‘There’s no ceiling’: Walsh’s sports psychologist predicts he will get better

2 hours ago 3

Reece Walsh’s sports psychologist says his Clive Churchill Medal-winning performance was the product of all the work they’ve done together and, in a “scary” prediction for rival teams, is adamant the Brisbane superstar will only get better.

Broncos chief executive Dave Donaghy introduced Walsh to Jacqui Louder, who works with Collingwood in the AFL and had formerly worked with the Melbourne Storm, about 2½ years ago. Louder, who has worked closely with Storm star Cameron Munster, has been a constant sounding board since.

The Brisbane fullback praised Louder’s mentorship in the lead-up to the stunning grand final victory over Melbourne, and now the renowned sport and performance psychologist has spoken for the first time about what makes her client tick.

“He wants to compete. He wants to get better,” Louder said.

“He gets excited by progress, he gets passionate about conquering the game and conquering himself. When Reece gets a win on or off the field, that’s just motivation for him – that’s fuel to the fire.

“He loves getting better – that’s his trigger. If you can help him get better, both as a person and a player, he just wants more. Then it’s ‘What’s the next step? And the next step?’

“I’m driven exactly the same way … He’s like ‘what do we do now? What can we do today?’ He’s like a puppy dog that wants to go and run. Every conversation is such a great, genuine conversation.”

Walsh has always been precociously talented, capable of generating a raft of highlight-reel plays. He and Louder have worked on producing those as often as possible, while minimising the errors that have also been a feature of his game.

“Every incredible athlete, the real generational ones like him … they think ‘I’ve got to keep firing shots’,” Louder explained.

“But that’s not playing smart, that’s playing hard … You can’t fire the physical shots and then expect to emotionally make the right decisions all the time; you have to find that balance and control your energy through not only that game but an entire finals series and an entire year.

“You have to accept that there are ups and downs, ebbs and flow, stellar performances and sub-par performances. That’s OK. No athlete in any sport maintains absolute perfection in those games.

“What he produced on the weekend was the product of everything we’ve done this year.

“[They are] his learnings, and you need to have the energy at the time to pull it out when you need it. He’s become a smart player because he knows himself now.

“He’s learnt himself. That’s like your physical skills – it takes a lot of work and he’s done the work.“

Louder believes Walsh has found the balance of knowing when to go for a big play, as well as being able to flush an error if it doesn’t come off.

“You have to understand the error. Is it technical, tactical, psychological, environmental – is it emotional?” Louder said.

“Once you understand it, you know what to do with it. If you don’t understand it, you become reactive instead of responsive … That’s a real skill.

“He’s got it and wants to understand it.”

Most critics gave Reece Walsh a 10/10 for his grand final performance.

A case in point was Brisbane’s opening finals clash against Canberra. Walsh appeared to lose control after headbutting Hudson Young, an action that earned him a trip to the sin-bin, and then gave Raiders fans the bird as he went up the tunnel.

When Walsh re-emerged, with the game on the line, he produced one of the greatest sequences of finals football ever seen.

“You have to recognise what you can get out of the moment, rather than judge the moment,” Louder said.

“That’s what I try to teach athletes: what is this moment?

“You can have an emotional reaction and be ‘I don’t want to be in the bin’, or you can understand why you are there and what you can do with this.

“It’s taken away 10 minutes on the field, but what else has it given me?

“That’s the maturity as players start to get older; you talk about managing the moments. It’s not just a saying, it’s an understanding. With talent comes responsibility, and you have to understand exactly all components of responsibility. It takes time, growth and maturity to do the hard yards and self-reflect and be vulnerable …

“The skill is about recognising when to pull the trigger, knowing where the game is at.

“There’s a lot of footy IQ that goes into the timing of those decisions and moments. He’s a competitor and wants to compete: knowing when and how to compete is a skill. That’s what he’s learning now.”

Walsh is the hottest player in the NRL, and his grand final heroics have earned him a spot in Australia’s squad for the upcoming Ashes tour of England. However, Louder believes his best is yet to come.

“This year was probably our best in terms of real progress, but he’s got more growth. That’s exciting and probably scary for the opposition,” she said.

“We’re only two-and-a-half years in for him and I. Our real strength is going to be next year and the year after.

“That’s what excites me about what I saw on Sunday, that’s the complete output of all that work together. Now, how do we get closer to that more often?

“That’s exciting and scary … He wants more. I know that.

“We’ve got a bit of off-time now to recharge, because we’re going again. We’re going bigger, more detailed, more in-depth. There’s no ceiling.

“That excites me and excites him too. He’s 23 … He’s going to want to get better again. He’s going to want to produce that as often as possible.”