Listen to the latest episode of Toohey's News: The Podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen.
Newcastle Knights fans likely have vivid, if painful, memories of their club's demoralising 2007 campaign.
Knights legend Andrew Johns departed the game abruptly with a neck injury, ending the career of the club's - and arguably the game's - greatest ever player.
Disunity and disillusionment within the ranks between senior players who felt left in the cold by new coach Brian Smith, and, in the centre of it all, a bitter contractural dispute was tearing apart one of the Knight's most popular players, Kirk Reynoldson.
As Smith attempted a rebuild in the wake of Johns' departure, many of the club's most senior players were left feeling abandoned, cast out and despondent.
With only one game left to play to trigger a renewal of his contract, Reynoldson was infamously kept off the field in what devolved into a long-running and bitter dispute between the star player, the new and mercurial coach, and the club.
Knights legend Danny Buderus wrote of the time: "What had happened, especially with Kirk Reynoldson, showed that NRL football had become a hard-nosed business and I didn't want to be part of that anymore; I'd had a gutful."
In a wide-ranging interview for the Toohey's News podcast, Reynoldson finally opens up on one fo the most infamous breakdowns at the heart of the club, and on his life after football.
Find Toohey's News wherever you like to listen: Overcast, Stitcher, PocketCasts, Castro, RadioPublic, Breaker, TuneIn, CastBox, SoundCloud, iHeartRadio
Have your say or suggest a guest for an upcoming episode by contributing a rating and review in your Apple Podcasts app, or get in touch via email at news@newcastleherald.com.au.
Barry Toohey will bring a new episode to all your favourite podcasting apps every week, complementing his premium and exclusive Knights reporting and analysis in the pages of the Newcastle Herald.
Season 2, Episode 11 will publish next Thursday.
