Glory, glory or gory, gory for Adam Reynold?

South Sydney captain Adam Reynolds will play his last match for the club in the NRL grand final. It’s an emotional occasion – and he’s playing injured.

South Sydney captain Adam Reynolds at Alabaster Training Field on the Gold Coast Picture: Getty Images

Dodgy groin. Emotional turmoil. Adam Reynolds has a bit going on. He swings his cap backwards, plants his left foot, throws a cut-out pass. He does it without doubling over in pain or being taken away on a stretcher. There’s hope yet.

“All good, buddy,” the South Sydney captain tells one of his buddies after training in front of hundreds of Rabbitohs fans on the Gold Coast on Tuesday.

“Did a session today, felt pretty good, got some k’s in the legs. Obviously we’ll tick the days off as they come. Still got to get through a bit of kicking and join the team for a bit of work. Still a long week. Still plenty of time to get it back to 100 per cent – or as close as possible.”

Reynolds is leaving Redfern after Sunday night’s NRL grand final against Penrith.

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Unbelievable. As if a beloved brother has announced he’s departing the family. As if Paul McCartney has been squeezed out of the Beatles and signed with the Rolling Stones.

All his desperation, desire and hope for a fairytale finish will either inspire a courageous captain’s knock – or make him try too hard. His groin injury may be manageable, or it may render him useless.

Could be glory, glory. Or gory, gory.

Left foot forward. Cut-out pass. Photographic evidence that he’s not a complete crock. It’s a start.

Asked if he’ll able to kick goals in the premiership decider, a potentially crucial factor, Reynolds says: “We’ll see how the week goes. I did a bit of running today and it felt fine. We’ll get the captain’s run in. I’ll have a few shots then and see how it feels. I’m pretty confident that I will be kicking.”

Left foot forward. Cut-out pass. It’s such a good start because that was his movement when he came a cropper last week. “I stepped and went to throw a pass and felt a little twinge in the groin,” he says. “Didn’t feel too good at the time. Medical staff have been fantastic, working around the clock with me, getting their hands in places they shouldn’t.

“We’ve spent a hell of a lot of time on the physio bed and doing rehab exercises to be the best I can be. I’m always a positive person and I’ll remained positive even though it wasn’t feeling too good at the time.”

Reynolds has more than a bit going on. The injury. The swirling emotions around his imminent departure from the Rabbitohs. The not insignificant matter of captaincy.

There’s no doubt his last stand in the famous jersey is a motivational factor. His goodbye to the club will rev him up and yet he insists on playing it down.

“I’ve got a bigger task at hand,” he says. “Obviously I want to win this game. That’s the most important thing at the moment. We’ll worry about the rest after that. Just relax, enjoy the week, take it as it comes.

“We can get caught up thinking about the game too much and zap a lot of energy … grand finals don’t come around too often. You just embrace it and enjoy if for what it is. It’s a privilege to be in this position and we’ve just got to make the most of the opportunities that come our way on Sunday.”

Rabbitohs’ grand final triumphs invariably come off the back of courageous individual performances. John Sattler and his broken jaw in 1970; Sam Burgess and his fractured cheekbone in 2014. Reynolds may have to orchestrate the next triumph on one leg.

“Hopefully I’m not breaking anything in my face. That’s first and foremost,” he grins. “Look, I’m fully aware you might have to play through a bit of pain in this game. I’m fine with that. Grand finals are very hard to get to. You do whatever it takes to win the game.

“Touch wood nothing happens but if something happens, I’ll try to play through it. It’s an honour and a privilege to captain this club. I know what it means to everyone on the other side of the fence, supporting the team. I want to do my best week in and week out and this week will be no different.”

What a mighty club. The Gold Coast’s Alabaster Training Field is a long way from the spiritual home of Redfern Oval and yet hundreds of Rabbitohs’ fans turned up.

“Everywhere we go, we seem to have fans everywhere,” Reynolds says. “It’s devastating that we’re not at Redfern in front of our members and fans.

“Obviously we’re thinking of them and everything they’re going through in Sydney at the moment. They’re doing it tough … For us to win the grand final will mean a lot to all those people. Some of them live for footy on the weekends and it’s all they’ve got.”