put out a better performance."
With 10 rounds remaining before the finals, Murray insists there's no need to hit the panic button.
"We've got the blueprint here at the club to play really good footy," he said before the squad flew to New Zealand on Tuesday.
"Every game's important. If we stress too much about how quickly we need to turn it around, we'll start to over-complicate it. We're not thinking too far ahead.
"It's a roller-coaster playing at the highest level here and it's never easy.Â
"We can take some confidence that we've been through some dark moments before and come out the other side."
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