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Matty Johns has labelled the Rabbitohss decision to allow Adam Reynolds move to Brisbane as a “mistake” mistake the club will live to regret.
Reynolds swapped Redfern for Red Hill at the end of the 2021 season after only being offered a one-year deal by Souths.
The loss of the 31-year-old was immediately evident as South Sydney’s new halves pairing of Cody Walker and Lachlan Ilias struggling in the Rabbitohs’ 11-4 loss to the Broncos on Friday night.
While Johns believes Ilias will have a bright future in the NRL, he said Reynold’s absence threatened to “change the whole dynamic of the football side”.
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“What we saw again from Souths (on Friday) was the crazy decision to allow Adam Reynolds to leave the club,” Johns told SEN 1170 Breakfast.
“Ilias is a very good player and he’ll end up going on to play 200 games.
“But it takes you 30 to 40 games to not just get used to the pace of NRL football but then on top of that to organise other guys into shape.
“They were saying he’s a very good talker and a good organiser, but this is another step up.
It isn’t just Ilias feeling the pressure either. Walker’s performance highlighted the structure and composure Reynolds brought to their combination.
“It just puts a huge strain on Cody Walker and you can see how much adjusting they still have to do,” Johns said.
“I couldn’t understand the Adam Reynolds decision back then and I don’t understand it now.”
Panthers legend Greg Alexander and former Maroons star Cameron Smith highlighted Walker’s attitude towards the latter stages of the game.
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“Yeh you could see the frustration in Cody. Cody put his hands in his pockets for the last ten minutes. He’d had enough and they can’t afford to have that Cody.” Alexander said.
“It’ll be interesting to see what happens and Andrew’s already mentioned it, the fact they’ve already started away in their first two games, they fly to Brisbane, fly to Melbourne. “Following that they play the Panthers and the Roosters.
“It’s a tough start for them.”
“You could actually see the frustration build with Cody as the game went on,” Smith said.
“He withdrew from the game even earlier than 10 minutes to go.
“He looked like he wasn’t interested.
“He’s going to have to learn how to adapt (because) the unfortunate thing is that Adam Reynolds isn’t coming back.
“He’s going to have to be a little more patient within those 80 minutes that he’s playing.”
South Sydney will be looking to clinch their first win for 2022 this Thursday night when they travel down to Melbourne to take on an injury cursed Storm at AAMI Park.