Jackson Hastings jokes about ‘grub’ Josh Reynolds

Jackson Hastings has just made his return to the NRL with the Wests Tigers after a three-and-a-half year spell in the UK.

In Super League, Hastings was an incredible competitor, steering the Salford Red Devils to a Super League Grand Final in 2019 and then helping the Wigan Warriors do exactly the same the year after.

However, the Australian halfback revealed on the Big Sports Breakfast radio show that one player in Super League did manage to get the better of him on an occasion.

Hastings was on the end of a big hit from Reynolds early in the Challenge Cup quarter-final clash in 2021 and he admits that it did affect him.

“What was Grubby like? He was a grub,” he joked after being asked how was it playing alongside Reynolds in the Super League.

“We played them the week before, Josh didn’t play and I scored off a dummy.

“I still remember, it was the first three minutes, I threw one and he got me, to be fair. He just stood over me going, ‘all he’s got is a dummy’ and it kind of rattled me a little bit.

“I’ve always had a lot of respect for Josh not only for the way he plays the game, he was someone I looked up to for just the way he competed.

“I get a lot of people compliment me on being a competitor but I think Josh really set the standard when I was a kid and when I played against him.

“One thing that sticks out is, we actually knocked them out of a semi when I was 19. They’d just been beaten by 40 and eliminated and he took his jersey off his back and gave it to me, I asked in the scrum about 10 minutes in if I could have his jersey.

“I’ll always have respect for him for that and looking after me as a kid, but he’s still a grub, though.”