During the NRL Grand Final, Reece Walsh delivered the toughest lesson of all.
Brisbane Broncos player Reece Walsh was discovered on the NRL’s greatest stage, the pressure of the moment wearing him down like a turtleneck.
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According to legend, today’s youth have the confidence of a T-Rex and the memory of a 95-year-old goldfish.
Despite the fact that these fearless kids seldom dwell on their mistakes, the Broncos’ surrender on Sunday night will undoubtedly bother Reece Walsh during the summer and leave a dent in his bristling self-belief.
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Despite burying the Grand Final misery of 2015 with an even more painful 2023, Brisbane’s unexplainable rollover to the Panthers will be a waking nightmare for Kevin Walters’ men.
The repercussions has been even more severe, with a painful colonoscopy being performed to establish how, in God’s name, they squandered a 24-8 lead after having Penrith’s voracious defence looking as cruel as a cupcake.
While Ezra Mam was the Broncos’ hero with his sensational triple-try burst, many are wondering how a toey force like Walsh was expertly neutralized on the greatest platform.
Sure, he wasn’t the only one to have a bad night – even the Clive Churchill Medalist had an opening 60 minutes to forget – but the weight of the event appeared to wear him down like a turtleneck.
The youthful phenom gradually warmed up to the game and was key in the Mam spree, but his inability to put himself into the game in the first half, as well as a couple of defensive blunders, will weigh heavily on his very attractive shoulders.
Walsh was given a harsh lesson that top fullback play demands more than continental stuff, whether he was caught asleep for Mitch Kenny’s try or on the hop for Nathan Cleary’s match-sealer – or simply failing to assert himself when his side wasn’t moving downhill.
This was accentuated by his ultra-tireless opponent, Dylan Edwards, who produced 25 runs for 271 metres and three tackle busts in a nerdy triumph of substance over sexiness.
It’s nice to know that in a modern world of face filters and TikTok, there’s still a place for an unassuming fullback who’s thinning on top.
Overall, it served as a reminder that, despite Walsh’s lethal attack prowess, swashbuckling doesn’t always pay the bills, and dazzling eyelashes won’t always clean-up in the back, unless we’re talking about the nightclub.
Nonetheless, as a 21-year-old maverick with an offensive arsenal capable of sinking a small flotilla, this will be nothing more than a minor blemish for the young fullback.
In less than a week, he was dubbed “the Justin Bieber of rugby league” by Peter V’landys – because plainly Justin loves ‘ya mum’ – because this bloke is too arrogant and too attractive to contain.
No doubt, he’ll be back to his rampaging best in 2024, fresh off a Mad Monday that erased these dreadful memories with more Canadian Clubs than Ivan Cleary.
