First he cost his team the game with a spectacular brain fart – and now Brisbane Broncos NRL star Reece Walsh has been hit with truly awful news
Reece Walsh is set to be out for up to six weeks after suffering a serious knee injury in Brisbane’s 20-18 golden point loss to the Warriors.
Walsh, 22, is yet to have a scan but the Broncos confirmed the posterior cruciate ligament injury in a statement on Sunday morning and said he would miss 4-6 weeks of action.
That length of lay-off would also likely rule him out of Queensland’s side for the State of Origin series opener on May 28.
Walsh injured his right knee in the opening minutes of Saturday night’s clash in Auckland in a collision with opponent Kurt Capewell.
He played the entire match but spent some time on the wing, with Selwyn Cobbo reverting to fullback.
That was a window on what coach Michael Maguire may do with Cobbo as he contemplates further changes to the side’s spine.
Reece Walsh (left) looks on in shock during Brisbane’s golden-point loss to the Warriors, which came after he committed a spectacular error to start extra time
The Broncos fullback (pictured being tackled) cost his team the match, then was ruled out for up to six weeks with a serious knee injury
The Broncos played dumb football to lose the match.
Walsh was one of the culprits when his kick-off to start golden point went dead on the full and Warriors half Luke Metcalf landed a 50-metre penalty to win the game in what Fox Sports commentator Warren Smith called ‘the most extraordinary golden point we’ve seen for some time’.
Walsh was limping at times and restricted to just 50m from seven runs.
The Broncos host competition leaders Canterbury on Thursday night and will need all their players at their peak.
‘He’s done something to his knee, so it was a credit to Reece to fight through the game,’ Maguire said after the match.
Five-eighth Ben Hunt made four errors in his worst display of the year and was shifted to hooker in the second half, with Billy Walters switching to No.6.
Walters had moved from the bench to start at hooker in place of regular run-on rake Cory Paix.
The side played better with Hunt at hooker and Walters at six. Maguire said he was still figuring out where he wanted his playmakers ahead of the Bulldogs clash.
The bitter blow looks set to rule Walsh out of the opening State of Origin match on May 28
‘I still am learning about the players,’ he said.
‘In the game we were under pressure and things weren’t going our way, so I thought I’d make a bit of a change.
‘When Hunty jumped into dummy-half and Billy played at No.6 it just added something to us. That subtle change put us in a position to almost take the game, so it was nice to see the boys adapt.’
The Broncos trailed 18-6 late in the game but fought back. They had a chance to win it in the final seconds of regular time, but were unable to get into position for a field goal.
Maguire said there was effort and fight, but conceded ‘we need to be smarter’.
