The public Kirk Reynoldson was involved in an ugly feud with the Newcastle Knights. A bitter tale. The private Kirk Reynoldson was changing lives. A better tale.

"We were doing a program with Hurstville police, St George PCYC and the Dragons," Senior Constable Sally Meakin from Hurstville police says. "A few kids were heading down the wrong path.

"We wanted to steer them in the right direction and thought footy players could help with mentoring - if they wanted to. Kirk was unbelievable. He turned up every week for nine weeks, without fail. The kids had so much respect for him. It was just incredible what he did. We were shocked, to be honest."

Not all NRL players disgrace themselves on the drink. Not all of them are accused of urinating on a bloke at a bar. Not all of them dabble in assault. Not all of them are spotted by commuters on their way to work at 8am, stumbling across heavy traffic with a can of beer in their hand. Not all of them empty their bowels in Schlossy's shoe.

Reynoldson comes off the bench for St George Illawarra against the Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium tomorrow night. He will receive few accolades outside his own dressing room. If any superstar put this much time and effort into helping troubled youth, you would have heard about it by now.

"The first week, we were talking with the kids about long- and short-term goals," Meakin says.

"Kirk walked around the room and sat with every kid individually. He helped them work out their goals and how they could be achieved. He became really heavily involved.

"One of the kids had a lot of family issues. He didn't want to come down at all. He didn't want to have a bar of us, but by the third week, he'd heard Kirk was there so he came down. I asked Kirk to make him feel welcome. They were always off to the side talking. If he had any issues, I would get Kirk to pull him aside and talk to him about it. The kids listened to every word he said. We all developed a lot of respect for him."

Peter Everill is in charge of a program called Dragons Community.

"I gave the players a spiel about community work," he says. "I gave them a form and told them to tick one of the programs they liked. 'Reyno' stood up and said something like, 'Boys, this is good stuff. I've been part of this at other clubs. The kids get a lot out of it and believe it or not, gentlemen, we'll get a lot out of it, too.' That got the ball rolling.

"These kids were slipping through the system. Discipline at school was big problem, there was abuse, drugs, most of them had a criminal record or a past with the police. I'm a teacher by profession and I've seen a lot of directionless kids struggle to get out of it. Kirk turned them around.

"He gave them fitness tests. He got them off the drugs, got them to piss off the fags, reduced their alcohol intake. We re-tested them and their fitness levels had gone through the roof. I don't know if anyone else could have influenced these kids like Kirk did."

Reynoldson lost a $200,000 contract extension when the Knights declined to select him at the end of last season. He joined the Dragons on relative peanuts. He was surviving on match payments while working with the PCYC. A confidential settlement was struck with the Knights. Before that, in March, he was quoted as saying: "I can't even afford Easter eggs."

Reynoldson's disciples finished the program with 100 per cent attendances at school. No more trouble with the police. Parents and principals reported drastic improvements in behaviour. He coached them in rugby league. If they did the right thing, they would be rewarded with a game against the Dubbo PCYC at ANZ Stadium before a Dragons NRL game. They got their reward - and so did Reynoldson.