The Dragons fell to the Rabbitohs 28-24 in Wollongong in their Charity Shield showdown on Saturday night.
A steady crowd descended upon WIN Stadium for the venue's first Charity Shield clash since 2014.
Hame Sele left the field for a HIA – which ended his night – in the opening minute of the game after a heavy collision bringing Hamish Stewart into the action.
The Rabbitohs lost former-Dragon Jonah Glover the following set after another strong collision as the opening stages proved fierce for both sides.
Setu Tu enjoyed a nice, early touch shoving away from multiple defenders to produce a strong set start for the Red V before Kyle Flanagan went within inches of first points off a deceptive show-and-go only to be held up.
The Dragons found success soon after via a sharp shift out right with Tu cutting back in and crafting a nice ball to Atkinson who zipped into the backfield, drew the fullback, and sent it inside to a supporting Clint Gutherson to dive over.
Flanagan stepped up to knock over the extras and make it 6-0 a little over 10 minutes in.
South Sydney hit back a quarter of the way in with Talanoa Penitani muscling his way through to slam the ball down in the southwestern corner and lock things at six-apiece.
An error off the following set handed the Dragons a golden opportunity to manufacture a response and they did just that with Damien Cook spotting a close-range opportunity out of dummy-half and weaselling his way to the goal-line.
The Dragons went agonisingly close to extending their lead moments later as Gutherson and Atkinson again combined to lay on a break only for a frustrating error on the final pass.
Matt Dufty managed a try for the Rabbitohs just a few minutes out from half-time after regathering his own ricocheting kick and getting the ball to the grass.
The first points of the second half belonged to the visitors with Latrell Siegwalt slipping into space down the left-hand side and sliding over to make it 16-12.
The Dragons' frustrating night continued with a stray pass out of yardage gift-wrapping South Sydney's Bayleigh Bentley-Hape a four-pointer as the visitors' lead grew out to double digits.
The hosts nabbed a needed hit-back 52 minutes in with Cook fashioning a well-weighted kick out of dummy-half for a chasing Luciano Leilua who did well to ground the wobbling ball.
Cook earnt an early mark off it with Lyhkan King-Togia coming into the action pushing Flanagan into hooker.
South Sydney claimed a try on the other side of the hour-mark only for video officials to rule an aerial knock-on and award the hosts possession.
The Rabbitohs snagged another try against the run of play with Jordi Mazzone scooping up a loose Dragons pass and diving over untouched to extend the lead back beyond a converted try.
Hayden Buchanan was injected into the contest late and took the opportunity with both hands slicing into the backfield and showcasing his acceleration with Mathew Feagai stepping his way over the stripe the following play.
