Reynolds hobbles out of Origin as depleted Rabbitohs march to 10th win
South Sydney marched to a 10th NRL win at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night at the expense of the Tigers as Adam Reynolds hobbled out of the Origin race.
The NSW playmaking stocks were somehow depleted even further when Reynolds suffered a suspected broken leg to cap a horror Saturday for Brad Fittler and his Blues.
Hours after Fittler put the pen through Luke Keary and Mitchell Pearce as halves options because of concussion and a groin injury respectively, the coach sat in his lounge room on the northern beaches and watched Reynolds last just 33 minutes for the Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium.
Reynolds looked ready to claim the No.7 jersey for the Blues after showing a wonderful turn of foot to race away for a try against the Wests Tigers.
The heavily inked father of four played two Origin games in 2016 and was looming as the best option on Wednesday week alongside Souths teammate Cody Walker.
But Reynolds reeled in pain as Mark Nicholls rushed over to complete a tackle on Tigers' livewire Corey Thompson.
Only a few tackles earlier Reynolds had taken his time to get back into the defensive line as he clutched his jaw and appeared to wipe blood from his mouth.
Reynolds will head for X-rays on Sunday morning, but the look on his face as he sat in the stands with an ice-pack on his leg told the story.
The injury to Reynolds will virtually cost Walker his Origin dream given the pair were seen as a package deal.
Penrith's Nathan Cleary and James Maloney are the incumbents and now seemingly ready to retain their all-important gig by default.
Souths coach Wayne Bennett would have been bracing for Reynolds, Walker, Damien Cook and Cameron Murray, as well as Queensland outside back Dane Gagai, to be dragged away for Origin duty and unavailable for Friday's road trip to Parramatta.
The Rabbits sit on top of the ladder with 10 wins from 11 starts after their 32-16 win over the Wests Tigers. It is their best start to a year since 1989 when they won the minor premiership.
But Bennett will struggle to field a side against the Eels, especially given the club could not find 21 fit players to put on the official team sheet at the start of the week.
Cook and Gagai will definitely take part in Wednesday week's state-versus-state opener, while Murray, who bagged two tries against the Tigers, is at skinny odds to make his debut off the bench for the Blues.
Murray is an absolute gun who will relish the challenge of taking the fight to the Maroons.
Murray was put across the line by Cook after 15 minutes of play against the Tigers. His offload a few moments earlier had the Tigers on the back foot and allowed Reynolds to slot an easy penalty goal.
When Reynolds raced a short distance to score a try and make it 14-0, the Tigers looked headed for a heavy defeat.
Even though they had little possession, and were on the end of a 7-2 first-half penalty count, the Tigers refused to give up.
Luke Brooks forced a dropout, then the Tigers registered points on the next set as Benji Marshall threw a lovely inside ball for a fleet-footed Corey Thompson.
Thompson filled in at fullback for the injured Moses Mbye and was causing all sorts of drama.
Approaching the half hour, Brooks sent one to the heavens and Esan Marsters stuck his hands in the air to take it cleanly from Souths winger Campbell Graham to score next to the posts.
Sam Burgess and Josh Aloiai threatened to kick things off as Reynolds signalled to the sideline and later disappeared up the tunnel.
Cook drifted to the left and then motored through a yawning gap to give Souths a handy eight-point half-time lead.
The zippy hooker then turned provider for Liam Knight to score under the posts early in the second half.
A try to Marshall, who did brilliantly to get on the outside of Ethan Lowe, gave the Tigers a sniff, but the match was sealed when Murray was awarded a second try, despite big question marks about whether he had received the ball in an offside position.