Video footage of Adam Reynolds landing a pinpoint kick on top of a balcony at Brisbane Broncos HQ surfaced this week.
The little halfback deliberately hit teammate David Mead while he was on the phone, and when asked to do it again – this time with Mead filming – he never looked like missing.
Cheeky bugger.
Hands up if you thought we had seen the best of Reynolds after he was shown the door at South Sydney and forced to start all over, in a new city, in a new state, with new tattoo parlours, at the Broncos.
You would not have been alone.
Yet come Saturday night, Reynolds, now 32, will run out on to Suncorp Stadium and try to guide competition leaders Brisbane to a fifth straight win over the Wests Tigers.
Like Cooper Cronk, like Darren Lockyer, like Johnathan Thurston, even like Daly Cherry-Evans, Reynolds has improved with age.
Reynolds himself says he is starting to see the game more clearly, and everything around him seems to be slowing down.
He has not changed his diet. He is lifting a little more in the gym (he can hear old Souths teammate Sam Burgess bursting into laughter reading this sentence).
Reynolds still loves a beer. Often in the company of legendary Brisbane No.7 Alfie Langer. The pair love a laugh. If they are not enjoying a frothy one, they are sitting in a sauna together, discussing the game and how best to pick apart opposition teams.
The little master … Adam ReynoldsCredit:Getty Images
Some of the game’s best analysts rattle off a host of examples from this season alone where Reynolds has came up with some magic.
Take Broncos coach Kevin Walters, for example. Against North Queensland in round two, centre Peta Hiku had moved to fullback after Scott Drinkwater was sin-binned. Before the coach’s instruction to test out Hiku under the high ball could get downstairs, Reynolds had launched one of his floating bombs, and Hiku knocked on.
Or, Walters said, the time Reynolds spotted St George Illawarra fullback Tyrell Sloan out of the defensive line, and put through an early kick for Kotoni Staggs to score.
Then, in the same game, when he launched a two-point field-goal right on half-time to cut the deficit to 16-8 and send the Broncos into the sheds with a spring in their step.
Broncos coach Kevin Walters has the utmost respect for his playmaker and skipper.Credit:Getty
“Psychologically, that’s a big play right on half-time,” Walters said. “I’m very grateful he did it because the last time he did it, he did it for Souths when playing against us [in 2021]. I thought at the time, ‘You little prick’. They were ahead 16-6 that night, and went ahead 18-6. That’s him always thinking ahead.
“I love that about him, and I love his personality. There’s only one Alf, but Adam is your typical halfback: he’s cheeky, very confident, knows what skills he has and how to use those skills.”
Last weekend, against the Dolphins, Reynolds tried to split Anthony Milford and Brenko Lee by putting Kurt Capewell through a hole in the opening minutes.
It failed, but Cronk noticed it and mentioned in commentary how Reynolds would attempt a similar play later in the game. He did late in the second half – and Capewell scored.
“That wasn’t a fluke because Adam had found a weakness in the opposition and came up with a play he knew would work,” Cronk told the Herald.
“You might slow down physically when you get older, but your intelligence goes through the roof because of the hours of repetition.
“When you start off as a half, all you worry about is yourself, and you do what you can do to get better and worry about your own game.
“Towards the back end of your career, you know what everyone’s role is, and you move the chess pieces around the chessboard – you know if you have the right people in the right place around you, you’ll come up with the right play.”
Reynolds listened to Cronk in a recent podcast with Matty Johns and could relate to some of the things he was saying. Like Cronk, Reynolds has never been a big runner of the ball.
But he knows his strengths and never deviates from the plan, a discipline for which Cronk was also known.
Wayne Bennett sat in the opposition coach’s box last Friday, and always knew the threat Reynolds posed. The pair spent three years together at Souths, culminating in the 2021 grand final loss to Penrith.
The supercoach has never been one to waste words – and did not disappoint when asked about Reynolds’ longevity.
“Experience makes us all better,” Bennett said. “Adam is in control of his team on the field. That’s what he did at South Sydney, and I’ve seen nothing change since he’s moved to Brisbane.
“He’s a very smart footballer, he knows his footy and knows his football teams – he knows his players really well, which buttons to press and which buttons not to. He’s seeing things better than he’s ever seen them, but that comes with experience.”
Bennett called Langer before Reynolds arrived up north, and knew the two would hit it off. Bennett said Langer was more talented, but the little blond knockabout did not think about the game like Reynolds did.
“Both of them like to have fun, are great guys to have around, and I never had a complaint about either of them,” Bennett said.
Reynolds is signed until the end of next year, but is determined to extend his stay at the Broncos until the end of 2025. He will turn 35 that year. Langer retired at 36.
It is crazy to think the Wests Tigers never made a play for Reynolds. Fans can only dream of what a controlling halfback like Reynolds would have done for Luke Brooks who is dying to be freed of all responsibility and be that free-running five-eighth.
Truth be told, Reynolds got in the ear of Tigers assistant coach Benji Marshall about joining him for one more season – as a player – at the Broncos last year.
Reynolds best summed up his outlook on the game when he said: “Rugby league is the simplest game you can play. You run hard, tackle hard, keep possession of the ball and kick to corners. It’s not that hard. We can overcomplicate it at times.”
The Tigers will be on the lookout for him. A bit like teammates standing on the balcony at Red Hill from here on in.
Stream the NRL Premiership 2023 live and free on 9Now.
