Canterbury players have vowed to play out the rest of the season for five-eighth Josh Reynolds, after the fan favourite confirmed he was leaving the club.
The Bulldogs received better-than-expected news on Sunday, with hopes the fan favourite will miss just one match for the NRL club due to an injured hamstring.
Days after announcing he was headed to Wests Tigers, Reynolds limped off the field and didn't return in the Bulldogs' 16-10 NRL win over Canberra at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.
Afterwards, Bulldogs coach Des Hasler described it as serious, amid fears it could significantly disrupt the crowd favourite's farewell season at the club.
But initial scans have revealed a less serious injury, which is likely to only keep him sidelined for between two and four weeks.
Importantly for the Bulldogs, one of those is likely to include the representative round before Thursday week's clash with North Queensland in Townsville.
Regardless, Reynolds' teammate Adam Elliott said the side are desperate to send him out on a winning note in 2017.
"You want to go out and play for him and add a bit of spark like he does every week," Elliott said.
Reynolds and Elliott lived together until recently, and the five-eighth broke the news of his departure to the second rower in a 40-minute phone call last week.
"I was emotional," Elliott said.
"He's a big part of me, I wouldn't have made it this far without him. It would be hard to imagine the last three years without Grubby."
Elliott said that while he didn't generally believe that players could usually play for someone else, he was confident that was the case with Reynolds.
"You've got to come out and play for yourself every week," he said.
"But when someone like Josh announces that to the team you are motivated by that."
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