Reece Walsh had just enjoyed coffee with some of his Broncos teammates and was walking down the street in Parramatta on Friday morning when a busload of school girls spotted him.
The bus pulled over, the girls hopped off and chased Walsh back to the team hotel.
Never has there been such pandemonium for the Broncos this side of the NSW-Queensland border – and Walsh’s megastar profile is the key to it.
Fans gathered around the Broncos’ team bus more than an hour after full-time at Campbelltown a few weeks ago – many of them wearing Wests Tigers jumpers – just to get an autograph and a selfie with Brisbane’s stars.
And they lined the fence at the southern end of CommBank Stadium on Friday night, standing in the pouring rain, holding posters and chanting the names of Walsh, Jordan Riki, Pat Carrigan and Ezra Mam.
During the recent school holidays in Queensland, thousands of fans packed Red Hill to watch the Broncos train. It is not uncommon for parents living in remote Queensland towns to pull their kids out of school and drive for four to five hours each way to see the players.
The club has built a new steel fence at the back of the club, and employed security guards, just so the players can get to their cars without being mobbed by fans who are prepared to wait hours after any given training session.
Notes and phone numbers have been left on players’ windscreens.
Allan Langer is a Broncos legend, and while he believes good friend Wally Lewis is still the most popular Brisbane player of all time, he has never witnessed what is happening with rival fans in Sydney.
“It’s like they’re rock stars,” Langer said on Friday night. “We had a few fans in Sydney, but we were normally booed. The players have always been recognised, but not liked, and they’re well liked now. It’s the brand of football they’ve started to play. People love it.
“You saw it even at Campbelltown a few weeks ago. The reception Adam Reynolds received when he came off; they rose as one. He was amazed by it. The young guys, Reece, Patty, Jordan, they love them.
“For Reece, he’s only young; it [the attention] will be tough for him, but he’s taking it all in his stride.”
Walsh and the Broncos play with speed and are not afraid to take risks. All three tries in the first half against the Eels were long-range efforts, while a brilliant Walsh kick set up Selwyn Cobbo for a four-pointer in the second half.
During grand final week last year, ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys dubbed Walsh the “Justin Bieber of rugby league”, saying his profile was driving interest in the code, especially among girls and young women.
“My focus group is my 13-year-old daughter, and she’s got posters all over the wall of him, and she has no interest in rugby league whatsoever, even though I’m the chairman of the ARLC,” V’landys said at the time.
Walsh had 379,000 Instagram followers back then; more than every club except the Broncos. As of Saturday morning, Walsh’s following had ballooned to 458,000.
The NRL confirmed this week when it came to social media content, Walsh had accrued 6.8 million views this year alone. Footage of his long-range tries amassed 2.2 million views, “Reece Walsh lighting up the USA” had 1.9 million views, while Walsh finishing a long-range try against the Dolphins in round six had 1 million views.
One of the most watched videos on the NRL’s TikTok accounts is of Walsh and his daughter at last year’s preliminary final, which has had a whopping four million views.
Such is the buzz, the Broncos will close in on 58,000 members by the end of the weekend – and expect to reach 60,000 before the end of the season, almost double that of their nearest rival.
The club’s media team has struggled to produce in-house interviews with players because of the constant screeching from young fans in the background.
Carrigan laughed when told about the Walsh scenes involving the school bus in Parramatta, saying: “You’ve got good mail. I think the times are changing because of social media, so a lot of young fans are following the Broncos.
“It’s exciting. We also play an exciting brand of footy we’re working on, and young kids gravitate to that. We also know we need to stay level-headed. Kevvie [Walters] is doing a good job of that.”
Riki, with fans in the background chanting his name on Friday, said: “It’s a bit overwhelming. I have to pinch myself sometimes. I’m just a little Kiwi boy from New Zealand.
“It’s a bit crazy and full on, but it’s also really cool and I’m grateful. I’ve had a few people who want my signature on their hand, then they go away and get it tattooed.
“I’ve had a few people send me artwork and portraits of me, which I really love. I’ll also go down to the grocery store to get some milk and people will stop me. The support has been great.”
Sydney Morning Herald
