South Sydney resemble a late-model sedan - with no one at the wheel.

Souths have a decent engine, with Roy Asotasi and David Kidwell guaranteeing plenty of grunt under the hood. The wheels are OK, with some fast, talented kids out wide, players of the future such as Fetuli Talanoa, Nathan Merritt and Beau Champion. What they desperately needed was a driver. Someone, in the language of league, to steer them around the park. Enter Craig Wing. Unfortunately, exit Craig Wing came a matter of minutes later.

Four halfback/five-eighth combinations in four weeks is proof-perfect of a team that doesn't like the way it's travelling. Jeremy Smith, who played five-eighth in the first-round loss to the Roosters, was back yesterday and wearing No.7 with John Sutton playing his second consecutive week at five-eighth.

What price a fifth?

"I don't know at this stage until I watch the game. I doubt it," said Souths coach Jason Taylor.

A second viewing is unlikely to improve his mood - or the incumbents' chances - unless Taylor keeps his finger on super fast-forward every time Souths reach the last tackle, where Smith and Sutton were deplorable.

It would be painful viewing for any coach, even more so for a former halfback and particularly galling for one such as Taylor, whose claim to fame was navigation rather than individual spark.

He refused to comment specifically on the predicament after the match but veteran back-rower Dean Widders was more forthcoming. Manly, he said, had "just put the squirrel grip on us", outlasting the Rabbitohs and showing off one of the NRL's best kicking games.

"That was the poor part of our game today," he said. "We got down their end and didn't come up with much to really question them. We finished our sets the wrong way, with them getting the ball and making 20-metre breaks.

"Our kicking game's not real good at the moment, everyone knows that. That's something we need to work on. We're looking for a playmaker. We've chopped and changed our halves a little bit and we're probably looking for someone to step up there and take that position and really do a good job.

"It's fair to say we're looking for someone to do it. As a club we've got to help as much as we can in that area. We know we haven't got the most experienced players there and we've got to help as much as we can because if we don't it's going to be a long time before we win."