Brisbane Broncos captain Adam Reynolds' NRL career is over, with injury ensuring he won't be afforded a farewell.
Reynolds suffered a concussion a few weeks ago, but was then overlooked by coach Michael Maguire when able to return originally.
He made comments suggesting he was actually fit to play, but subsequently injured his calf which has left him sidelined ever since.
Reynolds was still believed to be a good chance of being afforeded a farewell match in either Round 26 or Round 27, with Brisbane to play their final home game of the year against the Melbourne Storm this weekend, and then travel to play the Canterbury Bulldogs next weekend.
Either match was seen as a good opportunity for Reynolds to play another match and say goodbye to a sport he has helped define throughout his career, but News Corp are reporting the calf injury will stop him from playing again, with Reynolds not fit enough to play this week and not set to be considered next week.
He told Triple M Radio on Monday afternoon that his career was over with a struggle to get minutes into the legs in recent weeks.
“I trained today and I thought there'd be a chance to play one last home game and then hand it over to the rest of the boys to finish off the rest of the season, but that's not to be. I got through [training], I felt good out there, and then had some conversations with Madge and the medical staff and they were concerned with the limited training I've had in the last couple of weeks. They were quite concerned and looking out for the body of mine, which is obviously temperamental," he said on Triple M's The Rush Hour with Dobbo and Elliott.
Brisbane will instead likely continue to rely on Ben Hunt in the halves to partner Ezra Mam after the veteran was brought into the starting side last weekend to replace Tom Duffy.
Hunt is signed for 2027 with the Broncos, and so too is Duffy, while the club will also welcome Jonah Pezet from the Parramatta Eels despite his struggles throughout the course of the year.
Pezet and Duffy are believed to be the duo in the mix to take Reynolds jersey on a more permanent basis, but the club could yet play Hunt there given they have four other options to play dummy half following the recent re-signing of Billy Walters who joins Blake Mozer, Cameron Bukowski and Cory Paix at the club.
Reynolds will likely be afforded opportunities over the next fortnight to travel with the team and say goodbye to fans before he moves into a coaching role next year.
