Win over Roosters all-time for Wayne Bennett as master coach praises 'loafing' Latrell Mitchell

Hyperbole is not Wayne Bennett's forte, so when the master coach makes a big statement - he usually means it.

The Souths coach said the victory over the Roosters on Friday night was one of the best of his coaching career, while praising a "loafing" Latrell Mitchell for his impact down the stretch.

The gutsy comeback against the Roosters was all the more rewarding for Bennett and his team, after they lost three players during the match and played the last 30 minutes with just one man on the bench.

READ MORE: Hopes fade for Bears return as Perth plans ditched

READ MORE: Lucky cross breaks Tillies' rocky start to the season

READ MORE: Djokovic leads fight against 'unfair pay ratios'

Starting halves Jamie Humphreys and Cody Walker left with hamstring injuries, while winger Mikaele Ravalawa also limped off.

With the likes of Cam Murray, Campbell Graham and Alex Johnston already on the casualty list, the way Souths clawed their way back to draw level at 14-all before a precise cut out pass by Latrell Mitchell for Isaiah Tass broke the deadlock, earned huge points with Bennett.

"It's up there. In my coaching career, it's in the grand final," Bennett said, who began his first grade coaching career with Canberra in 1987.

"To overcome what they overcame tonight against a quality football team that was playing well themselves was pretty special.

"It's everything. It's what you want your team to do, it's what you want to be a part of knowing that they won't give up.

"Words don't explain it well enough. It's the actions, and they'll stay in your memory for a long time.

"Everybody that played tonight and everybody who saw what they did and the way they overcame adversity after adversity and stayed in the game (will remember that).

"When they went up 14-8, it could've been 30-8 in 10 minutes, but we went down the other end and no one was thinking that they couldn't win. No one was thinking it was over and they stayed at it.

"I've got a lot of young boys in that team and they've grown up a real lot. They're starting to understand about how you can win and how you're never as tired as you think you are and how you can keep fighting."

Mitchell, back from a hamstring injury he suffered in preseason, had a hand in the match-winning play and was dangerous every time he touched the ball, having a try disallowed in the first half.

He started at centre but finished in the halves due to the injuries and it's from that position he made the pass for Tass to go over in the corner.

"He would've run it but he was too tired," Bennett said with a grin.

"He had to do something, he was kind of social loafing out there, he was good.

"He did (his job), being a superstar. It's going to take him a while, he's been out of football for a long time and there are guys four or five weeks in front of him.

"Each week he'll get better now."

Souths fly to Perth to play the Cowboys next week and will probably field a different halves combination for the match, with Walker and Humphreys long odds to play.