RABBITOHS coach Wayne Bennett sat Nowra-born Cody Walker down in the pre-season and told him in no uncertain terms that the 32 errors he made last year weren't good enough.
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One of South Sydney's form players of the opening five rounds, Walker has thrived from Bennett's tough love in 2019.
The Rabbitohs five-eighth was at his best against the Warriors on the weekend, scoring four tries with all coming in contrasting styles.
The 29-year-old is also clearly more confident running the ball, with a number of his six assists coming from him darting across field and finding a numerical advantage to exploit.
"There's no secret that I needed to improve on a lot of my errors throughout last year," Walker said.
"I think I was up there with the most in the competition.
"He [Bennett] had a hard conversation with me over the pre-season about cutting those out.
"That starts in training. I've been pretty good this year and it's just about being consistent with those areas in my game.
Walker's form is symbolic of the way the South Sydney side playing their football.
When Bennett arrived there were question marks over whether they would maintain the up-tempo style they played last year under Anthony Seibold.
Those fears should never have existed.
Souths are averaging almost 26 points per game to rank second in the league, and Walker has been their most influential with ball in hand.
The 29-year-old has simply been told to pick his moment without taking the creativity out of his game.
"He's just given me the freedom to play footy," Walker said.
"The errors I was making weren't structural errors.
"They were trying to push a pass or offload or trying to grad the ball one handed.
"Things that can come off but can't.
"Just areas in my game I needed to improve."
