South Sydney five-eighth John Sutton claims he’s never seen a better kicking game from a rookie player than what halves partner Adam Reynolds has produced this season.
Reynolds has enjoyed a magnificent debut year and is the NRL’s leading goalkicker with 95 successful attempts, five clear of Queensland superstar Johnathan Thurston.
The 22-year-old also trails only Cooper Cronk, Jarrod Mullen, Benji Marshall and Daly Cherry-Evans in kick metres for the season.
Reynolds’ seven successful kicks and a try last Saturday in the win against Canberra saw him become the first Souths player to clear the 200-points mark for a season since Eric Simms in 1970 – the year the Rabbitohs won the 19th of their 20 premierships.
It caps off a remarkable season for Reynolds, who wasn’t even assured a place in Michael Maguire’s side at the beginning of the year, with the Souths coach seriously considering starting another young playmaker Ryan Carr in the No.7 shirt.
Although Sutton has been mightily impressed with Reynolds’ ability to bisect the posts, it’s his short kicking game that has him drooling.
“Since the pre-season you could see there was something special there and he has done that for us all year,” Sutton told AAP on Wednesday.
“I don’t think I have seen anyone so inexperienced kick the ball so well under pressure as Reyno. It’s like he’s got the ball on a string sometimes.”
In a difficult first taste of finals footy against Melbourne two weeks ago, Reynolds was a peripheral figure against a revved-up Storm side.
However, the playmaker recovered well against the Raiders in the 38-16 win.
In addition to his 18-point haul, Reynolds set up two second-half tries with pinpoint grubber kicks for Dylan Farrell and Andrew Everingham.
Sutton, who is enjoying the best season of his career, is revelling in being part of an exciting combination.
Saturday’s preliminary final will be the biggest game of 27-year-old Sutton’s career and the NSW City Origin representative is finally fulfilling his potential – nine seasons after making his NRL debut.
Sutton said he and Reynolds have brought out the best in each other’s game, but praised Maguire for doing what previous coaches have failed to do – help him find some consistency.
One of the biggest improvements under Maguire has been Sutton’s running game and he sits joint second with Thurston for the highest number of line-breaks for a five-eighth with 11 – seven more than his total for the whole of last year.
“Madge (Maguire) just wants me to focus on running the ball and not worry about directing the team which has made my job a lot easier. I am loving every minute of it,” he said.
Throughout Sutton’s career there have been doubts about whether his 190cm frame was better suited to the back-row and under Maguire his confidence has never been higher in the No.6 shirt.
And the prospect of playing in front of a crowd of 70,000 at ANZ Stadium for a place in the grand final will fulfil a long-held ambition.
“I always watch the finals on TV, but this time of year I have usually been surfing as our season is over,” Sutton said.
“As the season has gone on I have been playing better. I’ve made a lot less errors.
“To be playing now for a place in a grand final against another great Sydney club is going to be fantastic.
“It will be an occasion I’ll always remember, I just hope we come up with the win.”
