Wayne Bennett has a favourite saying to keep the Rabbitohs from getting too far ahead of themselves.
"If you pat yourself on the back too much, it's not long before you'll fall asleep," centre Dane Gagai recounts.
After a season-opening 26-18 loss to the Storm, the coach wasn't pleased with South Sydney's attitude and said there'd be "no hype" around the title heavyweights against Manly this Saturday.
And he made a statement by dropping two recruits - veteran winger Josh Mansour and second-rower Jacob Host - to the NSW Cup.
"The beauty of the squad here is he can do that. He can put everyone on notice," said forward Jai Arrow, who admitted he was a little surprised that Bennett had pulled out the axe so early.