Reynolds set to kick; Bennett lauds Walker

Adam Reynolds is confident he can resume goal-kicking duties in the NRL grand final and will be «close to 100 per cent, if not 100» after a groin injury forced him to take a back seat last week.

Reynolds didn’t kick for goal in the defeat of Manly, seven-game fullback Blake Taaffe slotting in nicely instead, while halves partner Cody Walker did the bulk of end-of-set work for the Rabbitohs at Suncorp Stadium.

Coach Wayne Bennett, who described his halfback as «one of the best goal kickers in the game» said the groin niggle was enough to almost rule him out of last Friday’s preliminary final.

But ahead of his last game before leaving for Brisbane next year, Reynolds did his best to talk down the issue.

«Yeah, I am pretty confident I will be (kicking), he said.

«I’ll do a few reps tomorrow and see how it feels.But overall pretty happy. (I pulled up) pretty good. I’ll be close to 100 per cent, if not 100.»

His support cast stood up in the preliminary final, Walker scoring the first try and dominating in attack in his penultimate game alongside Reynolds.

Walker has amassed an NRL-high 33 try assists to go with 44 line-break assists, as well as scoring 15 tries and making 89 per cent of his tackles.

«I think everyone can see what he’s done, you can see the stats,» Bennett said of his five-eighth.

«It’s quite incredible.I didn’t realise how good he was until I arrived at Souths and after about two or three training sessions I realised I had something special on my hands.»

Walker is chasing a maiden premiership but has departing pair Bennett and Reynolds front of mind in their final games for the club.

«It’d certainly be up there with a career highlight and detik the way you repay these guys by their service is by not by making it all about them,» he said.

«That’s what we’ve been focused on, doing our jobs, and all our energy is going into that so we’re ready to go.»

Souths beat Penrith in the first week of the finals series but, the Panthers have ground through the gears since, beating minor premiers Melbourne last weekend to secure a grand final return.

«Their attack is second to none,» Penrith captain Isaah Yeo said of Souths.

«They’ve said that when we versed them earlier in the season (beating them 56-12) and they had a couple of bad losses they’ve grown from that and used it as a lot of motivation.»