Brisbane need to get Adam Reynolds’ signature on a new deal for 2026 quick smart after the veteran half showed he is still their most valuable player in a 42-18 dismantling of the Dogs.
Surely the Broncos won’t repeat South Sydney’s blunder of four years ago when they decided Reynolds was getting too long in the tooth and let him walk.
Reynolds orchestrated Brisbane’s stunning upset win over Canterbury at Suncorp Stadium on Thursday night, bringing their six-game unbeaten run to an abrupt halt.
He injured his shoulder while scoring in the early stages but soldiered on before he was forced off with five minutes left and the Broncos will hold their breath in the hope that the skipper’s injury is not serious amid initial reports that it was just a burner.
After an inconsistent start to the year, Brisbane have proved they deserve to be in the conversation for the premiership with their best win of the year even though they were without injured star Reece Walsh.
1. Reynolds the maestro in orchestrating boilover
He was the smallest and least athletics player on Suncorp Stadium’s slippery surface on Thursday night but Reynolds was head and shoulders above the rest as he kicked the Bulldogs off the park.
The 34-year-old halfback created two tries with kicks and scored another himself as Brisbane booted clear to a barely believable 34-0 half-time lead against a team which had conceded just 58 points in their previous six appearances.
Broncos board member Darren Lockyer recently admitted – on air to none other than Bulldogs boss Phil Gould – that they had not budgeted for Reynolds in their salary cap next year because they thought he would be retiring.
He is leaning towards playing on and why wouldn’t he when he can still influence a result as enormously as he did against the previously unbeaten competition leaders.
The Bulldogs have not been rushing to get their halfback Toby Sexton to plonk his signature down on a new deal for 2026 so if Brisbane set Reynolds free, they could do a lot worse than pick him up for a season or two in the twilight of his career.
2. Broncos enter the title contenders chat
The challenge now for the Broncos is to prove that this best performance of the season can become the type of display that happens more often than not.
They had won four of seven leading into Round 8 and not been particularly impressive against a string of teams not expected to figure in the top four.
But this was the kind of demolition job which will raise hopes that they can not only replicate their charge to the grand final of just two years ago but go one better to break their 19-year premiership drought.
Michael Maguire’s gamble in switching Selwyn Cobbo to fullback paid off with the enigmatic winger slotting in seamlessly at the back, showing clever skills to put on a try for Gehamat Shibasaki during the first-half blitz.
Maguire also got plenty of production from his back-up forwards – Payne Haas (230 metres and 32 tackles) and Patrick Carrigan (181 and 34) will always get through a mountain of top-quality work.
But this time around they received solid support from Corey Jensen (122 running metres), Brendan Piakura (five tackle breaks and a line break) and Xavier Willison (151 running metres), who looks to have found a new role as a starting second-rower after previously being used as a bench specialist.
3. Dogs fall into hype trap
Complacency is a dirty word around Canterbury but after six straight impressive wins, the Bulldogs played like a team that expected to win.
Right from the get-go, they made unforced handling errors, gave away dopey penalties and their defensive brick wall came crumbling down around them.
Aiming to become the first team since Eastern Suburbs 106 years ago to hold their opponents to zero for three consecutive matches, that goal was eradicated within two minutes when they conceded the first try and by the time they went off to half-time with their tails between their legs, they had let in six tries.
Josh Curran, Sitili Tupouniua and Marcelo Montoya were dispatched to the sin bin for careless tackles and will likely cop a week or two for their troubles from the match review committee.
4. Flood of points in the wet
The rain pelted down in Brisbane on Thursday night and the points came nearly as thick and fast.
Canterbury had not allowed the first try in a match all year but after a Jacob Preston knock-on in the opening set, Willison charged over the stripe before many fans had found their rain-soaked seat.
Reynolds backed up a Haas bust to make it 12-0 but Broncos hearts were in their mouth when he got up clutching at his shoulder after the put-down before getting the all-clear to play on.
Curran went to the bin for leading with his shoulder on Haas and Reynolds capitalised with a pin-point kick for Deine Mariner out wide.
When Cobbo put Shibasaki over and Reynolds repeated the dose with a carbon copy play for Mariner, the home side was up 28-0 in as many minutes.
Broncos celebrate Xavier Willison’s try. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
A Jesse Arthars in and away put the Broncs up by 34 before Tupouniua was marched for a clumsy shot on Mariner from the next kick restart.
Marcelo Montoya scored early in the second term, but he was still in the deficit after he was caught out of position twice for Mariner’s first-half double.
Tupouniua was placed on report for leading with his knees while in possession and Montoya was binned not so much for a high shot but his team’s frequent infringements.
Referee Gerard Sutton told Canterbury captain Stephen Crichton there had been “too many instances of careless foul play”.
Preston and Bronson Xerri reduced the final margin as Arthars was also directed to the sin bin in the closing stages for a high shot on Viliame Kikau before Billy Walters kick-started early celebrations with a try in the final minute.
5. Small pack monstered
The Bulldogs had built their six-game winning streak on the back of their hard-working pack.
Smaller than most opponents, they had out-hustled their rivals with their superior endurance and ability to cover plenty of distance giving them an edge.
But on a rainy night in Brisbane against big boppers like Haas and Carrigan, the Canterbury pack was out-muscled with the boggy field negating their advantage in mobility.
It didn’t help that they played like Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne, aka Dumb and Dumber, particularly with their poor discipline, leading to three players spending time in the sin bin cooling their heels.
The Kick: Fittler says refs encouraging players to take dives
Brad Fittler believes the NRL match officials only have themselves to blame when it comes to players staying down after copping high contact.
Fittler claimed any time a player gets hit above the neck they’re going to lay down because the refs are inviting that kind of behaviour.
“That was ridiculous. He shouldn’t be in the sin bin,” Fittler fumed after Tupouniua was marched by Sutton for his hit on Mariner with the high contact appearing to come after he was knocked into the Bronco by a fellow defender.
Fellow Nine commentator Cameron Smith was gobsmacked by Sutton’s explanation.
“Of course he leads with his shoulder. That’s how you make a tackle in rugby league,” the Storm legend argued.
