South Sydney Rabbitohs head coach Wayne Bennett has admitted his side being thrashed by the Brisbane Broncos on Friday evening didn't come as a surprise.

The Rabbitohs, despite being in the game during the first half, simply ran out of gas in the second half and were put away by the Broncos, who ultimately managed to score 60 points.

It was as one-sided as a half of football gets, but the Rabbitohs resembled what would have been their first-choice NSW Cup side at the start of the season with only a few exceptions.

The Maroubra-based outfit, who pushed the Cronulla Sharks all the way last weekend despite having a similar injury toll, kept trying through the game, but it was simply a case of men against boys as the Broncos, seething from their last minute loss to the Parramatta Eels the week before, opened the floodgates.

Speaking post-game, coach Bennett revealed he was fully expecting a result like the one which played out in Brisbane.

“I was really waiting for that to happen, to be honest,” Bennett said during his post-match press conference.

“I just had a quick count in the change room. Our spine has 30 games between them.

“We have been up for a long time, battling every week and giving it everything we've got. I just knew we were running out of gas, and we lost three players in the last 24 hours, so we had 13 first-graders not playing tonight.

“These guys have just been up for too long. Young players not experienced at playing NRL. Each week you want them to do their best but they just hit the wall tonight.

“The Broncos were on tonight and they deserved their victory.”

The Rabbitohs weren't helped by more drop outs in the lead up to kick-off, and actually had to play the game without an 18th man after Peter Mamouzelos was ruled out with headaches in the warm-up.

The Rabbitohs then also lost stand in dummy half Ryan Gray to an arm injury early in the contest, having to play the game out with 16.

That they scored two tries late in the first half to go into the break only ten points down was something of a shock.

Bennett said he is hopeful most of his injured brigade will be back before the end of the season and said he wasn't disappointed with his team.

“I'm not disappointed in them, as silly as that may sound. I just know how hard they are trying and I can't ask for more than that," the coach said.

“I know the NRL better than most guys. I've done this for so long and I've seen it through Origin periods when the Broncos had eight and ten players missing through Origin and kids would just fall away.

“We are in that place.

“We have to regroup and go again next week. Maybe we will have some back, I'm not sure.

“There are probably seven or eight a chance of coming back before the end of the season, but there are only four games left so not much time now,” Bennett added.

“He [Latrell Mitchell] will be back in the next week or two. Probably the only one who won't come back tonight is Junior, and Ryan tonight.”

The loss slumps the Rabbitohs back to the bottom of the table, although they still have a bye in hand.

A win next week against the similarly struggling Gold Coast Titans could be enough for the Maroubra-based outfit to avoid the wooden spoon.