The last time South Sydney played coach Michael Maguire delivered one of the great dressing room sprays, asking the Rabbitohs to have a "good, hard look at themselves".
Now Maguire reckons he likes what he sees despite the Rabbitohs crashing to their third-straight NRL loss on Friday night.
Brisbane held on for a 24-18 win at Suncorp Stadium despite losing Queensland five-eighth Anthony Milford (shoulder) in the 72nd minute.
However, there was no repeat of Maguire's now-infamous tirade after their last match - a round 12 loss to Parramatta - that was captured on Channel Nine's TV coverage.
"We obviously had some words after our last game and I thought the boys responded really well," Maguire said of South Sydney, who had the bye last round.
"I have a lot of belief in this team and they put that out there on the park.
"They have to continue to back that up."
South Sydney dug deep to bounce back after Brisbane jumped to a 12-0 lead after 19 minutes.
When Sam Burgess steamrolled his way to score in the 45th minute, scores were level at 12-12.
The Rabbitohs gave themselves a sniff of a miracle win when impressive back-rower Angus Crichton scored in the 74th minute.
"The effort was definitely there," Maguire said.
"We spoke about what we wanted to look like as a team and we definitely got that.
"I can't fault anything that they did right across the park - it was just those key moments in games.
"I think we are lot closer than a lot of people think."
South Sydney now have just four wins after 14 rounds.
"If we keep performing at that standard and tidy up a few areas a win is going to come," Rabbitohs skipper Sam Burgess said.
"We gave them a couple of cheap tries and that cost us the game - we have to find a way to stop that.
"We just need to find a way to take our chances.
"But I still have a lot of belief in the team."
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