Though many have suggested that Adam Reynolds' failed conversion attempt to re-tie the Grand Final late on Sunday night was the result of his injured groin, a goalkicking aficionado has suggested this wasn't the case.
Having scored over 2,000 points across his 10 seasons with the Bears and the Bulldogs, Daryl Halligan has proven he knows how to the split the posts with the Steeden.
Add in the fact that he has worked with some of the contemporary greats of the art since hanging his boots up more than two-decades ago and it is clear that the Kiwi international is in the know on the subject.
Speaking with Andrew Webster of The Sydney Morning Herald in the wake of the agonising miss, Hailligan held the view that rather than being hampered by ailments, Reynolds had in fact hit the ball too well.
“In that position [kicking from the touchline], you’ll never, ever be short, so you don’t have to kick it hard,” Halligan explained.
“You want to kick at about 80 to 85 per cent of what you’re capable of."
Given Reynolds' previous penchant for both accuracy and steering the ball from right to left, the Waikato-born Halligan initially held the view that the Souths sharpshooter had done the deed again.
“I honestly thought, halfway through the flight of the kick, that he’d kicked it,” he said.
“It started on the right line. He normally shapes it out and it comes in off the right post. It just lost its shape and stayed a little bit out. I’m not sure if there was any breeze. He got the line right, just not the speed of release off the foot.”
Though able to understand the machinations of the miss, the now 55-year-old didn't want to sound too critical of the heavily inked halfback and even claimed that if it was he over the tee last night, his methodology would have mirrored the departing Rabbit's.
“I would’ve struck it the same way,” Halligan told Webster.
“But I’m too bloody old — it probably would’ve gone under the crossbar.”
Heartbreakingly, the missed shot from the sideline followed by his under-hit two-point field goal attempt will be the last acts of the Redfern-raised Reynolds in the jersey of his boyhood club.
SEE ALSO: Reynolds' departure the biggest worry for Souths
The 31-year-old will join the Brisbane Broncos ahead of next season on a three-year deal worth $750,000 per annum.
The local junior who cut his teeth with St. Peters, Alexandria and La Perouse departs the Rabbitohs as a the club's greatest ever point-scorer after this year eclipsing the previous record set by Eric Simms in 1975.
The Broncos and Bunnies have been tipped to face-off in Round 1 of the 2022 season.
