Adam Reynolds was at Broncos training, but his thoughts were with someone 700km away

Warning: This story contains the name and images of a deceased Indigenous person.

Broncos skipper Adam Reynolds kick-started preliminary finals week with a heavy heart, knowing one of his good mates was being laid to rest 700km away.

As Reynolds took to the training field in Brisbane, former South Sydney premiership winner Kyle Turner was being farewelled in the country NSW town of Coonabarabran.

Several Souths players attended the funeral, including skipper Cameron Murray, Tom Burgess, coach Jason Demetriou, chief executive Blake Solly and football manager Mark Ellison, along with club favourites Greg Inglis and John Sutton. Damien Cook and former players Dave Tyrrell and Bryson Goodwin were pallbearers.

Reynolds said Turner was in his thoughts, and he had planned to attend the funeral when there was talk of it being held last week.

Turner died four weeks ago. He was just 31.

“I would have loved to have been there, I thought I was a chance last week when we had the week off, but it was always going to be hard with the prelim final,” Reynolds told this masthead. “They had it streamed on Facebook, and I’m heading home now to watch it back.

“It’s just so sad. It was so hard to hear the news when it first came through. It was early in the morning when I found out. I was in disbelief, and you never think anything like that will happen to one of your mates.

“He’s got a young family. He was a proud Indigenous man who was very humble and respected by his peers.

“You always check in on your mates. We made a WhatsApp group with all the guys who played with ‘Big Dog’ at the time, and shared all our photos and memories that popped up that could be used at the funeral. We also checked in with each other to make sure we were OK.

“When you start to think about the good times you had with him, you wonder if you could have played a part in helping your mate out. Nobody knew what he was going through.

“It’s tough to take. We won a comp together. We went over to Vegas together after the grand final. Those good times still feel like yesterday.”

Reynolds revealed Sutton had came up with the nickname ‘Velcro’ for Turner, because of his excellence in defence.

“When he got hold of blokes, he wouldn’t let go,” Reynolds said.

Meanwhile, Reynolds was looking forward to Saturday and the match-up with fellow No.7 Shaun Johnson.

Johnson returned from a calf injury to inspire the Warriors to a 40-10 semi-final win over Newcastle, and received the rockstar treatment from local fans after full-time. How the Warriors back up after such an emotional high remains a big question.

Reynolds pointed out it was Johnson who led the Warriors to a Toyota Cup victory over his Souths back in 2010.

“I’ve loved watching him all year, we’ve had some nice little battles over the years, including the under-20s when he beat me in the grand final,” Reynolds said. “There’s no better player to watch in the game than Shaun when he’s at his best.”

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