So the magic bullet at Redfern will not find its way to the coach. Doesn't need to be rescued: South Sydney coach Michael Maguire. Credit:Getty Images It's easy to picture newspaper back pages in this city before they are actually drawn. On Saturday morning, it will probably be about an emotional Parramatta victory in front of a heaving home crowd at Pirtek Stadium. The sidebar story inside will be about Souths' fifth straight defeat. Crisis? Most clubs not in the top eight are usually defined as such.

What's becoming clearer with each round is that South Sydney needs an enema. If only reshaping a footy club could happen that fast. Owner Russell Crowe sent out an SOS for Shane Richardson earlier this year and the big fella answered, leaving his job as the NRL's head of strategy and returning to the Rabbitohs to fill the club's newly created role as general manager of football. Richardson was the club's chief executive when it won the premiership just 18 months ago and, in an instant, there was renewed optimism following the car crash of the previous season when there was unrest among some players over Maguire's authoritarian style of coaching. It didn't get much press but Richardson said at the time that Souths "didn't need a clean out but a rebuild". The line was telling. Behind it resides the fact that Souths have a roster and salary cap that needs to be unravelled and put back together again.

In the space of a year, Souths made some telling fumbles in recruitment with some players given far more than they are worth. Perhaps the worst was allowing Dylan Walker to depart for Manly to accommodate the signing of Sam Burgess. This isn't the reason recruitment manager Grant Jones was recently made redundant, but it showed who was going to be in charge of rebuilding South Sydney. Channelling the role of Oakland A's numbers man Paul DePodesta – who for the uninitiated was played by Jonah Hill alongside Brad Pitt in Moneyball – Richardson and the rest of the coaching staff are now making some hard decisions. Halves Luke Keary and Cody Walker are unlikely to have a future at the club. Souths want Greg Inglis – who has been shifted to five-eighth for the Parramatta game – to re-sign beyond next year. Other players who don't want to buy into Maguire's taxing – yet ultimately successful – methodology will be shown the door.

Reports emerged on Wednesday that Grevsmuhl has fallen out with Maguire, so much so that he did not train on Monday or Tuesday with the rest of the squad, instead training alone. There have been negotiations behind the scenes for weeks now for Grevsmuhl to move mid-season to Penrith. Souths are more than happy to see him go, such is his negative attitude. Who's to blame for the Souths' malaise: the coach or the players? Following their 30-22 loss to Wests Tigers, Maguire sprayed his side publicly like never before, branding the performance of his men as "garbage". "Normally, I don't comment about it but we need to ensure we are a lot better than that otherwise we are going to end up in exactly the same place we are now," Maguire fumed. "It is not acceptable at this club. We need to be accountable for what we put out there because it was garbage really."

It was an extraordinary concession from a coach who always backs his players, despite what some officials often in the tunnel can hear from the Rabbitohs rooms at halftime. In many respects, it appeared to be a sign that Maguire was losing the dressing room. In reality, it was a pre-meditated spray to send a message to his players. Earlier this year, after Souths' 42-10 win over the Roosters in the opening round, I sat down with Maguire for a lengthy interview and the message was clear: Souths didn't defend their premiership last year because the players were not prepared to work as hard as when they won it. "To get continued success you have to work hard," he said. "Twelve months prior we were doing similar things … People are going to make all their own assumptions and chatter, but my big thing is where we are right now. That's done. That's the past." Then I asked if he was going to change his coaching style?

"No." Does he have to change his coaching style? "Not at all. I am who I am. My players work really hard with me to achieve what I want to achieve this weekend." Maguire isn't going to change. And according to the people who matter most, Souths aren't going to change the coach. Facebook.com.au/andrewwebsterjournalist