Girls who brought Rabbitohs veteran Jason Clark to tears
WITH tears streaming down Jason Clark’s face and his young daughters in his arms, you could see how much his club means to the South Sydney veteran.
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WITH tears streaming down Jason Clark’s face and his young daughters, Milla and Andi, in his arms in the aftermath to Adam Reynolds’ semi-final final heroics, you could see how much his club means to the South Sydney veteran.
Reynolds’ third field goal in the 79th minute in Saturday night’s 13-12 thriller against St George Illawarra gifted Clark another 80 minutes as a Bunny.
The veteran forward will depart Redfern at the end of the season to joining English Super League club Warrington Wolves.
“I’m getting emotional just talking about it,” Clark said.
“(Reynolds) knows any moment could be my last game. After the game he just said, ‘one more week’.
“He knows how much it means to me more than anyone.
“We were up and down and back and forth between winning and losing. I think that’s what got me and the realising it could have been my final game.”
After making his NRL debut for the Redfern club in 2009, Clark was told last year his services would no longer be required once his contract expired at the end of this season.
“I was out on the field with the boys and they ended up running out to me,’’ he said of his daughters.
“I didn’t know they were coming out on to the field so when they came to me, it made it more emotional.
“After being here for 10 years, it was a relief that we get another game and I get another week here with the boys.
“We’ve got a great bunch of blokes and turning up every day to work is joyful.
“The opportunity to play another game … the tears were about relief and feeling proud and a whole range of emotions.”
The Coogee Randwick Wombat junior, who is described as being “South Sydney through and through”, has taken a philosophical approach to his final days at Redfern.
He appreciates that the modern-day world of professional rugby league is mostly a business with little time for sentiment.
“It was hard to take when it first happened,” he said.
“But the club has given me 18 months’ notice to find a new place. They could have told me a month a go that they weren’t going to re-sign me and I could be struggling to find a club right now.
“I had plenty of time, my manager has had plenty of time to do the work that’s needed.
“It’s not ideal that I have to leave the Rabbitohs after 10 years, but it’s a job like any other and I understand the club’s side of things.”