Broncos skipper Adam Reynolds was in no mood to discuss his health concerns following Thursday’s ugly loss to the Rabbitohs, with the veteran playmaker insisting he came off because of cramps as they slumped to a sixth loss in a row.
Reynolds took an early interception and was ultimately chased down by South Sydney forward Lachlan Hubner, with the playmaker clutching his left hamstring.
He stayed out there but appeared to be in significant pain midway through the second half of their 48-6 loss, with Reynolds coming off with 20 minutes to go and emerging from the tunnel with a giant bag of ice around his left hamstring.
“I’m right, just tight,” he said after the game, insisting it was simply cramps.
Already without injured stars like Patrick Carrigan and Gehamat Shibasaki, Brisbane could now lose Ezra Mam to an AC joint issue after he came off minutes after Reynolds left the field.
Mam has come off the bench in the past two games, with the five-eighth having some nice moments on Thursday night before he hurt himself while making a try-saving tackle on Ed Kosi in the corner.
He was clearly in pain and struggled to pass, but he stayed on for a few sets before he was eventually taken off.
“I have to talk to the doctors. It’s just an AC, so we have to work through that,” Maguire said.
“He did his AC and it just got too hard for him to stay out there.”
The Broncos have the bye next week but that might not be enough to save their season with the premiers in freefall after falling to their sixth loss on the trot.
Brisbane is in the bottom four and has a brutal run coming up, but their coach is adamant that their premiership defence isn’t over as they look to avoid becoming the first champions since the 2005 Tigers to miss the finals the following season.
“We’re still well and truly alive,” Maguire declared.
“People will probably think I’m mad, but one thing I do know is I’ve got a number of guys that are not on the field at this present moment. And as a group, we said we’re not going to use that as any sort of excuse or anything like that.
“But they’ll all come back and there’s a lot of quality there that I know that can come back into the team. So although we’re probably in a bit of a tough hold at the moment, we will get those boys back at some stage.
“We all know what the team’s capable of doing, so once they get back (things will improve). We’ve got to get through this little period now, which is tough for all of us. We don’t like going through it, but it can also be the making of us.
“These guys have had plenty of experience together. They’ve been through some tough times, they’ve been through some good times.
“I think they just have to come together like we do. I thought our prep this week was spot on, but it didn’t turn out onto the park so we’ve got to dig deep amongst ourselves to find that because I know I’ve got a team here.”
Originally published as Adam Reynolds downplays hamstring concerns as Michael Maguire declares premiership defence is alive