Brisbane Broncos apology over Adam Reynolds farewell at Suncorp Stadium, car giveaway on big screen; coaching gig jeopardised by retirement saga

A bombshell report has revealed the saga around Adam Reynolds’ early retirement jeopardised his coaching future, as the embattled club came under fire for its farewell efforts on Thursday night as the legend was sidelined for a dismal loss to the Storm — prompting an apology.

Reynolds was given a lukewarm send-off at Suncorp Stadium and fans were shocked when the big screen cut to a KIA sponsor promotion midway through a lap of honour. There were no highlights packages for the premiership winning captain, no music — and veteran Broncos reporter Peter Badel wrote that: “Reynolds looked underwhelmed and embarrassed by the whole occasion.”

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There was a post-game presentation honouring Reynolds and departing champion prop Payne Haas, but it came at about 10pm with the stadium largely empty.

“The Brisbane Broncos apologise to our members and fans for not showing Adam Reynolds’ full lap of honour on the Suncorp Stadium screens last night,” a statement sent to members read.

“A power outage affecting the stadium screens earlier in the program, for which Suncorp Stadium has apologised and are investigating, occurred without a contingency in place.

“This meant we were running behind schedule and were also unable to show some of the planned tribute content.

“While trying to get the game-day program back on track, a decision was made to proceed with a scheduled Kia giveaway member activation.

“We got that call wrong.

“Adam’s lap of honour was a significant moment for our club and our fans, and it should have been prioritised,” the statement read.

“We sincerely apologise and thank everyone who came to Suncorp Stadium and stood by the team, our captain and our other departing players.

“We are particularly grateful to everyone who stayed after the final whistle to join us in recognising Adam and our departing players.”

Michael Ennis said the stuff up summed up the week which was littered in controversy, staring with the non-selection of Reynolds who declared himself fit for a farewell game before he backflipped 24 hours later and said it was his decision not to play.

“They had a real opportunity to celebrate one of the great halfbacks,” Ennis said.

“I thought that in among of all the ‘this is what Adam said and this where we stand as a club’, in among all that drama, throughout the week we lost the celebration of two of the club greats.

“Payne Haas, six Paul Morgan Medals…it’s been a dark week for the club.”

Ennis said it wasn’t a good look from the Broncos to send off Reynolds to little fanfare.

“To win two premierships at two different clubs, play in four grand finals and over 300 games, and the fact that Adam Reynolds is in a polo shirt walking around the ground clapping to his fans, I felt like he deserved more,” Ennis said.

“We heard Nathan Hindmarsh talk about how Parramatta had shirts made up (for his retirement)…there was just none of that throughout the week.

“Reynolds came there to deliver a premiership and did it.”

The shock retirement of Reynolds dominated the headlines this week after the veteran halfback gave conflicting accounts over who ultimately made the call on his NRL future.

On Monday night’s episode of NRL360, Reynolds initially said he was willing to play against the Storm but coach Michael Maguire and the club’s medical staff shut him down

It created a firestorm which only grew when Reynolds backflipped on those comments the following day and said it was his call to make himself unavailable for selection for the final two rounds.

The saga has shone the spotlight on the relationship between Reynolds and Maguire as well as left plenty questioning what is happening behind the scenes at Red Hill.

It’s also threatened to blow up Reynolds’ future at the club. Reynolds is set to transition into a halves mentor role under Maguire but his comments reportedly put some important figures at the club off-side.

According to a bombshell report from CODE Sports, there was a ‘furious faction’ within the club after the development with Reynolds coaching future coming under review.

However, Reynolds and the club are set to finalise a contract in the coming weeks and the champion half will stay put.

It comes as Brisbane’s farewell of retiring and departing players appeared to fall flat at the Broncos final home game of the season.

Retiring Broncos pair Reynolds and Corey Jensen joined Jesse Arthars (Super League) and Delouise Hoeter in a lap of honour around Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane’s final home game on Thursday night.

The quartet are just a few of the several Broncos players the club are set to bid farewell to at the end of the season.

From those who were in the game day squad of 19 on Thursday, Payne Haas (Souths), Gehamat Shibasaki (Perth Bears), Grant Anderson (Warriors) and Jaidyen Hunt (Raiders) will also depart while Jack Gosiewski isn’t expected to be offered a new deal.

The Broncos will likely release a confirmation in the coming weeks on who exactly will leave the club at season’s end.

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There was a pre game tribute for Reynolds before the halfback walked around the Suncorp Stadium turf with Jensen, Hoeter and Arthars to applause from the Broncos faithful.