NRL Grand Final: That Reece Walsh Masterclass

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NRL Grand Final post-game content has consistently been one of the least-read articles of the year. I’ve pivoted away from it for the most part over the last two years as footy fatigue quickly sets in among fans, and only those of the winning team really want to re-live it. However, as I sit here watching the replay, I can’t help but get a few words down on what will go down as one of the best individual performances in NRL history.

Reece Walsh is one of the most polarising figures in rugby league, but even those who can’t stand his off-field antics could only applaud his Clive Churchill Medal performance.

He brought the Broncos back from the dead, and did it without two of their most influential players by the end. Instead, Walsh made sure to leave his fingerprints on everything to guide Brisbane to a 19-year-drought-ending NRL premiership.

His first notable involvement was somewhat glossed over, given how close Deine Mariner came to the deadball line. Most looked to Mariner’s tip-toes rather than Walsh’s pinball effort to hand out his first try assist of three for the night.

There is that triangle that can occur around Cameron Munster we’ve covered before¹ . Although, Jack Howarth should have completed the tackle after making a good read on the play.

It’s Walsh’s strength, or rubber man frame Billy Slater mentioned, that separates him from other fullbacks in the NRL. Despite being so much smaller than Howarth, Walsh has the footwork to step onto his inside shoulder, the strength to push through it and balance to get the pass away.

He went back to the same look later in the first half but couldn’t quite move the ball between his hands as quickly as his feet stepped through the defence.

As the Storm built a lead of their own to take control on the scoreboard, Walsh took it upon himself to score on of the great Grand Final tries.

Shoutout to Tyson Smoothy and Kobe Hetherington to set it up. Smooty does an excellent job to see the Storm stakced on the short side with the third man out of play, leaving the space between the ruck and the A defender a lot wider than Craig Bellamy would have liked.

It’s simple, but Smoothy straightens to send Hetherington through half a gap, which ultimately creates the space on the following play for Walsh to work his magic.

But look how far Walsh comes from, and how early he spots the opportunity.

By getting into his position early, he can take advantage of Hetherington leaving three Storm players in his wake and, again the spacings wide around the ruck. The play-the-ball moves so quickly that Shawn Blore has his back to the ruck as Cory Paix picks up the ball to feed Walsh.

Equally brilliant up to this point, Eli Katoa played out one of the best games in a losing effort we’ve seen in a long time. He played a leading role in the Storm building their 10-point lead at the break. However, he couldn’t close the space on Adam Reynolds before Gehamat Shibasaki scored in the 45th minute and, as Adam Reynolds limped off with just over 30 minutes play, Walsh took his chance to wrestle back control of the game.

He consistently threatened on the edges to generate his 176 running metres and 14 tackle breaks. This carry might not look like much, but it generates the Broncos momentum and captures a lot of what worked so well for them throughout the whole game.

As we saw earlier with Hetherington trailing inside Smoothy, Pat Carrigan this time shapes to pass inside before firing the ball wide. It tightens the Storm defence and allows Walsh to get down hill at an edge defence that typically tracks back and ushers ball-carriers to the sideline. If you’re disciplined as Walsh is here, you can take the metres and get them on the next play as they did later in the game…

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