NRL 2021: Short contract means Kevin Walters needs a band conductor at Broncos - and soon

Is it wise shopping to offer a three-year deal to a player who turns 31 in July? Maybe not, but Kevin Walters needs to get things moving if he wants to be around for any good times.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 08: Adam Reynolds of the Rabbitohs runs the ball during the round five NRL match between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Brisbane Broncos at Stadium Australia on April 08, 2021, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

You could call it contract chess and it’s a strange little game.

The instant the Broncos went “short” with a two-year deal for coach Kevin Walters they applied pressure which, six months later, would put heat on him to go “long’’ with a three-year contract offer to potential recruit Adam Reynolds.

It sounds strange … the coach with the short deal needing to offer a veteran player a long deal to get him primarily for the short term.

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The Broncos must go hard to get Adam Reynolds.

But that’s life in the complex world of contract chess where the skill is getting someone else to fit into your timeline – at the right price.

South Sydney offered Reynolds nothing more than a one-year deal to stay, but Brisbane have gone for three – he wanted four – to try and beat Cronulla to his signature.

For a player who turns 31 in July, that is seen as a gamble, but Walters, because of the shortness of his own deal, which is up for renewal next year, needs to get things moving at the Broncos by early next year and that means getting an experienced conductor for the band.

The issue of giving Reynolds a long-term deal is an intriguing one of many threads, including …

THE CASE FOR

- Reynolds outstanding kicking game – his pinpoint goalkicking and radar-like kicks to the corners - shouldn’t diminish with advancing years and is just what the Broncos need.

- Reynolds can manage and ice a game. When scores were deadlocked in the Cowboys-Broncos game on Saturday, a Reynolds field goal would have sealed the deal for the Broncos. He is also a capable defender and leader on and off the field.

- He’s a solid citizen. Team-mates say he has the cheeky way, which Wayne Bennett says is almost essential in a halfback, but his off field conduct has traditionally been very good.

- There are frequent images of him being knocked around in games but, despite a recent thumb injury, he rarely misses one. In the past four seasons he has played 21, 24, 25 and 23 games.

- Even if he grows old quickly late in his contract, two good years might be enough to justify a ropey third. His role is to turn the ship around. Others may sail it to glory in later years.

Few can rival Reynolds for his kicking ability.

THE CASE AGAINST

- Unlike players like James Maloney and Brett Kimmorley, who went through 11 NRL clubs between them and enjoyed their journeys as guns for hire, Reynolds is a one-club player with four children who is settled in his surrounds in south Sydney. He has never had the desire to move.

- Souths know him inside out and have refused to budge at offering him any longer than a one-year deal. What do they know that Brisbane don’t? Are they fearful his body won’t last?

- He turns 31 in July and will be 34 in the last year of his contract. The clock is ticking. As it always is in contract chess.