Broncos boss swipes Suncorp Stadium, admits club failed Reynolds
Broncos boss Dave Donaghy has taken a swipe at Suncorp Stadium while admitting the club made significant errors amid the embarrassing Adam Reynolds send-off last week.
The reigning premiers had a week to forget and became the laughing stock of the NRL before and after a loss to Melbourne on Thursday night.
Broncos boss Dave Donaghy speaks to media. Nine
It started when Reynolds was denied a farewell game, being snubbed at the selection table despite passing a fitness test on Monday and voicing his desire to take the field one last time.
The club’s PR machine went into a spin on Tuesday and wheeled Reynolds out in front of media to claim he had no issue with it. Michael Maguire also fronted cameras in an effort to pour cold water on the issue.
But the saga took another embarrassing turn on Thursday night when Reynolds was paraded in front of the Suncorp Stadium faithful alongside fellow departing players Corey Jensen, Jesse Arthars, and Delouise Hoeter.
As the players waved to the crowd, the stadium big screen began displaying a Kia promotion, drowning out any acknowledgement of the quartet.
“Thursday was disappointing. We hire Suncorp Stadium and pay a lot of money to do so,” Donaghy said as he fronted media on Monday.
“For big screens to be out for 44 minutes meant there were some challenges with the team to put a show back together.“
Brisbane have been heavily criticised for their handling of Reynolds’ retirement.
The champion halfback left South Sydney, where he won the 2014 premiership, to join Brisbane in 2022 and he led the team to last year’s premiership.
Donaghy admits the club erred in failing to properly celebrate a modern legend.
“There have certainly been a lot of reflection, a lot of lessons and learnings from the last week, and sometimes in sport you don’t get everything right and you don’t get the opportunity to have fairytale finishes,” the CEO said.
“The most important thing for us this week is to make sure we’re honouring, recognising and celebrating all of our departing and retiring players.
“I think last week was an emotional week. There were some things all of us reflect back (on), and (wonder) what we could do differently and what we will learn and apply into the future. We have had those discussions internally, we will learn from those.
“Early in the week there was a lot of emotion around. Certainly some of the language and communication could have been clearer.
“It was an unfortunate set of circumstances on Thursday night. We would have loved nothing more (than) to honour and celebrate someone that is really important to our football club, has been a great contributor to the game.
Adam Reynolds has played his last NRL game. Getty Images
“Unfortunately we made some calls that, we would love to have our time again. It was a missed opportunity.“
According to The Courier-Mail, the Broncos have completed a club review which found 14 recommendations after the team’s dismal premiership defence this year. The biggest outcome is that coach Maguire will avoid the axe, and Donaghy on Monday reiterated his desire to keep Maguire long-term.
Brisbane will this week farewell superstar prop Payne Haas, who will go down as one of the best to ever don the jersey, as well as Origin centre Gehamat Shibasaki who is off to the Perth Bears.
The Broncos finish their season against the Bulldogs on Thursday night.
