‘At peace with it now’: Reynolds no longer kicking himself for crucial miss in 2021 decider

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There is one moment Adam Reynolds would love to have again in his career. It came in the 76th minute of the 2021 grand final against Penrith in Brisbane.

South Sydney’s Alex Johnston had just scored in the corner to make it 14-12, and Reynolds had a kick from the touchline to send the game into extra time. It sailed to the right of the posts. Just.

Reynolds’ right boot has kicked Souths, and now the Broncos, to many victories, but on this particular night it failed to co-operate.

“I thought it was going through,” Reynolds said of that moment. “It burned at the time, but I’m at peace with it now.

“If you ask every league player, they’ll tell you there are moments they’d love over again.

“It only makes you better as a person and player.

Adam Reynolds skews a crucial kick wide in the 2021 grand final.Credit: Nine

“I’m one who can get over things quickly and move on. It would have been nice for it to go over that night, but the game still may have gone the Panthers’ way. Who knows?

“I watched the replay back of the kick. I probably hit it too sweet and didn’t get the natural draw on it.

“It’s my job and responsibility to kick those goals. I didn’t execute that night. And we were beaten by two points.”

League and life are full of sliding doors moments: if the kick had been a yard to the left; if Souths had gone on to win in extra time; if the Panthers had lost two straight grand finals …

Broncos skipper Adam Reynolds with fans on Monday.Credit: Tertius Pickard

Reynolds was chasing a fairytale finish to his career at Souths after signing with Broncos for the 2022 season. He tried to launch a two-point field goal a few minutes later, but the ball fell short.

Weeks after the loss, and while settling into Brisbane, Reynolds told this masthead: “I used to love grand final day because of the memories with 2014 and Souths [when the Rabbitohs ended a 43-year drought with victory over the Bulldogs]. Now there will be mixed feelings. No doubt there will be replays of that kick played in future years. I certainly won’t be watching.

“We spoke about it just before the grand final, how we wanted no disappointment or regrets. I certainly have no regrets, there’s just that disappointment it didn’t go over.”

Pressed on that moment, Reynolds said this week: “Thinking back, I didn’t get the practice in that week that I needed to.

“I had a groin issue in the prelim, I didn’t do any kicking in the prelim, and there was no kicking through the week. I turned up and tried to get it done on the night.

“‘Trell’ [Latrell Mitchell] was suspended, we had Blake Taaffe as a back-up plan, but he wasn’t hitting them that well at training, so the plan was for me to get out there and kick it if I felt good. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.”

Reynolds has struck them at 81 per cent this year after a sluggish start.

He knows things will likely be tight in Sunday night’s grand final, and the game could be decided by the accuracy of his kicking, or Nathan Cleary’s equally excellent right boot.

Cleary was convinced Reynolds was about to potentially send the grand final into golden point while standing behind the posts that night at Suncorp Stadium in 2021.

“He’s kicked consistently for such a long period of time, and I thought he was going to kick that goal for sure,” Cleary said this week. “He struck it so well, it only just missed, so it was a good memory for me.”

There will be plenty of Souths fans at Sydney Olympic Park early when their NSW Cup side takes on Queensland champions Easts Tigers. Taaffe will feature in the early curtain-raiser.

Many Rabbitohs supporters never accepted the fact the club let Reynolds leave. He was only offered a one-year deal at Redfern, but signed a three-year contract with Brisbane and is likely to pen a fourth year for 2025, by which time he will likely be second on the NRL’s all-time points-scoring list, behind Cameron Smith on 2786 points.

Watch the NRL grand final exclusive, live and free on Channel 9 and 9Now.

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