And as Adzy [coach Adam O'Brien] told us straight after the game when we got back in the sheds, we need to hang onto that feeling and let it sit in the stomach right through the summer months as we prepare for 2021.

Our consistency has been our biggest problem this season. The fluctuations in our form from week to week have been quite alarming at times and certainly frustrating for everyone. The 80 minutes against South Sydney basically summed us up.

It was an example of the best and the worst of us in a nutshell. Outstanding for the first 15 minutes but poor for the final 20 minutes of each half. It's not good enough and the scoreline in the end was embarrassing.

I've said a few times in this column during the season that we are still a long way from where we want to be as a footy side. We are still a long way from where we need to be to consistently foot it with the competition heavyweights. The final month or two of the season proved that.

Toohey's News: Listen to Barry Toohey's new podcast in your Podcast app

I'm probably sounding like a broken record but errors were the killer again for us. Souths are a great attacking side but you make the number and type of mistakes that we made and any side in this competition is going to punish you. Our defence, particularly on our line in that period in the first half when they piled on three quick tries was all over the shop. We knew what they would throw at us. We trained for it but still couldn't stop it.

It was a long way removed from those games earlier in the season where we were totally switched on and kept turning up for each other and fighting hard to keep ourselves in games.

We've obviously had to face some adversity with injuries and plenty of early travel but for me personally, I'm not going to use it as an excuse. We are professional players and we've got to turn up every week and play to the best of our ability and not just for 15 minutes, for the full 80.

It's going to be tough watching the rest of the finals series knowing we had our chance to be there at the end but didn't take advantage. But like Adzy said, we need to hang on to that empty feeling and remember it. We have to learn from our experiences this season and become a better footy side next year.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't really disappointed to miss selection in the Blues squad but at the same time I'm rapt for DSaf [Daniel Saifiti].

Despite some injury setbacks, he's had a good year and deserves to get another crack after he debuted in last year's series. I'm sure he is going to go really well and play a big role for the Blues.

While you're with us, did you know the Newcastle Herald offers breaking news alerts, daily email newsletters and more? Keep up to date with all the local news - sign up here

IN OTHER NEWS: