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Indigenous Round to spark Rabbits' revival

3 minute read

South Sydney captain Adam Reynolds says the Rabbitohs' capitulation against Penrith on Sunday was unacceptable from one of the NRL's heavyweight outfits.

ADAM REYNOLDS of the Rabbitohs.
ADAM REYNOLDS of the Rabbitohs. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

South Sydney captain Adam Reynolds is challenging his humbled teammates to use Indigenous Round as the driver to revive the Rabbitohs' flagging NRL title hopes.

From one of the premiership fancies three weeks ago, Souths' stocks have taken a pummelling with 50-point drubbings at the hands of last year's two grand finalists.

Another defeat on Saturday night to third-placed Parramatta and the Rabbitohs could find themselves tumbling out of the top four.

No time for moping, Reynolds says the Rabbitohs have an obligation to their fans to ensure there's no more "embarrassing" performances from the side like Sunday's 56-12 surrender to Penrith.

"We know what we're capable of. We know we were well below par and embarrassing on the weekend," the skipper said on Tuesday.

"Everyone's hurting and obviously we'll make sure we go out and it won't happen again.

"That's not us, that's not South Sydney and we've addressed it and we're going to make sure we practise what we preached in the video room and make sure it doesn't happen again.

"We've looked through where we can get better and obviously highlighted where we've been poor and defence is at the forefront of that and we obviously need to be better and no doubt we'll see a change this week in attitude."

Souths won seven straight before suffering a 50-0 defeat to Melbourne three weeks ago, then struggling to beat lowly Cronulla before Sunday's capitulation.

"You can use excuses but, as players, it's our responsibility to get up every week and perform at a peak level," Reynolds said.

"And for us, it was unacceptable on the weekend.

"Every person's different in how they respond to it. For me, it's motivation going forward that you don't want to have that embarrassment again.

"You can use that hurt and that pain to get better. It's not hard for us as individuals to want to go out there and want to play some good footy.

"It's what we get paid to do."

Insisting he's never been more committed to helping Souths win another competition before he links with Brisbane at season's end, Reynolds said there was no better time than Indigenous Round for the Rabbitohs to reignite their campaign.

"We've got a lot of Indigenous boys in the team. My wife and kids are Indigenous and in Redfern we're in the heart and soul of the Indigenous territory," he said.

"They're arguably the proudest bunch of people that we know and obviously it's a great week to be involved in."

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