Drink it up: How Walsh exploded to deliver ominous Broncos’ warning

Love him, loathe him, or simply be bemused by him.

For all his polarising antics, one of the most clinical performances of Reece Walsh’s career has sent an ominous warning to the rest of the NRL’s finals’ contenders.

Any concerns the fallout of his social media video drinking from a toilet would impact his side appear completely laughable now, after the superstar fullback orchestrated the Brisbane Broncos’ 30-14 triumph of the Storm to seal their place in the top four.

Reece Walsh was the mastermind of the Broncos’ triumph of the Melbourne Storm.Credit: Getty Images

The mercurial 23-year-old was in everything - two tries, a try assist, a linebreak, a linebreak assist, a 40/20, five tackle busts, 134 running metres and 22 points.

While his first try was fortuitous, kneeing a Payne Haas offload, his short side raid to put Brendan Piakura over on the stroke of halftime was genius.

He then nailed a 40/20 from the first set of the second half, and sliced through shortly after.

Even off the ball Walsh shone, with a sensational one-on-one tackle forcing Xavier Coates into touch inside Brisbane’s half.

“He did OK, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about toilets,” Broncos coach Michael Maguire laughed.

“He’s a character, and obviously creates a lot of noise, but at the end of the day, he’s in here training and doing all the work with the players, and he wants to win.

“He got challenged earlier in the year too about how he was playing and what he was doing, so he wears a fair bit along the way. But to see him work with the players the way they are is good to see.”

Did Maguire’s savage week awaken a premiership giant?

At half-time of last week’s defeat of the North Queensland Cowboys, Maguire delivered his side a savage spray for their defence.

His harsh stances reared again during the week when he axed star centre Gehamat Shibasaki for reporting to Monday training still impacted by alcohol after a boozy Sunday night.

But Brisbane’s reality check seemed to awaken their defence.

In the first half alone, the Broncos repelled four separate chances on their goal line. Twice they forced errors and twice dragged the Storm into touch.

Even with two minutes on the clock, as the Storm sought to keep the game alive, the Broncos scrambled to keep them contained, ending with a Billy Walters intercept and Josiah Karapani try.

“Those sort of things don’t really faze the group,” Broncos captain Pat Carrigan said of the external noise throughout the week.

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“I thought we really turned up for each other. That goal line defence we’ve been doing with Madge since November, so that’s not new to us.”

In total, the Storm were tackled 45 times inside the Broncos’ 20-metre line and had 58 per cent of the territory, yet were only able to cross from those chances through a fumbled kick for Eli Katoa to score, and a second half backline movement ending in Will Warbrick’s hands.

Melbourne’s damning finals’ blow

Melbourne’s prospects were dealt the most savage of blows, after halfback Jahrome Hughes suffered a suspected broken wrist.

The reigning Dally M Medal winner was playing his first game since sustaining a shoulder injury in round 21, but was forced off in the first half shortly after attempting to tackle Piakura.

Jahrome Hughes after his wrist injury.Credit: Getty Images

“I’m not quite sure if it’s the wrist or on the forearm,” Storm coach Craig Bellamy said.

“They pretty much think it’s a break without a doubt, he’s in plaster already, so that wasn’t a great idea to put him back this week.”

Nelson Asofa-Solomona was then placed on report and sent to the sin bin after his shoulder made head-high contact, while fellow prop Tui Kamikamica was sidelined early.

All this compounded their 14 errors in a contest which followed their capitulation against the Roosters last week.

Reinforcements on the horizon

The sight of injured trio Adam Reynolds, Ezra Mam and Selwyn Cobbo – who all suffered hamstring injuries when they last faced Melbourne – running during the week was promising, despite fears the latter pair would not play again in 2025.

But Maguire would be unlikely to rush any of them back too early.

Ben Hunt and Walters have been outstanding since the club’s starting halves went down, winning four-straight matches as a pairing while bringing out the best in Walsh, who has scored five tries and set up six in that month of football.

“I’ll assess it as it goes,” Maguire said.

“He [Reynolds] is coming along all right, he’s probably touch and go I think, but the players who are on the sidelines are working really hard to give themselves an opportunity.”

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