South Sydney star Benji Marshall will "take a few days" to process the side's 14-12 grand final loss before making a decision on his future after falling short of a fairytale finish.
Marshall was consoled by his young son Fox post-match after the Rabbitohs were unable to gain the upper hand in the final stages to send Marshall out a winner.
The 36-year-old's future has been a hot topic through the Telstra Premiership finals series and indicated he will sit down this week to discuss his next move.
There were suggestions this week linking Marshall to a Queensland-based NRL club with the veteran to weigh up playing on or retirement.
"Everyone wants to know what I'm doing but we'll just get through the next few days and then I'll assess it maybe on Wednesday or Thursday," Marshall said.
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"We'll see, it's hard to process after that sort of year. I'll see what the options are, celebrate the season we've had with the boys.
"My wife [Zoe] is very supportive, she wants me to do what's best. I'll know from the bottom of my heart if it's time or not.
"Age is just a number, if you're still turning up enjoying it and turn up to training every day and on the field then why not.
"I made the No.14 jersey my own this year and was enjoying it. I'm extremely grateful more than anything to have the opportunity to represent this great club and play with the players I got to play with this year."
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Marshall conceded the Rabbitohs "let slip" a title opportunity in their two-point loss to the Panthers in a gripping finale to the 2021 season.
The Bunnies clawed their way back to set up a grandstand finish in the final eight minutes of the match but were unable to take advantage of a late Cam Murray bust through the middle.
"To not get the result is extremely disappointing," Marshall said.
"We're in the business of winning here and for it to go the other way, full credit to them, they were better than us, but I felt we let one go.
"They controlled field position, they had a lot of the ball. It felt like we were turning up left, right and centre just stopping their line breaks.
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"I thought we showed a lot of determination and heart. They played the game on us we wanted to play on them.
"They've been an outstanding side for the past couple of years and definitely were better today. It's tough to lose but we did have a pretty good season."