Buzz: Adam Reynolds’ ironman numbers a stark reminder of South Sydney Rabbitohs’ blunder in letting him go
With every mounting loss, the Rabbitohs’ decision to only offer club legend Adam Reynolds a one-year extension back in 2021 haunts them even more. These are the numbers that prove the costly blunder is still being felt.
When veteran Broncos halfback Adam Reynolds swooped on a loose pass to run 75 metres for an intercept try against Parramatta on Friday night, it made you wonder why the South Sydney Rabbitohs would only offer the club legend a one-year extension back in 2021.
Souths were worried about his body coping with the week in, week out punishment of NRL football.
Well, since then, Reynolds has played 74 games for the Broncos.
This is 20 more games than Latrell Mitchell over the same period and only four games less than Cody Walker.
Reynolds has played 5592 minutes of football since leaving Souths with doubts about his long-term durability. He has also run 1499 metres, had 78 try assists, kicked the football 30,412 metres, scored 600 points and forced 47 line drop outs.
Not bad for a broken-down old footballer.
You then switch on Fox League to watch the Rabbitohs travel to Gosford on Saturday night to play the Cronulla Sharks.
They produce their bravest performance of the season.
Hammered 10-2 in the penalties and 5-1 in the set restarts.
They’re up against a full-strength Sharks outfit without Mitchell, Walker, Cameron Murray, Campbell Graham, Keaon Koloamatangi, Brandon Smith, Davvy Moale, Jayden Sullivan, Jamie Humphreys and several others.
They were entitled to get beaten by 30.
What Souths need right now is an investigation into their high-performance/sports science practices.
A lot of these injuries have happened at training.
And who advised the recruitment staff that Reynolds was only a year-to-year proposition.
Saturday night showed guts and grit don’t always get rewarded with two competition points.
This team is having a red hot go but have now lost eight straight.
Old super coach Wayne Bennett headed home from Gosford on Saturday night with his Rabbitohs on the bottom of the ladder with six rounds of the competition remaining.
This is a club that hasn’t won a wooden spoon since 2006.
To make matters worse their NSW Cup team earlier in the day got flogged 68-6 by the Warriors.
Injuries aside, this club is paying the penalty for poor recruitment over a number of years.
The $700,000-a-season UK import Lewis Dodd finally got a start against the Sharks.
He went okay but was replaced, uninjured, with about 10 minutes to go.
Cronulla had 62 plays inside Souths’ 20-metre line while the Rabbitohs had only five.
Dodd couldn’t get them into the territory of the footy field they needed to be in.
Which brings us back to Reynolds, still firing at 35 years of age and scoring long-range tries.
Souths have shown us there is nothing wrong with their energy and enthusiasm.
They’re just lacking a little general.
Like the one they should never have let go.
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