A contract dispute is ongoing, but Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett says captain Adam Reynolds is going the right way about earning a new deal.
The halfback was again outstanding in South Sydney's 26-16 victory against arch-rivals the Roosters on Friday night despite his unclear future.
The Rabbitohs have so far been unprepared to offer the 30-year-old premiership winner more than a one-year extension to remain a one-club man, while Reynolds wants longer-term security.
He pulled the strings superbly at Stadium Australia and Bennett was impressed.
"If you're trying to get yourself a new contract, the best thing you can do is play well and not sulk about it," the master coach said.
"He's not sulking about it, he's getting on with it. He knows that whatever happens, his best option is to play well and people will want him."
Bennett gave Reynolds a nine-minute early mark – the second consecutive game he hasn't finished after being concussed against Manly – but said there were no concerns.
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"[Reynolds is] getting a bit old, just needs a rest now. The crowd wanted Benji [Marshall] on, so I didn't want to disappoint," Bennett quipped.
"He was in a team that played well and he's a part of that. A big part of that."
Elsewhere, Bennett described Jai Arrow as a "tough guy" after the prop withstood a physical barrage including a blatant punch in the head by David Suluka-Fifita during a first-half tackle.
The Roosters' beef with the Queensland enforcer stemmed from November's State of Origin decider in which Arrow lifted concussed NSW and Roosters fullback James Tedesco off the ground before dropping him.
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While Arrow has maintained he didn't realise the state Tedesco was in at the time, and the stand-in Roosters skipper insisted he'd moved past the incident earlier this week, the likes of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Suluka-Fifita were especially fiery.
Bennett, typically saving as many words as possible in his media-conference, was fine with referee Ashley Klein's decision to sin bin Suluka-Fifita instead of sending him off.
"I don't think he should've been sent off. No one gets sent off anyone, do they?" Bennett said.
"It's up to them to interpret whether they sin bin them or not. I'm not right across why they sin bin them and why they don't sometimes now."
