South Sydney players insist their season remains alive, despite their lowly position on the NRL ladder.
The Rabbitohs likely need to win at least six of their last eight games to have any chance of making this year's finals, beginning with Sunday's clash with North Queensland in Cairns.
Last Friday night's 14-12 loss to the depleted Sydney Roosters was their 10th of the season, meaning they must launch the best finals charge since Canberra in 2010 to make the top eight.
Rabbitohs players on Wednesday insisted all hope was not gone on avoiding a second straight early exit from the competition.
"I don't think (our season is over)," forward Tyrell Fuimaono said.
"I have full belief in our team and I think we can pull together and put our best performance in.
"We've done it previously, come off a loss and looked at ourselves and thought we really need to win this weekend."
Souths have only three clashes with teams outside of the top eight and must tackle Melbourne and Cronulla in their run home.
They leave Sydney for Cairns on Friday, where they have lost their two matches played in the regional Queensland city.
Meanwhile, a South Sydney official confirmed on Wednesday that former Queensland State of Origin centre Dane Nielsen had been released by the club last month to return home to Mackay.
Nielsen, who last played Origin for the Maroons in 2012, has not played first grade since the end of last season at Souths, and had only trained with the reserve grade squad since the pre-season.
A two-time premiership winner at Melbourne in 2009 and 2012, Nielsen's career went backwards after he joined the Warriors in 2013, while he was sacked from St George Illawarra in 2015 after an alleged nightclub incident.
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