Day one of Ben Hornby’s salvage operation at Souths

He stepped in at marker once or twice, kicked a few short goal-line drop-outs, and helped Isaiah Tass with practice under the high ball, but spent most of the 45-minute session watching.

Two hours before training, South Sydney chief executive Blake Solly, who arrived at Heffron Park at 6.41 am, was pragmatic about what the club expects over the remainder of the season.

“I think there’s two or three really clear expectations for Ben,” he said. “We want to see improvement in terms of results and performances on the field, we want to give Ben and the coaching staff the time to develop some of our younger players who we’re starting to see come through – Jye Gray is a perfect example of that – guys like Jye, Tyrone [Munro] when he comes back from injury, Peter [Mamouzelos] can play a lot more NRL football this year.

“And again I think we want Ben and the coaching staff and the players to hold themselves and carry themselves in a way that represents our club in the best possible way and gives our community and our fan base the pride that they deserve.”

Solly was confident Hornby could salvage something from 2024.

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“We certainly think we can make something of the season. Whether that results in a top-eight berth, I’m not sure, but I know the character of this team, I know what they’re like, and they’ll be up for the challenge,” Solly said.

“If we can get our players back on the field sooner rather than later, I think most teams will be concerned about playing us, and if we can get to the top eight, that would be wonderful. But, really, it’s about improvement over the next few weeks and putting performances on the field that our fans and our community can be proud of.”

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