Adam Reynolds is closing in on a one-year contract extension and is confident the deal will be done before the Broncos’ Round 1 clash in Las Vegas.
But thinking about playing beyond 2025 would be “unrealistic” for the veteran playmaker, who will be 35 by the end of his next contract.
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“It’s almost sorted,” Reynolds told foxsports.com.au.
“Management are working in the background to solve the last part of the contract there, they’re pretty certain it’ll be done before Round 1.
“I love the club. They gave me an opportunity to come up here and do something great, I’m loving every minute of it.
“I don’t know (about 2026), I’m getting old. I’d love to say yes (to playing another year) but it’s probably unrealistic at this moment.”
FOX LEAGUE PODCAST – Adam Reynolds on the Grand Final, his contract and much more
The Broncos star has allowed himself to start thinking about life after footy though and at this stage that looks like remaining both in Brisbane and with the club.
“I’d love to go into coaching, I love giving back to the game,” Reynolds said.
“We’ve got some great young halves coming through here that I’d love to stick around and help out.
“You don’t know what life is going to be like until you’re there. I’m getting towards the back end of my career where I’m trying to figure out what I want to do.
“Coaching is a part of that and a few little other ventures that we’re tinkling with but coaching is at the top of the list.”
A young playmaker that’s benefited from Reynolds’ experience is Ezra Mam. The 21-year-old debunked the myth of ‘second-year syndrome’ to be named Dally M Five-eighth of the Year.
Mam scored 18 tries, set up nine and got 15 linebreaks in 25 games last season. And as his teammates will tell you, he almost dragged the Broncos to a premiership with a hat-trick in the grand final.
Reynolds amazed at young Mam’s growth | 00:39
He’ll benefit from at least another two seasons working with Reynolds, then there’s a good chance he will inherit the No.7 jersey given that’s a move he’s working towards.
Reynolds is seriously impressed by his halves partner’s improvement and pointed out a “scary” thought for opposition players.
“I thought he had an unbelievable season. The development of Ezra over the last 12-24 months, since I came to the club is amazing,” he said.
“He’s still pretty raw, he’s still learning the game and that’s the scary thing about Ezra — you don’t know where the ceiling is at for his potential.
“He wants to be a halfback one day so it’s about trying to upskill him and getting him up to speed on how things work. But you don’t want to take away the pure talent that he’s got because it makes him such a great player.”
Preparations for Reynolds’ 13th season in first grade copped a setback a fortnight ago when he suffered an ankle injury and training and looked to be in serious discomfort before hobbling off the field.
Thankfully scans cleared him of serious injury and he will be right to go for Round 1.
Although he shrugged the injury off as “a bit of a carry on from myself” he admitted it was “a little bit of a scare” because “I heard a click, which I didn’t know what it was at the time.”
Reynolds said the Broncos’ physio believes “it might’ve been the ligament flicking over.”
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Other than that training mishap, the 274-gamer said his body is “feeling really good.”
Part of the reason for that is shedding four kilos.
When I asked how he lost weight, Reynolds laughed and said “I stopped eating.”
“I did a fair bit of running on the treadmill in the break, cleaned up the diet a little bit and got off the alcohol — that’s a big one — so a few little adjustments to the diet but hard work came,” he added.
The alcohol ban won’t stay in place for the whole year though.
“I think it’s a good way to relax and chill out at times. The season is so stressful so from time to time you need an outlet, you don’t want it to bottle up all at once. I enjoy a nice beer here and there, especially after winning,” Reynolds said.
Expectations for the Broncos are much higher than what they were this time last year — despite losing Tom Flegler and Herbie Farnworth among others — and Reynolds knows there will be a target on their back.
But despite the “empty” feeling the team felt when the full-time siren sounded in the grand final, there was an important lesson to take into this pre-season.
“We know that hard work works,” Reynolds said.
“We trained extremely hard last year and got some good results so we knew we had to come in (to pre-season) and train if not harder.
“A lot of teams are going to start coming for us this year and no doubt the intensity through teams will go up. We need to match that and be better, the way we do that is through training.”
