The 2005 South Sydney Rabbitohs season was the 96th in the club's history. Coached by Shaun McRae and captained by Bryan Fletcher and Peter Cusack, they competed in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

2005 Telstra Premiership The 2005 NRL season was the 98th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the eighth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of clubs remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen teams contesting the 2005 Telst ...

, finishing the regular season 13th out of 15 teams, failing to reach the finals. In March, Souths life member Russell Crowe made the Rabbitohs the first club team in Australia to be sponsored by a film, when he negotiated a deal to advertise his movie '' Cinderella Man'' on their jerseys. The Rabbitohs' first win of the season was a 49–26 triumph over the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

in Round 2. The Rabbitohs would be winless again until Round 5, when they defeated the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

37–12 at

Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium Central Coast Stadium (known originally as Grahame Park), known commercially as Industree Group Stadium is a sports venue in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. The stadium is home to the Central Coast Mariners asso ...

Gosford Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast region, about north of Sydney and about south of Newcastle. The city centre is situated at the northern extr ...

, before a crowd of 16,162. For the next eight rounds, the Rabbitohs suffered loss after loss to the NRL juggernauts (including form teams

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

and Manly with the only relief being the bye in Round 8. After a promising start, Season 2005 was shaping up much like the last few years for the Rabbitohs. However Round 13 against the

Bulldogs The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George, Sydney, St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since NR ...

), they bounced back to win 5 of their last 6, beginning with a 24–14 win over

Cronulla Cronulla is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Boasting numerous surf beaches and swimming spots, the suburb attracts both tourists and Greater Sydney residents. Cronulla is located 26 kilometres south of the Sydne ...

at the Sydney Football Stadium, and highlighted with a spirited 16-14 downing of the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

at Dairy Farmers Stadium in

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

. Finally overcoming the Bulldogs in Round 21, the Rabbitohs also defeated the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won fifteen Ne ...

in Sydney 17–16 in a hard-fought and spiteful encounter. Their last match was against the Sharks at Toyota Stadium. Souths won this in convincing fashion, with young

five-eighth Five-eighth or Stand-off is one of the positions in a rugby league football team. Wearing jersey number 6, this player is one of the two half backs in a team, partnering the . Sometimes known as the pivot or second receiver, in a traditional a ...

John Sutton making a significant impression. All in all, season 2005 was the most promising since re-admission; under coach Shaun McRae the team were beginning to look like a renewed force. Their reasonably strong finish handed the bottom place on the NRL ladder to the

, therefore avoiding the horrible fate of receiving three wooden-spoons in a row. South Sydney finished the 2005 season level on 23 premiership points with 2004 premiers the Canterbury Bulldogs.

Ladder

Player statistics

''Source:''

Representative honours

References

{{2005 in rugby league South Sydney Rabbitohs seasons South Sydney Rabbitohs season