Adam Reynolds kicking truth revealed as Souths brutalise Manly
South Sydney are into the NRL Grand Final after the side demolished Manly despite a star revealing he took a secret injury into the game.
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Wayne Bennett’s final game as coach of the South Sydney Rabbitohs will be in the NRL Grand Final after his side demolished the Manly Sea Eagles at Suncorp Stadium.
The Rabbitohs were at their brutal best to become the first team in the 2021 decider, massacring the Sea Eagles 36-16 with a stunning first half onslaught to lead 22-0 at the break.
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Incredibly for the men in cardinal and myrtle, they had to do it largely without the kicking game of inspirational halfback Adam Reynolds for the first 30 minutes.
Reynolds appeared to shun the kicking duties for the first half an hour of the game as halves partner Cody Walker took over in a mysterious tactic that left commentators perplexed as Reynolds is known for his kicking game.
After 20 minutes, Reynolds had yet to kick.
Reynolds was not even kicking for goal with Souths’ rookie fullback Blake Taaffe taking over the duties.
Why didn’t Adam Reynolds kick for goal?? @NRLonNine
— Phil Gould (@PhilGould15) September 24, 2021
Fox League’s Warren Smith suggested Reynolds may have suffered a possible groin injury in the prematch.
After the game, Reynolds joked “I wanted to give the young bloke (Taaffe) some confidence”, before revealing he stained the groin during the week and it didn't feel good kicking during the warm up.
It didn’t stop the Rabbitohs from going berserk, scoring the first 12 points of the match before Reynolds decided he was warmed up enough to kick.
His first kick led to a try after Reynolds’ bomb was knocked back for Damien Cook to grubber in for Walker to score his second of the night.
After a long distance kick with eight minutes remaining, it appeared as though he was good to go.
“Has he warmed up? Is he confident?” Warren Smith said. “Something's happened but Adam Reynolds has suddenly said ‘I’m good to go’.”
Greg Alexander replied: “It’s hard to work out, it really is hard to work out why he didn’t do any kicking to open the first 25 minutes of the game.”
Reynolds ended up with three kicks for the half as Souths scored a fourth try through Jaxson Paulo in the shadow of the half and appeared to be in his rhythm late.
He finished with nine kicks for the game.
Incredibly, Manly didn’t look shocking in attack, but couldn’t get a try in the first half despite going close.
Straight after Souths’ first, Manly looked to have crossed the line when Tom Trbojevic broke the line and then put Reuben Garrick over, only for it to be pulled back for an obstruction.
The Rabbitohs stuck the boot in when Taaffe put Alex Johnston in to make it 12-0 after 23 minutes.
Manly then looked to strike again when Trbojevic did it all himself, but was deemed to have dropped the ball over the line.
The Sea Eagles scored first in the second half of the NRL preliminary final with Reuben Garrick strolling over after three minutes to put some life in the game.
While the “Manly didn’t get off the bus” jokes were quick to spread after Souths’ dominant first half, the Sea Eagles appeared to be inspired out of the break.
A no-look pass from Josh Schuster hit Garrick on the chest to cross untouched.
But the Sea Eagles may have had the adrenaline pumping just a bit too much, with unforced errors out of their own end allowing the Rabbitohs to get into position.
And Campbell Graham barged over to make it 28-6 in the 52nd minute.
The Rabbitohs rubbed it in when Jaxson Paulo scored his second of the night, catching another Reynolds bomb but being stuck backing his away to the line.
On Nine, they said Paulo was “moonwalking” his way to score the try, making it 32-6 with less than 20 minutes left.
Two late tries through Trbojevic and Garrick added some respectability to the scoreline but the Rabbitohs dominated the match from the outset.
‘Bad omen’ in extraordinary NRL scenes
The Manly Sea Eagles are set to play the South Sydney Rabbitohs for a place in the 2021 NRL Grand Final — now they have finally got there.
The Sea Eagles were driving from their base on the Sunshine Coast to Suncorp Stadium but were caught in traffic on the away to the stadium.
The kick off was pushed back 15 minutes to 8.05pm AEST with Matty Johns telling Fox League that the Sea Eagles were “getting a police escort”.
The team did arrive just before 7pm after requiring the escort for the last 30km to the stadium.
After the game started however, fans used the bus drama to stick the boot in with the popular joke that “Manly didn’t get off the bus”.
Michael Ennis said it’s not the first time that this had happened to Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler.
“We all know what a lunatic he is, the 2014 Grand Final on the bus for Canterbury, we were late,” Ennis said. “We got stuck in traffic out the back of ANZ Stadium and the interrogation from Des on the bus driver was unrivalled. I could only imagine the torture he would have put on the bus driver tonight to find another route to get to the ground.”
Canterbury went on to lose that game — ironically a 30-6 loss to the South Sydney Rabbitohs — which Cronk called “a bad omen”.
Hilariously, Queensland Police, who got the Sea Eagles to the stadium, also posted to social media at the same time, showing they’d picked a favourite — and they weren’t from NSW.
Expect extra traffic around Milton as the Sea Eagles and Rabbitohs vie to lose to the Sunshine Coast Storm next week ðŸ‰ðŸ‰ðŸ‰
— Queensland Police (@QldPolice) September 24, 2021
The winner of the match will play the winner of tomorrow’s clash between the Melbourne Storm — or as the Queensland Police call them after two years and plenty of links to the area, the Sunshine Coast Storm — and Penrith Panthers.
Originally published as Adam Reynolds kicking truth revealed as Souths brutalise Manly
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