In early May of 2023, the Rabbitohs were on top of the world. Boasting impressive wins against the Broncos, Panthers and Storm along with some thrashing of the NRL's lesser lights, things were looking bright for second year head coach Jason Demetriou and his star-studded team.
Now, less than a year after they beat the Wests Tigers to go top of the table in mid-May, they're anchored to the foot of the ladder, several of those star players look a yard off the pace, and coach Demetriou is gone.
You've no doubt read about the pair of board meetings, the countless leaks, the back-and-forth between red and green power brokers, the rumours of players running the show and everything else that led the NRL's oldest club to sack a coach mid-season for the first time in 20 years.
Demetriou has spent years as Wayne Bennett's understudy, and before that, had found success everywhere he coached - in both the NSW and Queensland Cup competitions, and as an assistant on multiple NRL heavyweights. No rookie coach looked surer to succeed.
And after a respectable first season that ended in a Preliminary Final loss to Penrith, things were trending in the right direction before dropping sharply off a cliff. Unrest between players and members of the coaching staff festered, the injury toll rose and the mood at the club was at an all time low.
It was a situation so toxic that you can't blame Demetriou for being unable to turn it around, but if rumours of certain star players being given special treatment are to be believed, the coach is partly at fault for the situation to begin with.
So when 2024 began and the Rabbitohs picked up where they left off, there was only going to be one outcome - but how it was handled leaves a sour taste in everyone's mouth.
When the drums were at the loudest, and the knives their sharpest, the Bunnies turned in a respectable performance against the top-of-the-table Sharks, but still came up short. With a bye following that game, it was the opportune time to make a change - particularly when you considered what was on the horizon.
Even the most optimistic of Souths fans would note the club's record in Melbourne, and wonder what the point of waiting an extra week to stage crisis meetings served.
There were two schools of thought on how to handle a transition: get the coach out of there before the bye and give new man Ben Hornby a fortnight to prepare for his first game - or wait until after games in Melbourne and against Penrith, almost certain losses, and then switch.
Simultaneously sending Demetriou down to Melbourne for one last flogging and then also giving Hornby less than two days to prepare for a clash with the defending premiers seems like the worst of both worlds.
Demetriou, for his part, has handled everything with class. His text message to the playing group spoke volumes of his character, and the reactions from Souths fans told you everything you need to know about their feelings on him as a person.
But what's far more concerning is how quickly that text message was sent to the public. The Rabbitohs have more leaks than the post-iceberg Titanic right now, as embattled CEO Blake Solly continues on a media tour to assure the competence of the club, and his own position at the top.
Since the Wests Tigers ushered in a regime change late last year, no other club has really stepped up to replace them in terms of spilling secrets from within. But the Bunnies might be on the road to becoming the successor.
Having Demetriou's future play out so publicly emphasises the need for a strong leader going forward, or someone who is numb to the media circus that is going to surround the job.
Solly's press conference on Wednesday did nothing to cool off the rumours of a Wayne Bennett return, but he did say that whomever Souths pursued next would have first grade coaching experience either in the NRL, or in England.
Such a caveat would rule out the best left-field option for the Rabbitohs, in former Wallabies boss Michael Chieka.
Chieka did very well with Lebanon in the most recent World Cup, would have no qualms in dealing with big personalities, and handled media circuses on a national and international level for years when helming the national rugby team.
But as exciting an appointment as that might be, it seems a near certainty that the club will return to Bennett, who finishes up with the Dolphins at the end of this year.
Bennett knows the playing group, how to pull the right rein with certain stars, and has unfinished business, falling agonisingly short of premiership glory in 2021.
But it's the messaging that the hire sends that is concerning - it's an admission that not only did the club's succession plan fail miserably, but the fact that not only Bennett, but 2014 title-winning coach Michael Maguire have been linked with a return suggests that they're incapable of thinking proactively for the future.
If Bennett gets Souths back to the top four and a regular fixture in preliminary finals again, I doubt anyone will care about that. But what if he doesn't? Tom Burgess is gone at the end of the year, speedster Alex Johnston is nearly 30 and is rehabbing a serious hamstring injury, Damien Cook and Cody Walker are nearing the end of their careers and the biggest star of all, Latrell Mitchell, has been unable to stay on the field for any consistent period of time.
Junior Tatola, also recently hurt, has looked a shadow of the player he was last year and has for several years prior, while the signing of Jack Wighton remains as baffling as the decision to let Adam Reynolds leave.
There are of course positives - Jye Gray has looked good in his first few performances in the top grade, Cam Murray is one of the game's best players and Englishman Lewis Dodd will move into the club's halfback spot in 2025, and comes with plenty of wraps. Wighton, as odd as the signing was, is still a fantastic player, and Mitchell's best is yet to come, assuming he can stay fit and motivated.
But that's all looking ahead - what do Souths expect or want from the rest of 2024? Incredibly, for a team that had title aspirations last year and grand plans of returning to the top in 2024, avoiding the wooden spoon is now probably all that matters.
Souths may have wanted to go back to the past by hiring Bennett, but I doubt they had any plans of going back to the early 2000s, where coaching changes and wooden spoons were commonplace.