Coach Trent Robinson says the Sydney Roosters' last back-to-back meetings with South Sydney can't teach them anything as they prepare to face their bitter rivals again in next week's elimination final.
With their 26-16 defeat of Souths on Friday's opening night at Allianz Stadium, the Roosters confirmed they would host the Rabbitohs next weekend in a similar turn of events to the final weeks of the 2019 season.
On that occasion, the Rabbitohs claimed victory over the Roosters in the last game before the finals series but it was to be the Tricolours' last loss of the year.
The Roosters thrashed South Sydney 30-6 in the qualifying final a week later and went on to hoist the premiership trophy for the second time in as many years.
This time around, it will be the Rabbitohs out for revenge but Robinson said his side would not become distracted by thoughts that South Sydney could turn the tables on 2019 and stage a comeback of their own.
"That's all in the past," he said.
"You create your future and we'll create ours next week and how we want to play."
The Roosters have their fast start to thank for Friday night's victory.
The hosts ran out to a 14-0 lead after 20 minutes but were outscored by the Rabbitohs across the remainder of the contest.
"There's some improvements to be had for us," Robinson said.
"I thought we were really good for the first half, clear how we wanted to play.
"We just lost our way. We didn't execute well enough when we had field position and it just ended up being a stop-start game."
Rabbitohs coach Ben Hornby, subbing in for Jason Demetriou (COVID-19), said he doubted the Rabbitohs would need any pep talks ahead of next week's rematch.
"Motivation is never going to be a problem in the finals," he said.
"It's a finals game, we want to do well. We started on this journey a long time ago and we want to finish it in the best possible way."
Demetriou will be released from COVID-19 isolation next week and Hornby said he would be drilling a simple message home.
"We've got to be better with our start," Hornby said.
"We've got to be clean with the ball and not give penalties away and we won't be in our end for the whole time."
© AAP 2022