The 2005 South Sydney Rabbitohs season was the 97th in the club's history. Coached by

Shaun McRae Shaun McRae (born 21 December 1959) is a rugby league coach, who is a former director of rugby at Hull F.C. after a spell with the Salford City Reds. Career Shaun McRae, nicknamed 'Bomber', was born in 1959 and began his rugby league coaching ...

and captained by Peter Cusack, they competed in the National Rugby League's

2006 Telstra Premiership The 2006 NRL season was the 99th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the ninth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen clubs competing for the 2006 Te ...

, finishing the regular season in last place, and collecting their eighth (and to date most recent) wooden spoon. Souths acquired many sound players for 2006 including

Joe Galuvao Joe Galuvao (born 8 July 1978) is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s in the NRL. A Samoa and New Zealand international second row forward, he played for the Auckland Warriors, Parramatta Eel ...

Stuart Webb Stuart Webb (born 3 September 1980) is a former professional rugby league footballer who played for the St George Illawarra Dragons in the National Rugby League. He previously played for the Sydney Roosters and the South Sydney Rabbitohs. His ...

Jaiman Lowe Jaiman Lowe (born 22 January 1983 in Toowoomba, Queensland) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who last played for the Melbourne Storm in the National Rugby League (NRL). He has previously played for the North Queensla ...

and Ben Rogers. They also re-signed key five-eighth/lock John Sutton for several years. Despite coming close, Souths were yet to score a win after round ten but had shown significant progress. One area of weakness nominated by fans included the half back position. An injury to regular half-back Ben Walker took a heavy toll on the team's performance. Players who have made a big impact in a losing side included

David Fa'alogo David Fa'alogo (born 9 September 1980) is a former professional rugby league footballer played as a and in the 2000s and 2010s. He played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Newcastle Knights in the NRL, the Huddersfield Giants in the Super Le ...

(a New Zealand International) and Nathan Merritt. Merritt finished the season as the NRL's leading try scorer with 22 tries.

David Peachey David Peachey (born 21 April 1974) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. An Australian international and New South Wales representative , he played the majority of his club football in t ...

came to the club after being sacked by his English club Widnes. On 11 June 2006, in his second match for the Rabbitohs, Peachey steered the bottom of the table Souths to their first win of the 2006 season with a commanding 34-14 win over the second placed Brisbane Broncos. This was Souths first win over the Broncos since 1989. On 25 June Souths suffered their worst defeat ever, going down 66-0 to the New Zealand Warriors at Telstra Stadium. In a rare move, this catastrophic result moved the club to make a full and unreserved apology to their fans through the nation's press, in direct letters to members and through the electronic media. Souths finished the season in last place. On 30 August 2006 Jason Taylor was appointed head coach in place of

for seasons

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Ladder

Player statistics

Representative Honours

References

{{2006 in rugby league South Sydney Rabbitohs seasons South Sydney Rabbitohs season