It’s the farewell fiasco that keeps on giving.
Brisbane has taken the extraordinary step of apologising to its fans for butchering the send-off of departing captain and halfback Adam Reynolds on Thursday night.
After a week of adverse headlines about the decision not to play Reynolds against Melbourne in Brisbane on Thursday night, the veteran playmaker initially claimed he was ruled out by coach Michael Maguire and club medicos – only to say a day later it was his decision – there is fresh controversy about the lack of fanfare for his send-off.
After losing their last home game of the season 46-20, a crowd of 36,476 were invited to honour Reynolds during a post-game presentation. However, the ceremony fell flat when a power outage at Suncorp Stadium meant the farewell lap and tribute footage couldn’t be shown on the big screens.
Instead of showing career highlights of Reynolds and fellow departing players Payne Haas, Jesse Arthars, Delouise Hoeter and Corey Jensen, advertisements for major Broncos sponsor Kia were displayed.
There was a lack of accompanying music, while the majority of fans had filtered out of the stadium by the time the underwhelming tribute got under way after 10pm. The debacle had echoes of Billy Idol’s mooted performance before the 2002 grand final, which was cancelled due to a power outage.
Reynolds looked a forlorn figure as he embarked on a lap of honour despite the dramas.
“The Brisbane Broncos apologise to our members and fans for not showing Adam Reynolds’ lap of honour on the Suncorp Stadium screens last night,” Brisbane said in a statement.
“A power outage affecting the stadium screens earlier in the program, for which Suncorp Stadium has apologised and are investigating, occurred without a contingency in place. This meant we were running behind schedule and were also unable to show some of the planned tribute content.
“While trying to get the game-day program back on track, a decision was made to proceed with a scheduled Kia giveaway member activation. We got that call wrong.
“Adam’s lap of honour was a significant moment for our club and our fans, and it should have been prioritised.
“We sincerely apologise and thank everyone who came to Suncorp Stadium and stood by the team, our captain and our other departing players last night. We are particularly grateful to everyone who stayed after the final whistle to join us in recognising Adam and our departing players.”
It’s the latest drama for the embattled Broncos after Reynolds’ non-selection dominated the news cycle last week. It has also overshadowed the contributions from premiership-winning prop Haas – who has won the Paul Morgan medal a record six times as Brisbane’s best and fairest player – before his transfer to South Sydney.
The heavy loss to the Storm occurred despite the introduction of a trial kick-off rule that was meant to prevent blowouts.
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