The Canterbury Bulldogs have revealed Josh Reynolds has given up his Top 30 spot at the club to faciliate the arrival of Toby Sexton.
Sexton joined last Tuesday on an immediate switch from the Gold Coast Titans following speculation the club were looking to free up salary cap in pursuit of Ben Hunt, who has requested a release from the St George Illawarra Dragons.
The Bulldogs already had Karl Oloapu and Reynolds, as well as Matt Burton and Kyle Flanagan on their roster, but with director of football Phil Gould revealing the long-term plan for Oloapu is to play lock, and now the revealtion per News Corp that Reynolds gave up his Top 30 spot, it allowed Sexton to come straight into the side.
He led the Bulldogs to a first-up victory over an Origin and injury-depleted South Sydney Rabbitohs outfit on Saturday evening in his first hit out wearing blue and white. It was a game which saw Canterbury score 36 points, with Sexton running the ball 15 times and adding a pair of line breaks.
Reynolds has made seven first-grade appearances in the blue and white this season following a player driven push for him to join the Top 30 in the pre-season.
He had originally joined the club on a train and trial deal following the end of a failed stint at Hull FC in England, where he made 25 appearances across two years. Prior to that, he had a horror three years at the Wests Tigers, being unable to stay on the field or replicate the form and success he had found during his first NRL stint which saw 138 games at the Bulldogs between 2011 and 2017.
His rise back to the Top 30 was met with celebration by teammates, with coach Cameron Ciraldo telling club media at the time that he had earnt his spot.
"We announced it to the playing group which gave the boys an enormous lift after a tough few weeks of training," Ciraldo told the club's media team.
โWe were talking in the morning about what sort of team we wanted to be, and we felt it was a good way to finish off the training session by saying that the qualities that Josh Reynolds brings to the team is what our team wants to display.
โThe boys were pretty excited and jumped all over him. We didn't do him any favours, he worked hard and deserves this opportunity.
โWe felt the leadership he brings to the team and his competitiveness, that's what we wanted to rub off on the squad, but it was up to him to show us that his body could hold up to it all.
โAnd he's done really well in that regard. He has proved to us that he can be a really valuable asset to the team this year, so there was no point in waiting any longer. We wanted to give him the confidence that we have in him and that's why we announced it.โ
Reynolds giving up his spot in the main squad likely brings with it the end of his NRL career, which is up to a total of 192 games, although the publication report that the Bulldogs will likely use him in reserve grade for the remainder of the season before the 34-year-old transitions into an off-field role with the club.
