‘I don’t really care what they say’: The one player South Sydney will always defend South Sydney became the first NRL club to officially begin pre-season training on Wednesday, with the following: Winger Lachlan Ilias wants to erase the memories of last season.
collapsed and retreated from Adam Reynolds’ ever-persisting shadow.
Ilias joined dozens of new recruits, training specialists and trialists for a series of sprint drills at Redfern Oval on a chilly Wednesday morning.
St. George Illawarra will start work on Thursday, while several other clubs who did not make the finals, including the Wests Tigers, will start on Monday.
Souths are one of the league’s biggest disappointments in 2023.
They led the league after 11 rounds before losing nine of their last 13 matches to finish ninth.
Most of the blame was directed at full-back Ilias.
Craig Coleman and Craig Field are two former South players who were quick to criticize the 23-year-old.
Ilias was not helped by the fact that the man he replaced at the start of last season, fan-favorite, premiership-winning Reynolds, led the Broncos to a grand final appearance.
Ilias said Wednesday that he has been back in training for a month and is injury-free, and that he has quickly learned to live with the pressure of replacing Reynolds.
His most immediate concern will be keeping himself ahead of NSW Cup Player of the Year Dean Hawkins in the fullback pecking order.
“Pressure doesn’t bother me; I’ve been dealing with this all my career; it’s nothing new and nothing has changed,” Ilias said in this headline.
“These ‘Reyno’ [comparisons] don’t motivate me.
I’ve got my own things that motivate me.
I’m not fussed about it.
“I’ll always support our ‘little mate’.
He’ll forever be a rabbit.
He took control of that Broncos team.
Obviously, he was disappointed with the grand final loss, and I flicked him a message after that game.
“The biggest thing I learned last season was to be confident with whatever you do.
“Souths coach Jason Demetriou defended Ilias on several occasions during the season gone and said a playmaker with less than 50 games of NRL experience was never expected to lead the club out of the doldrums.
Demetriou also reminded critics that the Reynolds debate was not had in 2022, when the Broncos missed the finals and the Souths went within 80 minutes of the grand final.
“People questioning Lachie can question him all they want; I don’t really care what they say or who says it,” Demetriou said.
“If you’re a supporter of the club, you’ve got a choice to get on board and support the club or not.
“He’s a guy who just came into his second year, and he was a guy who led the team to the top of the table after 11 rounds.
What happened at the back end of the year—that’s not on a 40-game or 50-game halfback to fix.
“Today he came and instructed physical exercises.
We really believe in the direction Lachie is going.
We also have great confidence in Dean Hawkins, who led our NSW Cup team to victory.
“We don’t need a fullback.
I have two very good ones here.
They’ll challenge each other, and that will bring the best out of both of them.
” As for the persistent Reynolds comparisons, Demetriou said: “That’s you guys [the media] talking about it.
We weren’t talking about it last year when our former halfback didn’t make the finals.
“Obviously, when we don’t make the finals, and Adam goes on a great run and makes the grand final, it’s a conversation.
“But the conversation has nothing to do with what happened at the end of the season for us and it will have nothing to do with the shape of 2024.
We control what we can control and everything that happens outside is not important to us.
” .
” Most of the Southern team, including Latrell Mitchell and rookie Jack Wighton, are timetable to begin practice on November 13.
Meanwhile, a fundraising luncheon will be held on Friday for Kyle Turner’s family, details of which will be available on the Suds website.
Turner, who won the 2014 championship, was just 31 years old when he died in August.
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