Souths shape up to season with new focus
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After a disappointing 2017 campaign, the South Sydney Rabbitohs are revamping their game plan with a strong focus around pressure and efforts.
New head coach Anthony Seibold offers a much needed fresh start at Redfern leading into the Telstra Premiership.
With the return of captain Greg Inglis, key recruit Dane Gagai and an even mix of youth and experience, the Bunnies have the ingredients to climb up the ladder from their disappointing 12th-placed finish last September.
Halfback Adam Reynolds told NRL.com that Seibold has taken no time in implementing new standards throughout pre-season.
“He is very structured and very thorough. We are focusing on pressure and efforts this year, that’s our main theme for the season,” he said.
“He holds everyone accountable every day at training. There are no short cuts, we still have a fair bit of stuff that Mag (Michael Maguire) has left over and it’s about working that stuff in with what Seibs (Anthony Seibold) is doing.”
The pressure and effort focus appears to be working following the Rabbitohs slick 18-8 win versus Wigan last weekend.
Following the impressive 80 minute performance at ANZ Stadium, Seibold quickly turned his attention to the New Zealand Warriors ahead of his team's season opener in Perth.
“Our whole pre-season we have put our focus on round one against the Warriors. We will worry about round two, three and so on after that,” he said.
“The last 14 weeks has been about getting to the starting line in good physical condition and having a really good understanding of our game model, that’s been our preparation.”
Regardless of the Rabbitohs finishing outside the top eight last season, Seibold is hoping the collective effort put in over pre-season will pay off.
“I'm looking forward to seeing the hard work that we’ve put in during the pre-season transfer into our games. The reality is we’ve finished 12th two years in a row, so we’re starting at the bottom of the pack,” he said.
“We have a long way to go to get back to competing with the best sides in the competition, but we’ve worked really hard. We’ve invested a lot of time in changing the way we train, building relationships within the group and also manipulating our game model.
“We just want to see a positive transfer to the field and one of the things I’m most looking forward to is giving the players the opportunity to play their best footy.
"It will be challenging at times, there’s no doubt about that, but I’m quite excited about seeing us go out and play.”
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