Wayne Bennett decided to leave his Rabbitohs players in the sheds by themselves during a 29-minute lightning delay after their poor performance prior.
South Sydney trailed the Bulldogs 18-0 when a lightning storm forced the players from the field at Accor Stadium on Sunday.
After the near-half-hour break, the Rabbitohs responded to Bennett's method of coaching with a much-improved effort, but fell just short, going down 24-18.
Post-match, Bennett was asked what he said to his players during the lightning delay that helped improved their performance.
MORE: Keaon Koloamatangi injury: Latest news, updates
However, the veteran coach revealed he didn't address the team or even be present during the delay.
“I didn’t go down. I left the players to themselves,” Bennett said in his press conference.
"Maybe we needed the rain to come earlier? I can’t answer that for you, I have no idea."
Rabbitohs stand-in captain Jack Wighton was also surprised by Bennett's actions, but explained the players rallied among themselves to commit to producing a better team effort.
“I don’t know how to answer that either… Nah, we’ve never had that before so there’s no right or wrong on what was supposed to happen,” Wighton said.
“(We said) all the cliche stuff, take your breath, start again.
“We came out and literally did our game plan, completed and started to use the ball a little bit more and it shows what we can do when we do that, we can score points.”