The National Rugby League (NRL) community has been left reeling after the Brisbane Broncos blocked fan-favourite halfback Adam Reynolds from a farewell appearance at Suncorp Stadium, a decision that has drawn disappointment from current and former players across the league.
Reynolds, who led the Broncos to a historic premiership win last year ending a 19-year title drought, had aggressively pushed to take the field for one final home game against the Melbourne Storm this Thursday. When the club’s medical team and head coach Michael Maguire ruled him ineligible for selection last week, Reynolds announced publicly on Monday that his 15-year professional playing career had already reached its end.
Cody Walker, who built a formidable halves pairing with Reynolds during their 126-game run together at the South Sydney Rabbitohs before Reynolds’ 2021 move to Brisbane, opened up about his disappointment in an interview this week. Walker said he grew emotional watching Reynolds’ choked-up interview with Triple M, a moment that brought back memories of their years playing side-by-side.
“I’m quite disappointed and sad that he’s not going to get the send-off that he probably deserves,” Walker said. “I’m not entirely sure on what the ins and outs are inside those four walls, so I can’t really comment on it, but I think that it’s disappointing that he won’t get to go out on his own shield and in his own way, which is pretty disappointing.”
Walker argued that after 15 seasons in the NRL, including five years leading the Broncos, Reynolds deserved at least a short cameo appearance. He noted that Reynolds had previously come off the bench for limited minutes three times last season while managing soft tissue injuries, pointing to the precedent that could have been followed for the farewell. Walker also drew a comparison to Rabbitohs forward Jai Arrow, who the NRL has cleared to take the field for the opening minutes of his team’s final two matches after his career was cut short by a devastating motor neurone diagnosis, a special arrangement the league approved to honor Arrow’s career.
Broncos veteran playmaker Ben Hunt, who spoke on behalf of the Brisbane playing group, echoed Walker’s sentiment, saying the entire squad was caught off guard by the final call. “We’re all pretty shocked, to be fair,” Hunt told 4BC radio on Tuesday morning. “We knew how hard he’s been pushing the last few weeks and seeing him train out there on Monday and get through that full session, we thought for sure he was going to get another run around.”
Hunt added that the team had been looking forward to honoring their outgoing captain with a final send-off in front of a home crowd. “We were excited to have one of the best players to play our game come back and our captain and play his final game at Suncorp,” he said. “I had a quick message to him just as soon as I found out and asked where he’s going, and he’s obviously disappointed. He’s the little competitor he is. He wanted to get out there, and from what I’m gauging, most of the players are pretty disappointed too. We thought he deserved that send-off.”
While many figures within the league have criticized the decision, Manly Sea Eagles playmaker Daly Cherry-Evans, a contemporary of Reynolds who has competed against him for years, noted that the missed farewell will not overshadow the halfback’s legendary career. “I don’t know the background of the story too well, but I will say that Adam Reynolds has been fantastic and one of the elite playmakers in the game for a long time,” he said. “He doesn’t get his fairytale as such, but I reckon if you asked him, his career is the fairytale. That’s the beauty of playing for so long; he’s got so many memories, so many achievements. He doesn’t get one last game, but he’s had a hell of a career and he’s been an elite playmaker for a long time. It’s been an absolute honour to go up against him so many times.”
As of Tuesday, the Broncos have not released additional details about the medical and coaching conversations that led to the decision, leaving the NRL community divided over the handling of one of the game’s most respected modern players.