Reg and Reece: Why flashy Kangaroos star is the best player since Gasnier

3 months ago 16

Opinion

November 10, 2025 — 8.30am

Reece Walsh is the best player since the Immortal Reg Gasnier, according to John Riley, who was centre partner to the “Magic Dragon” during the period St George won 11 successive premierships.

Hundreds of champion rugby league players have taken the field in the 60 years since Gasnier retired, meaning the rare praise of Riley, also a Kangaroo, for a fullback from the modern era must be highly respected.

The fact that Walsh paints his fingernails, collects luxury designer handbags, drank from a toilet bowl and swan dives when scoring a try means little to the 86-year-old, whose only work with a brush was painting his front fence, whose only hobby was collecting the single jumper St George handed out at the end of his six seasons and who sipped beer from a keg post game, surrounded by his teammates.

“Walsh has one thing over Reg and that is his swan dive when scoring a try,” Riley says, pointing out that his comparison of Gasnier with the Broncos fullback only refers to on-field deeds.

“Reg was no show-off. But Walsh is the closest player I have seen to the great Reg Gasnier. He has acceleration, speed and the ability to swerve around players at top pace and has great body strength. I never thought I would see anyone who would compare with Reg, but he is very close. As yet, he has not mastered the art of setting up support players as Reg used to do, but I am sure that will come.”

Nor was Walsh a consistent star on the recent Kangaroo tour, compared to Gasnier when he first toured England at age 20 in 1959-60.

Reece Walsh and Nathan Cleary at Wembley Stadium.

Gasnier had not played for two months when he scored three tries in his opening match, followed by another three in another game and a further three tries in the first Test. Eric Ashton, his opponent in that Test, declared afterwards that the only time he got near Gasnier was in the dressing room post match. Walsh won five successive man-of-the-match awards before the second and third Tests in England where his form was patchy.

The England team was also a poor comparison to an English side in 1959-60 which included Alex Murphy, Dave Bolton, Dick Huddart, Derek Turner and Billy Boston. Gasnier was rarely penalised.

“Walsh flirts with the rules, while Reg didn’t have to,” Riley admits. “He was as straight as an arrow.”

Reg Gasnier finds himself in another gap for the Dragons.

Gasnier, therefore, did not receive any exalted treatment from officialdom, while Walsh, dubbed “the Justin Bieber of rugby league” by Peter V’landys, could well benefit from the subliminal message in the ARLC chief’s oft-repeated claim that the NRL is primarily about entertainment.

Storm supporters certainly believe Walsh should not have stayed on the field in the grand final for a tackle on Xavier Coates which appeared identical to one by Storm captain Harry Grant in a semi-final against Canterbury.

Grant was sin-binned after the intervention of the bunker and suspended for two weeks.

Walsh certainly shocked the Storm in the grand final, with fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen acknowledging that while Walsh tended to fade in and out of games in defence, he did not do so in the decider.

Walsh appeared as a phantom in the final two minutes to move from ball carrier Eli Katoa to tackle his support, Papenhuyzen, killing off the Storm’s final chance to win. Broncos coach Michael Maguire deserves praise for his year-long campaign to improve Walsh’s positional play in defence.

Riley, who was also a strong defender, is a keen observer of the game and was one of the three judges on the panel I chaired to select the Dragons Team of the Century. His point about Walsh not being focused on supports is endorsed by some NRL coaches who have described the 23-year-old as “selfish.”

Still, Walsh did not need a support when he busted past five Storm defenders for a solo try. Storm coach Craig Bellamy warned that Walsh is deceptively strong, yet inexplicably, none of the defenders attempted to tackle him low.

Gasnier had an analytical, computer-quick mind that snapped a mental speed map of the field, allowing him to fly chest out to the tryline, or set up a support.

“When Reg took off with the ball, one of two things would happen,” Riley says. “He would score himself, or he would set the winger up for a try.”

Gasnier’s unselfish attitude is reflected in the tries his wingers scored on the 1959/60 Kangaroo tour: Eddie Lumsden 25, Brian Carlson 19 and Ken Irvine 17.

Any comparison between Walsh and Gasnier must factor in the changed roles of fullback and centre. The modern game’s left and right defence means the fullback is the game breaker, while centres now work in half the field.

However, Riley points out that he and Gasnier played left and right.

”If the scrum was on the left-hand side of the field, Reg was inside centre and I was outside centre. If the scrum was on the right-hand side, I was inside centre and Reg was outside.”

Asked if this was because Gasnier had a better left-to-right pass, Riley said, “No. Killer (coach Ken Kearney) told us that was what he wanted and we didn’t question Killer.”

Scrums are now mainly set in the middle of the field and the ball tends to go with the fullback. Riley concedes that Gasnier returned from injury later than his teammates, a common phenomenon with the highly tuned athletes.

“St George had so many internationals, you’d lose your spot if you delayed your return. But Reg never had to worry about losing his position. The only thing I could say against him was that he might have waited an extra week to come back.“

Gasnier’s deeds sold newspapers. Walsh has one million social media followers. Gasnier loved the game, as Walsh does. Gasnier told me he slept in his first Australian jumper. Walsh plays with manic glee, as if the recess bell is about to ring and a grown up will come and take the ball away.

Perhaps the best similarity is the reaction from the crowd when each received the ball. It’s as if all the oxygen in the stadium is suddenly drawn in by the home and away crowd alike.

It’s the curious sound of anticipation and anguish mixed. Fred Daly, the long-term politician, once described former Prime Minister Paul Keating to me in these terms.

“When Keating stood up in parliament, you could hear the snarl and hiss from the opposition benches. I heard the same thing from the opposition supporters when I went to see Gasnier play.”

It was the sound of fear.