Watch Jake Duke go Face to Face with Broncos and Rabbitohs premiership hero Adam Reynolds on Fox League at 7:30pm AEDT on Tuesday!
He was proclaimed as the saviour of South Sydney, the selfless halfback who wore the Rabbitohs jersey with pride and helped carry the side to a breakthrough premiership in 2014.
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Now, former Souths halfback Adam Reynolds has opened up on his tumultuous exit from the club at the end of 2021, as well as his reinvention in Broncos colours – both as a player and in the broader context of his family.
In an all-encompassing chat with Fox League’s Jake Duke airing on Tuesday, the two-time premiership winner revealed his anguish in being offered a one-year deal for the 2022 season, at a time where he was seeking a multiple-year agreement for the security of his family.
“I didn’t like going through it,” Reynolds revealed. “I’ve got a lot of amazing friendships, memories. We just couldn’t find common ground.
“I was a bit angry at the start, and I was sort of in disbelief that they didn’t want what I thought was necessary. It was certainly a moment in my life where I could go one way or the other, and for us as a family at the time it was about a challenge.
“It was about going ‘Okay, let’s accept it, let’s try get the most out of that season and let’s try end on a good note’.”
Reynolds exit from Souths prompted a slew of off-field rumours at the time, which he insists weren’t true.
His dismay at the situation now makes sense: Reynolds spent his early years growing up over the road from Redfern Oval, and remembers trying to sneak across to catch a glimpse of the first grade side during training.
When the burgeoning half ruptured his ACL during 2011, the club extended his stay with another contract. He wrote them a letter the following year, thanking them for the extension and vowing to repay them with a premiership.
“It pissed me off a bit more than anything else, I’d say,” Reynolds said of the rumours that swirled around his ultimate exit. “There were so many stories being told about me that were untrue. For me I just removed myself from that situation, tried to work out a plan for what’s next.
“My focus was there and I was trying to protect the family and make a decision.”
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That decision would ultimately prove to be a fruitful one. Reynolds left South Sydney at the end of 2021 after narrowly losing the NRL Grand Final to Penrith, moving to the Broncos where he promptly went about reinventing himself.
The crescendo was the 2025 NRL premiership, where Reynolds guided the side in big moments and kept them cool when it mattered.
Reynolds’ move north was good on several fronts. During his final years at Souths, Reynolds was quietly navigating his wife Tallara’s substance addiction – a chapter where he leaned heavily on then-Souths coach Wayne Bennett.
“Unfortunately we did find some tough times there but through those tough times you meet some incredible people and we had some professional help,” Reynolds said. “I spoke to Wayne through a number of occasions and he was like a father figure at that time.
“[Wayne] just had the simple question: is everything all right? I felt like I could open up to him. If I didn’t open up to him, I don’t know what would have happened, I don’t know where we would be. I’m certainly glad that I did.
“I’m super proud of her [Tallara] as a mother, she’s done everything possible to get herself back on track and has been sober ever since.
“There’s been some great times, moving up here to Brisbane and putting all that behind us.”
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Reynolds’ time in Brisbane colours has given him plenty of opportunities for redemption – not least of all, his crucial sideline conversion in the NRL preliminary final against Penrith last year, a feat which put the Broncos into the grand final against Melbourne.
“I’ve had that kick before and had a different result. I know the feeling. I wanted to be the one who bore the brunt of missing it,” Reynolds said, referencing the 2021 Grand Final where he missed a conversion attempt in the final minutes.
“I draw that comparison because I probably celebrated and was emotionally too attached to the kick in the Grand Final. When you’re thinking about future outcomes, you’re not in the present and you don’t deliver the way you expect to.
“For me, everything was just about process. Going back, putting the ball on the tee. I was excited about the opportunity and I always reminded myself that if I had that opportunity again I would take it.
“I was certainly happy it went over and it’s always good to get one over the defending champs.”
The Broncos won last year’s grand final 26-22 over Melbourne after trailing by 10 points at halftime. The father of four played 48 minutes in the decider, revealing he went into the game nursing an existing calf injury.
In a serendipitous twist, the win also iced a successful reunion with coach Michael Maguire, whom Reynolds won the premiership with at Souths 11 years earlier.
“I felt it in the prelim and carried through that week,” he told Duke. “We knew there was a risk there, we knew there was a chance of something happening but Madge and the staff downstairs was confident of me getting out there and doing a job.”
“Wherever Madge goes he gets success. When he got let go at Souths we still stayed in touch. We continually talked. I knew he would bring success to the club, I didn’t know it would happen so quick but his work ethic and his mindset around football teams is crazy.”
Watch Jake Duke go Face to Face with Broncos and Rabbitohs premiership hero Adam Reynolds on Fox League at 7:30pm AEDT on Tuesday!
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