They may be battered, bruised and beaten, but the Bunnies are ready to bounce back in the NRL finals.
South Sydney will be counting the cost – and in the case of skipper Greg Inglis, his ribs – after losing a heartbreaking qualifying final by a solitary point to Melbourne on Friday.
Halfback Adam Reynolds will be monitored for a shoulder injury that required painkillers at halftime, while Inglis played on after getting his cage rattled by Storm winger Suliasi Vunivalu.
The Rabbitohs wait for the winner Brisbane-St George Illawarra elimination final on Sunday.
Inglis said eight days would be enough time for him to recover from the bruising shot.
“That’s why I play this sport; play the 80 minutes, bruises, battered, wounded, but the beauty of it we put ourselves in a good position to have another shot at it,” he said.
“We’ll get back, look after my ribs, and the boys will look after themselves and recover well, get back up to Sydney and obviously turn our attention to who we’ve got to play next week.”
Reynolds was whacked with a Felise Kaufusi special that forced him to forego a conversion attempt, only to then be put on his backside minutes later with a Christian Welch hit off a kick.
“Yeah he copped a bump on his AC joint,” Rabbitohs coach Anthony Seibold said.
“Obviously it hurt to start with but once he’s adrenalin (kicked in), he stayed in the game. He’s a tough guy, Reyno. He was fine (but won’t miss a) game, as everyone saw.”
Second-rower Angus Crichton also appeared to be hampered by a neck issue, however Seibold also played down any concerns.
“I didn’t see the specific tackle, I haven’t seen it replayed,” he said.
“I think just he copped one on the neck. I actually took him off because he’d been crook all week. He came back on and finished the game.”
However the most pressing issue now for Seibold is his team’s ability in the key moments, with the Storm coming back after being behind on five occasions.
The Rabbitohs took the lead for the fifth time with nine minutes left but couldn’t close it out.
“They completed 93 per cent in the second half, they showed us in the key moments how to play finals footy,” Seibold said.