MANLY captain Matt Orford stopped short of saying yesterday's defeat to Souths was the worst loss he had been involved in - literally.

"It's probably the worst I've been …" he said, his sentence falling as short as his team's performance against a side that can't make the eight.

Just three weeks out from the finals, the Sea Eagles conceded 40 points for the first time since 2005, in their first match at ANZ Stadium since last season's grand final, which resulted in a 34-8 defeat.

"I can't put my finger on it, other than the attitude of every single player was poor," Orford said. "I'm not sure what affected us, but something did. We just didn't turn up with the right mindset … we just need to have a good hard look at ourselves and clean our act up quick smart."

The fact the result coincided with Melbourne flexing their muscles on Friday night with a 30-6 victory over the Roosters also brought the Sea Eagles' shortcomings into sharper focus.

The Sea Eagles have long been considered the team most likely to take the title off the Storm, but in consecutive weeks they have shown they are still in the shadow of the premiership pacesetters and, surely, the minor premiers - who were the only team among the top four to record a victory in round 23.

Souths coach Jason Taylor admitted he expected Manly's intensity to take a dive against his side following their high-octane match against the Storm last weekend.

"That was always going to be a big chance of happening," Taylor said. "Everybody watched the game last Friday night and realised how much Manly put into it, and it's always hard to back up - particularly as they were playing against a team who's not going to be there at the end. Melbourne got themselves up because they were playing the Roosters, who had beaten them the last two times.

"There was always going to be the chance that Manly would come just a little bit underprepared - well, not underprepared but just mentally not there. I think that'll probably do Manly good, although I'm sure Dessie didn't feel that way."

Dessie didn't. "[Souths] just turned up to play a game of footy," Hasler said. "We didn't. You don't have to be a genius to work out we weren't on our game today. But we've got a week to sort it out."

Asked about the prospect of a minor premiership slipping away, Hasler turned his own focus on to the Wests Tigers on Saturday night.

"We've just got to think about next week," he said. "We've just got to turn this around. We're playing against a side that's still in there swinging, still in there fighting. But we'll be OK."