Bulldogs’ Josh Reynolds knows the pressure is on him to perform and keep his spot at the club

JOSH Reynolds does his best to ignore the reports and website whispers about the players the Bulldogs are chasing, but he is also a realist.

JOSH Reynolds does his best to ignore the reports and website whispers about the players the Bulldogs are chasing, but he is also a realist.

Reynolds knows if he doesn’t perform it will open the door for the club to look elsewhere.

“Because if not I’m playing good footy and I get kicked out of here, so be it and fair enough,” Reynolds told The Sunday Telegraph.

“If I give them a chance to say this young bloke is coming through then I’ll take it on the chin.

“The club knows what this club means to me and everyone knows what I do week-in and week-out, but sometimes it happens in footy.

“I just hope it doesn’t happen to me.”

A day rarely goes by when Reynolds isn’t stopped in the street and reminded about the players the Bulldogs are chasing to replace him.

“I don’t read the papers anymore, but someone always says it to you,” he conceded.

“Every person is coming to this club I can tell you right now — Foran, Cherry-Evans, Brooks — everyone is coming here.”

For his own mindset, Reynolds prefers to block out the constant contract noise about his future at Belmore. The proud Bulldogs junior would love to stay at the club beyond next season and to do so he knows he must maintain his focus on football.

“I feel that (talk) negative stuff for me and I’ve just got to keep that positive mindset and not buy into any of that stuff,” he said.

“If I read too far into that I’ll be going away from what I’m doing. But the Bulldogs are such big club and they are always going to get interest from players because they know it’s a great and successful club and who wouldn’t want to be here.

“So I count my lucky eggs that I am here and I just want to keep doing what I do every week.”

Reynolds has played all nine matches for Canterbury this season, but he has still copped criticism for his form. In many respects this is due to the Bulldogs’ failure to discover consistency this season, highlighted by their four losses and five wins.

Despite this record, Reynolds remains confident he can rediscover his best against the Wests Tigers at ANZ Stadium on Sunday.

“It’s a big game against the Tigers and we’ve just got to go in with the right mindset, myself included,” he said.

“I feel like I’m going OK though. To me, I come in here and whatever Des and my teammate’s think of me is what I care about.

“There are going to be people that don’t like me for the person I am, but there are going to be people that like me. But if I feel like I’m doing my part for the team, then that is all that matters.”

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Originally published as Bulldogs’ Josh Reynolds knows the pressure is on him to perform and keep his spot at the club