The South Sydney Rabbitohs may have been desperate to hang onto star half Adam Reynolds, but the salary cap bit hard.
On the eve of the 2021 NRL grand final, which will be the 31-year-old's final game with the club, South Sydney CEO Blake Solly has told The Daily Telegraph that the Redfern-based outfit simply couldn't get into a bidding war with the Broncos.
It's well-known by this point that South Sydney were unwilling to budge from a one-year deal for Reynolds, who desperately wanted job security for his final contract.
It just so happens that the Broncos, who have fielded an inexperienced roster for much of the last two years without a game manager, were desperate for a player of Reynolds calibre and experience.
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“We wanted Adam to stay,” Solly told the publication.
“But we also appreciated that we couldn’t match the security that Adam was seeking.
“There’s no question it was sad.
“His contribution to the club was massive over the years, but we also respected what he wanted at this time of his career, which was longer-term security.
“We tried to find another year (a two-year contract) in the salary cap for Adam, but we couldn’t get there.
“It’s difficult because that is what the cap is designed to do, it’s there to equalise talent in the competition. We’ve had four years at the top and at some point we had to make a hard decision on the offers we could make.
“When the Broncos offered three years, we just couldn’t match that and we wish him and his beautiful family well.”
A 231-game veteran at the Rabbitohs, Reynolds' contract will see him remain with the Broncos until at least the end of 2024. He is joined by other new signings in the form of Kurt Capewell, Brenko Lee and Corey Jensen as the club desperately aim to escape the bottom four in 2022 for the first time since 2019.
Reynolds will slot straight into the halves, a position which was something of a revolving door at times this year for Kevin Walters.
He will likely be joined by Tyson Gamble in the halves, with young gun Tesi Niu to play fullback and the exciting Jake Turpin to play hooker.
The lack of experience at the club has been a thorn in the side for Brisbane, and there is little doubt as to why they chased Reynolds as hard as they did despite the obvious risks associated with his age.
It's understood that with all of Cody Walker, Damien Cook and Latrell Mitchell coming off contract by the end of the 2023 season, re-signing Reynolds for that length of time could have cost the club one or all of the trio.
Walker himself is on the wrong side of 30, however, may have the ability to play on for a longer period given his late first grade debut, while Mitchell and Cook are Origin stars at this point in their careers.
