Josh Reynolds is back in the NRL and getting under people’s skin.
As the Dragons met the Bulldogs at WIN Stadium on Sunday afternoon, it was referee Grant Atkins who the Bulldogs veteran antagonised, triggering an extraordinary spray.
Reynolds was penalised for flopping on Dragons fullback Tyrell Sloan late in the opening half, and after the siren blew, the former New South Wales State of Origin No.6 asked Atkins, “What did I do?”.
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“I thought you got him in the back of the head on the way down,” Atkins explained.
“Bullshit I hit him in the back of the head.”
Atkins cracked.
“I beg your pardon,” the whistleblower said.
“Come out here, come out here, come here. Don’t say a word.”
Atkins tossed the ball away and had a stern word with Reynolds and Bulldogs captain Reed Mahoney.
“If this bloke speaks to me like this again he sits out,” Atkins said to Mahoney while pointing at Reynolds.
“I’m asking you what I do but,” Reynolds quipped.
“Go away,” Atkins shot back.
“I’m not speaking to you for the rest of the game.”
Reynolds trudged away as Atkins continued to communicate with Mahoney.
“Come to me again and he goes to the bin,” Atkins said.
“You take that 10 minutes now to work it out.
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“Come to me again about anything, he goes.”
As Mahoney departed the field at half-time, the Canterbury skipper was asked by Nine’s Emma Lawrence if he needed to calm Reynolds down.
“The old fella, he’s roaring the big fella,” Mahoney said.
“We love his energy. We all know what Josh Reynolds is like; you’ve sometimes got to pull him back.
“But he’s doing a great job so far.”
Reynolds, who turned 34 in the second week of April, earned a top-30 contract with the Bulldogs over the summer.
He made his first starting appearance in the Bulldogs’ match against the Dragons, which Canterbury won 18-16.
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