NEWS The 36-minute energy boost that has Reece primed to inspire Broncos

BHQArticleImageLarge309.jpg


Thirty-six minutes of Origin football for the Maroons in Game III has re-lit a fire in Reece Walsh to fight, do all the little things right and take that back to the Broncos for the back end of this season.

Injected into the game in the 44th minute after Sam Walker left the field for a HIA, the difference in energy was palpable, with coach Billy Slater noting “the injection of Reece and Jeremiah (Nanai) created some opportunities for us”.

Walsh looked dangerous from the outset, but it was to no avail, with the Blues finishing the game 30-12 victors to claim a 2-1 series win.

As Cameron Munster put it, "when he gets the ball in his hand, he's a freak player, very elusive... he's very scary".

"We tried to get as much ball to him as we could... it looked good at times, but we didn't get the chocolates," Munster said.

At full-time, a visibly emotional Walsh handed his boots to a young girl doing it tough, as a nod to her resilience.

“It’s always nice, being able to be with the Queenslanders, that support us through thick and thin,” Walsh said.

“That little girl said that she’d been through a bit. A true fighter… and that’s who we are as Queenslanders, we’re fighters. Backs against the wall. That’s what we do, we fight.

“To see that courage in her is very inspirational. To see warriors like that go through their battles and their journeys.”

Walsh, showing that same fight, had the Blues on edge with his speed and agility, busting out of six tackles, but his moment didn’t come in Game III.

“It was good to get back out there,” he said.

“Obviously I wanted to stay ready through camps two and three. Got out there, we were in a tough spot… I just wanted to go out there and try and make a difference and do what I could for the team.

“I just went out there and did my job. I don't think I did anything special. I think Queensland and then the boys needed me to do my job and I tried to do that as best I could.

“We didn't get the result so it doesn't really matter at the end of the day, we didn't win.”

Walsh said he enjoyed playing in the halves for moments of the game, eager to play whatever role he needed to as the Maroons tried to claw their way back.

“I grew up playing in the halves… I actually enjoyed it a lot,” he said.

“That might be something for the future for myself.”

Walsh said being back in the Maroons environment had lifted his confidence heading back to the Broncos, who are riding an eight-game losing streak.

“Whenever you can get in these environments and be a sponge off some of the greatest players, go up against the greatest players in the game, I feel like it's only going to put yourself in a good position,” he said.

“We are battling back at home (at Broncos), but I feel like we've still got a lot of a lot of fight left in us.

“(I’ll) get back there, we'll work our backsides off, like we've been doing, and let our hard work and actions do the talking for us.”

The Broncos roster is looking more experienced, with key players like Payne Haas and Pat Carrigan back in action.

“If we can get that consistent team on paper and that continuity together, I feel like if there's any team in the comp that can come from where we are, I feel like it's us,” Walsh said.

“That starts with us working hard.

“Like I said, being in these environments, it shows all the little things that you need to do.

“I'm looking forward to the challenge of the back end of this year. I know our boys are eager to get stuck in, work hard. I know the boys are back training, working hard and I can't wait to get back with my brothers and go to war and take all this challenge head-on.

“I’d being lying if I said (Origin) didn’t give that inspiration and bit of hunger to get back to clubland and play good footy.

“At the end of the day, what I’m here for is to win a premiership. I just can’t wait to get back with my brothers, get around them and work towards finals with them.”

NRL.com
 
Click to expand...
All this talk about him doing less tackling at fullback is true but it's also mentally taxing. We continually hear how fullbacks run modern defences. Maybe he'd actually find it easier defending up in the line. He wouldn't have to catch bombs. It also removes the kind of hack work he has to do on kick returns. He can make all his runs count at 5/8. I actually think he might be better defending up in the line as he's accountable the whole time to his team mates by his side.
 
Broncos01243 said:
All this talk about him doing less tackling at fullback is true but it's also mentally taxing. We continually hear how fullbacks run modern defences. Maybe he'd actually find it easier defending up in the line. He wouldn't have to catch bombs. It also removes the kind of hack work he has to do on kick returns. He can make all his runs count at 5/8. I actually think he might be better defending up in the line as he's accountable the whole time to his team mates by his side.
Click to expand...
It also makes it easier for him to run the team if he is in the halves.
 
This is probably not going to go down well, but here goes…I actually wouldn’t be opposed to Walsh and Mam swapping positions. I was quite impressed with what Mam offered at the back in his 15 min stint against the Dragons. His strongest asset in defence is his one-on-one tackling, he is a dangerous runner and has excellent passing and short kicking game. Not sure how he’d going to under the high ball and would have to work on his fitness. It probably won’t happen, but an interesting thought nonetheless.
 
Reece can come back and play the way he did last year, but it won't change anything unless the rest of the team decides to pick up the slack and start putting in the work in the effort areas.

That's all about attitude. The players are cooked. The attitude is shit because confidence is low.
 
Reece has got all the skills with ball in hand to be an elite 6... the biggest concern would be his defence in the line... he would absolutely become a spot player in the line, so he needs a hitman next to him. At this stage that would be Piaks.

Pretty good hit man to have, but not exactly durable. Riki has also shown that he keeps his edge pretty tidy, it helps that he's had Reyno next to him who is one of the smarter defensive halves... and is basically 85-90% tackle efficiency for a small half.

I think there was a comment awhile back that his change to fullback has come later in his development... and that's probably one of those decisions like Ben Barba, etc. where they're considered too small as a half against men so they get converted to fullback.

Reece ticks a lot of boxes when it comes to halves... he's a left footer so he slots in perfectly for that left edge... he has elite passing and ball playing skills and an elite running game. He also has a monster boot and is always a 40/20 threat. He's also got the mentality for halves as he always wants the ball... he won't hide on his edge.

Pezet/Bhunt/Duffy are also pretty perfect halfbacks for Reece in that respect, because they probably won't demand the ball and can be the game manager with an elite kicking game (excl Bhunt), but Reece can pick and choose when he wants it.

One thing that hurts a change to 6 is that the meta for halves for like 20 years at this point is to split them to either edge, and they only stay on that edge. We don't want that for Reece... we should want him everywhere.

Penrith do it a little different where Cleary owns the middle, Dewards sits on the right and the five-eight sits on the left. They also have Yeo who can basically be the halfback... so they have two in the middle as halves and their 'fullback' on shape is the 6 or 1 allowing them to pick which side they want to go to.

That could be an option with Reece... where he would be the Cleary, but that puts him at first receiver... I don't think that's a bad thing, he was basically doing that at the backend of last year and had a generational run to a GF and Clive... but that's a lot more responsibility on Reece to be the first receiver on 4 tackles out of 6, and I could see that being chaotic.

In that run last year I don't think Reece was static as that first receiver though... he would pop up at first, or out the back on shape as a fullback... and I think that's the setup that we will end up going with... especially with Reyno retiring.

Reece having the choice of being first receiver, second receiver or out the back as a fullback means he has freedom to go where he wants... but coordinating the rest of the team around where Reece ends up becomes very loose and we'd need good communication and structures.. otherwise it will look chaotic and messy as ****... which we have a lot of times this year.
 
Mister Wright said:
This is probably not going to go down well, but here goes…I actually wouldn’t be opposed to Walsh and Mam swapping positions. I was quite impressed with what Mam offered at the back in his 15 min stint against the Dragons. His strongest asset in defence is his one-on-one tackling, he is a dangerous runner and has excellent passing and short kicking game. Not sure how he’d going to under the high ball and would have to work on his fitness. It probably won’t happen, but an interesting thought nonetheless.
Click to expand...
Fullback probably is the better spot for Ezra... pending how he goes on kick defusal.

His tackling front on is pretty decent, but throw numbers at him and he's completely lost... as a fullback it's typically 1v1 in open space... still difficult to deal with, but he's not necessarily having to deal with multiple runners and making a decision. If there are multiple runners on a linebreak you're pretty well ****ed anyway.

He's a more physical runner than Reece so it puts a bigger body back there... fitness for him to play fullback would be another question... current fullbacks are required to do effort on effort to get from one side of the field to the other... and also communicate with the defensive line. So there would be a lot of upskilling required.

Ezra is also a decent ball player, but I think he seems to struggle when he's locked into an edge and he really seems to struggle with short balls to his edge... he's got Piaks, our best line runner, but how many times has he actually given him a decent ball to put him through untouched. At fullback his level of ball playing would be well above average for the position... he's not deciding on short ball or digging in to setup the backline, it's typically finishing off 3v2's and he could easily do that with his current skills.

His support play is obviously elite and there's more opportunities to run at fullback on those sweeps.

He'd basically be an elite ball running fullback, but his passing would be much higher than the typical running fullbacks like Hammer,, Kini, Sua, etc.
 
Reece at 6 just makes sense for the broncos setup. We’re attacking without a fullback as the ball goes straight to Walsh every play. The defence is already waiting for it as he’s setting up out wide. This just means we have no support play around the ruck either, again easy pickings for the defence. Having mam around the ruck or sometimes outside Reece would have defenders second guessing.
 
Allo said:
I’m ok with him moving solely so we have a fullback that can actually be in position to defend grubbers behind the line
Click to expand...
Yes, yes.... I can't agree more ...even if it was my comment 😜
 
It was only 14 minutes in the halves on Wednesday; there was no fatigue involved to impact his attack and or defence and he hardly tackled.

I don't think Wednesday proved much at all.
 
Plus if he is moved, who goes to fullback? Perham isn't exactly great under the highball himself.
 
1910 said:
It was only 14 minutes in the halves on Wednesday; there was no fatigue involved to impact his attack and or defence and he hardly tackled.

I don't think Wednesday proved much at all.
Click to expand...
I agree, but how do we get the most out Walsh, which feels not too dissimilar to the knights, with Ponga.

Walsh is rarely in position in defence. Not a great defender, and always wants to control the attack, but rarely following the ruck.

Seems too many cooks in the kitchen. This may explain Mams year. Walsh doesn't have the maturity as a footballer, to pick his fullback moments.

Given our season, what do we have to lose by Mam at fullback., Duffy at 7, and Walsh at 6....Piax to start, Mozer or Walters to inject? The season is write off.
 
New Posts

Unread

Back
Top