Hull FC’s highest-ever paid Super League player as shock new deal revealed

Hull FC have been known in recent years for their big spending – though some of it has perhaps been misdirected.

Earlier on in the year, Hull Live revealed that Josh Reynolds was the highest-paid player in the club’s history, on a marquee contract with huge expectation on his shoulders.

With that pressure on him, the former Canterbury Bulldogs halfback started well at the MKM Stadium in 2021 until Covid-19 hit.

That seemed to not only lose Hull momentum, but Reynolds’ momentum too as a devastating injury cut short his 2021 Super League season.

Wind forward to 2022 and there was expectation at Hull for Reynolds’ partnership with Luke Gale. Unfortunately, cut by injuries and suspensions, that partnership never got going and the Australian mutually agreed to leave the Black and Whites earlier this year.

Now, incoming Canterbury Bulldogs boss Cameron Ciraldo has given the green light for the 33-year-old to return on a three-month train and trial contract worth $1,000 per-week.

The three-month deal to train with the Bulldogs from November 1 is for Reynolds to prove his worth in the hope of making it into Canterbury’s 30-man squad.

That would make Reynolds one of the lowest paid player at Belmore which seems a far cry away from the marquee contract which he was on at Hull.

Canterbury’s General Manager, Phil ‘Gus’ Gould, has revealed just where that potential deal lies.

“As I said, Josh Reynolds sent me a text message some months ago to say that he was going to retire from the game in England and that he was coming back to Sydney and he’d like to do something for the Bulldogs club in community or commercial, and he’s kept in touch with the club. Obviously he’s a great old Bulldog,” Gould told the Wide World of Sports.

“Then I got another text that he was coming home soon. I said, ‘I’ll see you when you get home’.

“I actually met him and his manager on the weekend and … he’s raised the issue of whether or not he might train through the off-season and see whether or not he was ready to play.

“He’d like to do something with the young blokes and provide a bit of mentorship and leadership around the club.”

Gould believes that Reynolds has what it takes to return, but that it won’t be his call.

“I think commercially and junior league-wise there is something that he can do for the Bulldogs, and he’s been talking to the commercial team about that for some time. So I think there could be a dual sort of role,” Gould said of a possible reunion.

“But what he wants to do is at least this summer train with the players and see how he feels.

“It’s (been) a long time since he’s played NRL football and the game has certainly changed over the last four or five seasons and I want to be protective of him.

“But he’s very passionate, he’s very resilient, he’s very tough and he’s an old Bulldog.

“I never shut the door on anyone, but that will be the coach’s call down the track.”