Lachlan Ilias may have never heard of second-year syndrome until this weekend, but the young halfback is adamant it won't affect him in 2023.
It's hard to remember a rookie with more pressure on him in recent years than Ilias, stepping into the boots of club legend Adam Reynolds, who departed Redfern on extremely shaky conditions.
South Sydney refused to give Reynolds anything beyond a one-year deal, forcing the premiership-winning halfback to Brisbane, while the Rabbitohs instead backed Ilias to fill those shoes.
While he had some nervy moments, most notably being benched 29 minutes into a mid-season clash against St George Illawarra, however instead of sulking, Ilias bounced back in a big way.
The halfback won eight of his last 12 games that season, boosted by the return of Latrell Mitchell, and handled himself with poise as the Rabbitohs reached their fifth consecutive preliminary final, even leading Penrith 12-0 before a second-half collapse.
However, when quizzed about his potential fear of second-year syndrome, Ilias was left clueless.
“I haven't really heard about it to be honest, but I'm just trying to get better each and every day,” Ilias told Fox Sports.
“I think we are training really well at the moment. Round 1 is not far away, so I think we are in good shape and hopefully we can go a couple of games better this year.”
One focus for the 23-year-old is ensuring his voice is heard more often. It's easy to fall back into cruise control playing alongside Mitchell, Cody Walker and Damien Cook, something Ilias has identified and wants to work on.
“I'm just trying to work on being more dominant,” Ilias said.
“I was probably a little bit slow to start off last season and I really found my feet leading into the back end of the year and into the finals series.
“I just want to start the year better and be more dominant and take control with my kicking game.
“I reckon those are areas I can improve and also trying to be a reliable defender.
“I think I finished well last year and I gained confidence with my defence, so if I can start well and defend well then everything will flow off that.”
Andrew Johns described him as 'the best defensive half in the NRL' last season, a massive wrap for a kid in his first season in the competition.
Re-signing in the off-season, Ilias will be with the club for at least the next three seasons, locking up the entire spine as well as captain Cameron Murray through to the end of 2025.
While they make the halfback's job easier, Ilias is just thrilled to play alongside the elite stars.
“It is unreal,” Ilias said.
“I am learning something new off them every day and they are really supportive of me and they have been since day one.
“I'm really humbled and grateful to play in a spine with the calibre of those people and I look forward to doing it again this year and hopefully a few more years to come.”
The club will face the Sharks to open their 2023 season, and hope to repeat the same efforts that saw Souths hand Cronulla a 38-12 semi-final shellacking late last year.
