The Broncos sold Reynolds the Queensland dream during a hit-and-run mission to Sydney which secured Brisbane the prized chip in its premiership pursuit.

The premiership-winning halfback has been tagged as the player that can help the Broncos become an NRL powerhouse once again following the worst two seasons in the club’s 34-year history.

While Reynolds will miss Brisbane’s season-opener against his former club Souths after contracting Covid on Thursday, the Broncos are looking at the big picture.

The Rabbitohs’ premiership schemer has not been bought to be a one-game wonder. This is not a Band-Aid buy.

During his three-year contract, Broncos bosses are hoping Reynolds’ cool head at the nerve centre can steer the ailing glamour club from NRL mediocrity to premiership credibility.

In the second part of a special series delving deep into the Brisbane renaissance, The Courier-Mail can reveal the high-level machinations that led to the Broncos securing Reynolds on a lucrative deal worth $2.4 million to lead coach Kevin Walters’ Red Hill revival.

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THE BOY FROM REDFERN

Reynolds is as South Sydney as they come.

Born and raised near the Rabbitohs’ spiritual home of Redfern, Reynolds played in South Sydney’s junior competition and dreamed of wearing the famous cardinal and myrtle.

His dream came true when he made his NRL debut in 2012 and in 2014 Reynolds started at halfback as Souths snapped a 43-year premiership drought with a grand final win against the Bulldogs.

Reynolds, 31, was firmly entrenched as South Sydney’s No.7, eclipsing 200 games for his beloved Rabbitohs in 2020 and looked destined to finish his career as a one-club legend.

But early last year, cracks started to appear. Off-contract at the end of the 2021 season, the Rabbitohs were not willing to offer Reynolds more than a one-year extension.

Seeking security in the latter stage of his career, Reynolds gauged interest from rival clubs but the Broncos seemed long odds to secure a player of his quality and standing in Sydney.

The Broncos were coming off their worst-ever season, collecting the 2020 wooden spoon under former coach Anthony Seibold, and were showing few signs of improvement under Walters.

A move to Brisbane for a Sydney boy such as Reynolds seemed fanciful at best. Surely it wasn’t a possibility.

The Broncos were sitting 15th on the ladder with two wins from eight rounds when Dave Donaghy started as chief executive officer on May 1 following a drawn out contractual spat with former club Melbourne Storm.

THE REYNOLDS HEIST

On his second day in the job, Donaghy and Walters flew to Sydney on a Sunday morning to meet Reynolds and wife Tallara at their Rosebery home, nestled between the Rabbitohs’ Redfern headquarters and Sydney’s bustling Mascot airport.

Armed with an $800,000-a-year, three-year package approved by Brisbane’s board, Donaghy and Walters pitched their Broncos vision to Reynolds.

They spoke about the state of the club, what had gone wrong and what was happening behind the scenes to take Brisbane back to its glory days.

But they also spoke about what life in Brisbane could look like for Adam, Tallara and their four young children.

“When I looked at our squad, there was certainly some key priority areas for us that we needed to improve,” Donaghy said.

“We needed to strengthen our spine and invest in on-field leadership and locker room presence. We didn’t know whether we were a chance of getting Adam out of Sydney but we wanted to have that conversation at the very least.

“Kevvie and I flew down and met with Adam and his wife in their house in Sydney. We made a pitch to him about not only playing for the Broncos but also living in Brisbane and what that would look like for a couple with a young family.

“It went well and the rest is history.”

In the week after their meeting, Reynolds informed the Broncos he would be accepting a three-year offer to join the club from 2022. It was a bombshell signing for Brisbane and an injection of optimism for suffering Broncos fans.

THE RIVER CITY DREAM

After the entire NRL competition was relocated to Queensland due to Covid, the Reynolds’ listed their 250 sqm home in Sydney and sold it for $2.26 million.

In the weeks leading up to South Sydney’s grand-final loss to Penrith, they settled on a stunning seven-bedroom, four bathroom property set on 4000 sqm on Brisbane’s leafy north side for $2.15 million.

The Sydney rat race seems a lifetime away from Reynolds’ sprawling backyard, beautiful entertaining area and leisurely 15km commute to the Broncos’ training base at Red Hill.

He hasn’t played a game for the Broncos yet but can’t imagine returning to Sydney.

“I’m loving Brisbane,” Reynolds said.

“Sydney can be pretty full on and the change of lifestyle and pace has been great.

“It’s great to enjoy life outside of football. We have some acreage and the kids love the open spaces. We were living in a shoebox in Rosebery. We had a four bedroom duplex and it was a pretty tight squeeze.

“Up here we have an acre, every kid has their own room, we have a pool and we have a cinema room for them to watch movies.

“I’m a real family man so I think the Brisbane weather and lifestyle suits me. I’m honestly loving the life here, I can’t see myself going back.”

THE NEXT REYNOLDS

While the acquisition of Reynolds was a boon for the Broncos, it was a signing the club should have never been forced to make.

For decades, the Broncos were the powerhouse of rugby league in Queensland. They had six premierships to prove it and the pick of the state’s best talent.

But over recent years the Broncos have seen some of Queensland’s most promising youngsters choose other clubs over Red Hill.

Think David Fifita at the Titans, Reece Walsh at the Warriors and Sam Walker at the Roosters – a trio who could play many State of Origin games for Queensland.

That’s why the Broncos have set about securing the foundations of the club for the next generation.

While they may not challenge for this year’s NRL premiership, the Broncos have some of the hottest young talent in the game at their disposal.

The likes of Selwyn Cobbo, Brendan Piakura, Kotoni Staggs, Ezra Mam, Deine Mariner and Xavier Willison are stars of the future. And football chief Ben Ikin is determined to ensure they wear a Broncos jersey for years to come.

“The better your academy gets, the harder it is to keep them all,” Ikin said.

“If you create a production line that has to deliver guys to your top 30, for all the great kids you bring out of your system and want to push into an NRL contract, something has to give.

“Where we want to get better is making sure the transition out of the academy to the Broncos top squad is stronger. We are a development club and if we are going to leverage off what we do in the Academy, we need to make that transition as tight as it possibly can be.

“The truth is with the Dolphins now in the market and 15 other clubs desperate to turn around their organisations, there is some ridiculous offers being made for kids who are not near their best. You can’t always compete with those offers, so you have to be sharp at identifying the guys you want to build your club around into the future.

“Penrith are going through this process at the moment. Not everybody can get rich at your club. At some point, those great kids that come into your system will get big money offers because the salary cap is doing its job.”

CHARACTER CLEAN-UP

AFL club Sydney Swans famously had their “no dickhead” policy in 2015. It was a sledgehammer summation that the Swans wanted to assemble a roster of not only good players, but good people.

In recent years, the Broncos have come under fire for signing bad boys. They issued a lifeline to Matt Lodge after his infamous New York rampage. Tevita Pangai Jr was embroiled in an off-field storm in August 2020, breaching the NRL’s Covid protocols by mixing with bikies at a Brisbane barber shop. Last October, Broncos forward Jamil Hopoate, who was jailed in 2014, was charged by police over a fresh assault matter.

Brisbane’s famous $50 million brand cannot afford to be consistently tainted by Broncos boofheads.

Since the arrival of Donaghy, Ikin and Walters, Lodge, Pangai Jr and Hopoate have all been moved on. Squeaky-clean former Titans captain Ryan James and premiership-winning Penrith forward Kurt Capewell, also a Queensland Origin player, have been recruited to fix the club’s leadership void.

“There’s any number of character traits you can talk to when it comes to building your roster,” Ikin said. “We want good people, so we are making an assessment on character.

“We want competent performers, so we want guys meeting key criteria in their specific positions. You want guys who are compatible with your squad. You want guys who fit with our head coach and the way he wants us to play.

“You can’t have too much of any one capability. You also want blokes who are coachable. Ultimately, you want good people to come here, learn and grow and embrace the way the Broncos want to play and live the values the club is trying to build its future around.”

THE FUTURE

With Reynolds on deck and more stability across the club, the Broncos are ready to kick off their 2022 campaign and climb up the NRL ladder following finishes of 16th and 14th over the past two years.

It has been nearly 16 years since the club last tasted premiership success in 2006 and Donaghy said the time has arrived for the Broncos to become a title force again.

“I don’t think anyone enjoyed coming 16th and 14th and that’s certainly not where we want to be,” he said. “We’ve challenged everyone and got a plan on the back of it. Now it’s about implementing that to get us to where we want to be.

“We want to set lofty goals. Every team goes into the season wanting to win the premiership. Whether that’s realistic or not, you work it out as you play some games.

“To get there you need to be playing finals. That’s a goal we’ve set ourselves. The guys are working hard to get us into a position to be there.

“It’s great to have goals but you don’t rise to your goals – you fall to your systems. For us, the boring parts of our program are super important and will continue to be super important.

“They are things we can work on every day to get better and that is the focus across the club.

“There’s been an air of positivity around the club over the off-season and pre-season.”