Three games in eight days was always going to be too much for his State of Origin stars, according to South Sydney coach Anthony Seibold.
The Rabbitohs still did enough to wobble home on Friday night against the Gold Coast even without Angus Crichton and Damien Cook, who were originally named on the bench.
Instead the NSW pair were late scratchings and joined Queenslanders Greg Inglis and Dane Gagai on the sidelines for the clash as part of Seibold's Origin management plan.
Speaking after the side's ugly 18-16 win, the Rabbitohs mentor revealed he had always planned to rest his four representatives.
"It was my decision; they all wanted to play, were extremely adamant," he said of the quartet.
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"I had it in my head all week that they played Wednesday, then tonight then next Thursday (against Parramatta).
"I can't understand how they can expect to play all three games."
His side has now won six straight to be entrenched in the top four, but Seibold is aware of the challenge that remains.
"That's part of the plan," he said of his decision to rest his stars.
"It's no disrespect to our opposition; we practice as a normal week with the 17 we had and make sure we managed their loads."
His side held on despite 16 errors in an uncharacteristically sloppy effort and an inspired display by Gold Coast captain Ryan James.
"I was really comfortable with our preparation, there were no excuses," he said
"We weren't good enough at holding the footy and the two Ryan James tries were really soft."
