NRL 2022: Adam Reynolds wants to sign second Brisbane Broncos contract
New Brisbane leader Adam Reynolds makes bombshell call on his Broncos future just hours after being appointed club captain.
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New Brisbane skipper Adam Reynolds has hit back at his “haters”, dismissing suggestions he is at breaking point physically as he revealed his plan to sign another deal with the Broncos and play on until 2025.
Reynolds was officially unveiled as Brisbane’s 12th captain at Red Hill on Tuesday, a leadership coronation that comes nine months after the then South Sydney halfback inked a three-year, $2.4 million deal with the Broncos.
During the negotiation process, Reynolds was buffeted by reports he is on borrowed time in the NRL. There were claims he was on a modified training program at Souths. Other whispers suggested shoulder, back and achilles ailments meant he was a high-level investment risk for the Broncos.
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Even Reynolds’ beloved Bunnies weren’t convinced of his longevity, tabling only a 12-month extension for a 31-year-old playmaker who was viewed as a year-to-year proposition at Redfern.
But Reynolds has news for the critics. He insists an injury-enforced retirement isn’t on the horizon.
In fact, the premiership-winning stalwart is so confident in his body he intends to chase a fourth season at the Broncos beyond his 35th birthday when his current deal expires in 2024.
“My goal is to push on for longer than three years at the Broncos,” Reynolds said.
“I have to take things a year at a time, but I don’t see this as a short-term thing. I want to repay the Broncos for the faith they have shown in me at this stage of my career.
“Obviously I get niggling injuries every now and then, but if you get caught up listening to the haters and the people trying to bring you down and telling you that you are no good, you will only fall into a trap of being no good.
“Overall the body is feeling good. I’m 31, I’ve been in the NRL for a long time, but to be honest I believe I can sign another contract with the Broncos after this one.
“That’s my plan. I have two years after this season and I believe my body will hold up for the three years or I wouldn’t have signed for that long.”
Statistics show Reynolds is anything but an injury-plagued crock. In his 10 seasons at Souths, he amassed 231 games, an average of 23 matches per season. In eight of those 10 seasons, he played more than 20 games in a single campaign. His lowest output was 16 matches in the 2016 season.
While Reynolds carried a shoulder injury into last year’s grand final, he avoided off-season surgery and believes he can tally more than 50 games for the Broncos with the support of Brisbane’s medical team.
“I don’t know about going until the age of 40, but I definitely see myself going on beyond this next deal if I can,” he said.
“The big thing for me now is professionalism. I Iook after my body a lot better now than I did when I was younger.
“The important thing is listening to the people around me that I value. I’m open to feedback, but the minute I look sideways and listen to the outside criticism and noises, that’s when I start declining.
“There is a great medical staff and high-performance staff at the Broncos and as long as I keep looking after myself, I can’t see why I can’t sign another deal and finish my career at the Broncos.”
Ironically, the Broncos can thank the super coach they sacked in 2018 - Wayne Bennett - for Reynolds’ evolution as a leader.
It was Bennett who promoted Reynolds to the captaincy at Souths two years ago, opening the pint-sized halfback’s eyes to his leadership value.
“I didn’t think I would fall into the captain’s role,” he said.
“When I was a bit younger, I shied away from the leadership stuff, but the older I got, the more I realised how important I was to the team.
“I’m honoured that Kevvie (Walters, Broncos coach) saw me as a leader. He kept me back in a meeting one day. I thought I had done something wrong, I wasn’t too sure what was going on. Then he had a quiet word to me about the captaincy.
“The relationship I have with Kevvie is already strong. He is passionate about his footy, he loves the Broncos, he wants to see them back at the top and we’re on the same page to try and achieve that.”
Walters said it was Reynold’s ability to control the “big moments” of a game which made him Broncos captaincy material.
“His personality suits the captaincy role,” Walters said on Tuesday.
“He’s got great experience and he’s well-respected amongst the group.
“He also brings that level of confidence amongst the playing group.
“Watching him over the years, in the big moments he knows what to do in the game situation so that makes him the ideal captain.
“Once he was comfortable here with our players, I think it was a natural progression.
“Everyone in the playing group would agree he’s the right man to lead the club forward.”
How we broke Reynolds captaincy story
Adam Reynolds has outlined his plan to bring a title to the Broncos after being installed as Brisbane’s captain for the 2022 premiership.
The Courier-Mail can reveal Broncos coach Kevin Walters has anointed Reynolds as the skipper to lead the club into a new era, with the $2.4 million marquee recruit to be officially unveiled as Brisbane’s captain on Tuesday.
Walters has spent the off-season assessing the captaincy claims of a number of contenders, including hooker Jake Turpin, prop Payne Haas, rising forward Pat Carrigan and premiership-winning recruit Kurt Capewell.
But the standout choice was Reynolds, who will succeed the retired Alex Glenn as skipper and celebrates his coronation as the 12th captain in Broncos history, joining club legends Wally Lewis, Gene Miles, Allan Langer, Gorden Tallis and Darren Lockyer.
The 31-year-old has yet to play a game for the Broncos, but Reynolds was impossible to ignore after the 231-game playmaker skippered South Sydney to last year’s NRL grand final against the Panthers.
Reynolds was a teenager when Lockyer captained the Broncos to their last title in 2006, but after clinching a maiden premiership with Souths in 2014, the crafty schemer is hellbent on breaking Brisbane’s 16-year drought.
“It’s pretty exciting and a huge honour to be captain of the Broncos,” Reynolds said.
“From the day I turned up everyone has gone out of their way to make me comfortable and to be named captain, I’m grateful and honoured.
“I was talking to someone before about the number of great captains the Broncos have had and to be in the same list as them, hopefully I can do what guys like ‘Locky’ and ‘Alfie’ (Langer) did and bring some success to the club.
“There is a rich history at the Broncos and it would be pretty cool to captain the club to a premiership. You walk into the club and you see the premierships in the corridors, so now I have a chance to create something special with the squad we have here.
“Kevvie loves the Broncos and wants to see them back at the top and I’m on the same page as him.”
Few players in the NRL this season will experience the scrutiny Reynolds will confront at the Broncos.
The Broncos are mired in the worst period in the club’s history — they are still recovering from Anthony Seibold’s wooden-spoon debacle in 2020 — and Reynolds is viewed as the halfback who can engineer a Red Hill revival.
Some would argue Reynolds can do without the added pressures of captaincy. The man himself is relishing being Brisbane’s top dog and firing in the No.7 jumper Langer made famous.
“Alfie is a champion,” he said.
“I respect him enormously and what he has achieved in the game.
“He gave me a little speech (on Monday) when I was made captain and it blew me away. I grew up not liking him because I was a NSW kid, but what he did as a halfback, he was a club legend. I can now see why he is so loved at the Broncos and hopefully I can do the jersey he wore proud.
“Coming up here to Brisbane, it’s a challenge, and being named captain adds to that challenge, but I’m looking forward to it.”
Coach Walters, who himself captained Brisbane to the 2000 premiership, said he opted for Reynolds after striking an immediate rapport with the former NSW Origin halfback.
“Adam is a proven leader and has already captained a team to an NRL grand final,” he said.
“He has a killer attitude and a cool head under pressure and I like that in a captain.
“I’m looking forward to working more closely with Adam and getting to know him as a bloke because it’s important that a coach-captain relationship is strong. In the conversations I’ve had with Adam, we are thinking along the same lines and see the game the same way.
“I like the fact Adam brings knowledge, leadership and experience. He is a very strong character which you need to survive in the halves in the NRL.
“He will help a lot of us, but we have to help him too and make sure he is comfortable in his role and position here. I believe we have the right people here to take his game to a level that we expect from him.”
Broncos CEO Dave Donaghy said Reynolds would help develop the next generation of leaders at Brisbane headlined by Carrigan, Haas, Turpin and Kotoni Staggs.
“It is terrific to have a leader like Adam as part of our club,” he said.
“We want all of our players to be leaders in their own way and we will make sure that we all support Adam and invest in his leadership over the years ahead.”
New captain issues playoff challenge to troops
New Brisbane skipper Adam Reynolds has thrown down the challenge to his troops, declaring it will be a major failure if the Broncos miss this year’s playoffs.
Since his NRL debut in 2012, Reynolds featured in eight finals campaigns in his 10-season career at Souths, winning his maiden premiership in 2014, and the Broncos’ main man is on a mission to lead Brisbane back to sudden-death football.
“We can play finals for sure this year,” he said.
“If we have fallen short, we have done ourselves no favours.
“Not making the top eight this year would be a huge disappointment and a wasted season because there are so many talented players at this club.
“The results haven’t been there in recent years but I can’t see any reason why we don’t play finals this year.
“I say that based on the talent I’m seeing at training.
“I’m not just saying it because I have moved to the Broncos. I’m coming from a team that just made the grand final (at Souths), so I know what it takes and there is as much talent at the Broncos as there is at Souths.
“The important thing is we find the right formula and if we do that, we will get results on game day.”
The Broncos showed signs of recovery at the back end of last season, winning four of their last nine games to offload the wooden spoon to the Bulldogs, and the signing of Reynolds is regarded as a key plank in their march back to the top eight.
Reynolds says he has bonded quickly with Broncos coach Kevin Walters and is now relishing a leadership responsibility he once shunned.
“The relationship I have with Kevvie is great, I have a lot of respect for what he achieved as a player,” he said.
“I want to be someone who leads by example, both on and off the field. If you are a good person off the field, it translates to being a good performer on the field. I want to be someone my peers can trust and lean on for advice.
“I never thought I would fall into a captain’s role at Souths. The older I got, the more I realised how important I can be to the team. In the position I play, I have to be a voice and being captain is a role I’ve embraced, it’s nice when your peers look up to you as a leader.
“We have a lot of young boys in this team who haven’t had too much success and I think they can use that hurt to get better and guide the club in a new direction.
“I’m as hungry as ever ... I can’t see why this Broncos club can’t get back to where it was.”
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