After a 0-2 start to the 2022 NRL season, South Sydney’s off-season personnel strategy has been questioned.
The Rabbitohs lost some key players after playing off in the Grand Final where they came up just two points short of the Panthers.
Adam Reynolds departed for the Broncos, Dane Gagai joined Newcastle, Jaydn Su’A left for the Dragons and Benji Marshall retired, all key exits.
The early stages of the new campaign have not gone to plan for the Bunnies with the Daily Telegraph’s Michael Carayannis explaining how their shortcomings have come about.
“They made a choice with Adam Reynolds and they did that based on only offering him a one-year deal,” Carayannis said on SEN 1170 Breakfast.
“When you look at someone like Dane Gagai, in the back of their minds they were hoping to squeeze another 12 months out of him with the hope that he was going to join the Dolphins. That obviously didn’t eventuate.
“They were looking at getting him, not for a cut price, but for a decent deal for 2022 and knowing it would only be a 12-month contract then he’d be off to the Dolphins. It didn’t work out like that.
“You’ve got to remember with Souths, they had to upgrade a lot of players. Latrell (Mitchell) was on a short-term deal, he’s been upgraded. Cody Walker has redone his deal, so there’s a lot of of guys there on big-money contracts.
“There’s no doubt they’re well below their best at the moment and they look like a club that hasn’t trained a lot together which has got to do with COVID and a disrupted pre-season.
“They look very disjointed, the Rabbitohs.”
Jason Demetriou’s Souths side will be intent on bouncing back to form when they host the Roosters at Accor Stadium on Friday night.