‘I need to pick up my game’: Cody Walker’s brutal self-critique

The South Sydney Rabbitohs haven’t had the start to the season they’d have liked and now Cody Walker is putting his hand up.

Cody Walker is cutting himself no slack whatsoever. Picture; Matt King/Getty Images

Cody Walker has admitted his game hasn’t been up to scratch so far this season but insists the South Sydney Rabbitohs are working overtime to get their season back on track.

Last year’s runners-up have struggled to adjust to life after Wayne Bennett and Adam Reynolds, winning just one of their first four matches and dropping to 13th on the ladder.

Most recently, the Rabbitohs were thoroughly outclassed by the side they pushed until the final minutes of last year’s grand final – the Penrith Panthers.

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A potent attacking force under Bennett, Souths have scored only 11 tries so far this season, almost half the number of competition heavyweights Melbourne, Penrith and Parramatta.

As young halfback Lachlan Ilias adjusts to the rigours of the NRL, Walker is putting his hand up and conceding he needs to improve his individual game if the Rabbitohs are any chance of hoisting themselves out of the bottom eight.

“Personally, for me, I need to pick my game up. It’s not where I need it to be,” the reigning Dally M five-eighth of the year said.

“There’s been glimpses over the first four rounds, but I probably need to be more consistent with my footy.

“I’m working really hard to get my game in order.”

Cody Walker says he must improve his game. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

Walker said he urgently needed to iron the errors out of his game; the 32 year-old has made nine across the first month of the season, the fourth most of any player.

“One of the key areas in our game is our completion rate. I haven’t been too good at that over the last couple of weeks,” he said.

“I had two errors on the weekend. If every player gets to have one error, there’s 17 errors in the game. As a senior player, I need to get that out of my game and be more consistent with my effort I suppose.”

Walker was full of praise for Ilias, who has had the unenviable task of filling the void left by Reynolds.

“I think the most impressive part about our game is the game of our No.7 in Lachie,” Walker said.

“He’s been pretty good and handled the pressure quite well.”

Even with Latrell Mitchell back on deck, the Rabbitohs have struggled to ignite their attack. Picture: Kelly Defina/Getty Images

Walker said the Rabbitohs were working hard to restore their cohesion following the departures of Reynolds, Dane Gagai, Jaydn Su’A and Benji Marshall.

“We’re continually working at training, we’re continually doing extra work that we need to do. We’re working really hard,” he said.

Walker and the Rabbitohs have the chance to return to the winner’s circle when they meet the St George Illawarra Dragons on Saturday.

While Walker said his side looked forward to coming up against Dragons recruit Su’A, he insisted the Rabbitohs’ focus couldn’t be on their opposition.

“(The Dragons) are probably in the same boat as us. They need to get some wins on the board,” he said.

“Obviously, for us, our focus is clearly on us.

“That’s purely been our focus all week; get our own game right and play our style of footy.”

Originally published as ‘I need to pick up my game’: Cody Walker’s brutal self-critique