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South Sydney know they cannot dwell on Friday night's loss to the Sydney Roosters with a must-win NRL finals match now ahead of them on Friday night.

Adam Reynolds has warned South Sydney will risk going out in straight sets if they don't move on fast from Friday night's drubbing from the Sydney Roosters.

The Rabbitohs will now face the winner of Manly against Cronulla in next Friday's do-or-die semi-final, but should at least carry home ground advantage at ANZ Stadium,

Having beaten the Roosters just a week ago, Souths were never in the contest on Friday night as they succumbed to a 26-0 half-time deficit before going down 30-6.

But it's not the first time Souths have been in such a position.

They were forced to reach the preliminary final the hard way just last year following a brutal defeat to Melbourne, and did likewise in Reynolds' rookie year of 2012.

The Souths halfback said it was now imperative he and his teammates did not mope over their performance.

"It's reality now," Reynolds said.

"We've got a game to play, we can't dwell on what's happened. We've got to move on.

"If we don't we will find ourselves in the same position. It's pretty important to learn from it and move on."

Souths will at least welcome captain Sam Burgess back from suspension for next week's match, while Dane Gagai is considered a 90 per cent chance to return from a hamstring injury.

But they'll have to be far better than they were on Friday night.

The Rabbitohs completed at just 69 per cent in the first half, and conceded double the amount of running metres than what they made themselves.

The Rabbitohs were at least hopeful that could give them a little momentum to take into next weekend.

"We were a bit more competitive in the second half. Asking a bit more questions of the defence," Reynolds said.

"Only let in one try which is a positive.

"It could have got real ugly there. We spoke about that at half time. We just want to go out and be better than in the first half."