Departing Canterbury star Josh Reynolds was apprehensive about Kieran Foran's impending arrival but insists he wanted to stay at the NRL club.
But a four-year NRL deal to join Wests Tigers, reportedly worth close to a million dollars a year, was too good to pass up.
"I definitely would have stayed for a little bit less at the Dogs," Reynolds told Fairfax.
"But when the difference is life-changing, how do you say no?"
The five-eighth said he has no ill will towards the Bulldogs and claims he wasn't pushed out by their efforts to court Warriors playmaker Foran.
But not having the chance to play alongside New Zealand international hurts.
"It does hurt a bit because he's (Foran) coming to the club I love, and I would have loved to have stayed," Reynolds said.
"When I heard they might be signing him I was a bit scared because I wasn't sure how I was going to fit in.
"The reality is that someone is going to have to go and I really didn't think that was going to be me.
"I really wanted to stay."
Reynolds, considered the heart and soul of Canterbury, said the decision to leave crushed him and he was worried people would think of him as a lesser person.
Not being able to take the Bulldogs to a premiership also weighs heavily.
""We've had a really good team for six years but we still haven't won the comp. We should have won a comp," he said.
"Is it my fault? Maybe I've got a bit to do with it. I don't know."
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