Reece Walsh’s bizarre toilet video seems like a distant memory after the star fullback produced a statement performance to seal a top four finish for the Broncos.
Even coach Michael Maguire could laugh about it on Friday night, saying “I don’t think he’ll have to worry about toilets.”
Walsh was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons when a video went viral of him drinking the water out of a new toilet that had been installed in his house.
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Walsh HEROICS end in toilet water celly! | 00:41
Despite the Broncos releasing a statement about the video, the 23-year-old doubled down on it by changing his profile photo on Instagram to himself dressed up as a plumber.
He flushed away all the noise though on Friday night to play a starring role in the Broncos’ win over the Storm by scoring 22 of his side’s 30 points, while also nailing a 40-20 and coming up with his best one-on-one tackle to date.
Maguire was asked about his “part-time plumber” Walsh in the post-game press conference and had nothing but praise for him.
“He did OK, I din’t think he’ll have to worry about toilets,” he laughed.
“He’s a character and obviously creates a lot of noise but at the end of the day he’s in here training, he’s doing all the work with the players and he wants to win. It’s nice to see.
“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 as well. But to see him work with the players the way they are at the moment, it’s good to see.”
Maguire was pushed further on Walsh with a journalist commenting on how he doesn’t let the noise worry him. But the coach swiftly changed course to talk up other members of his 17, including Jesse Arthars, who was recalled after Gehamat Shibashaki was dropped for disciplinary reasons.
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“I’m going to go and talk about the players. The forward pack laid the platform. ‘Hunty’ and Billy did a great job in the halves and allows those boys to do what they did,” Maguire said.
“We had a couple of changes and Jesse (Arthars) comes in and does his job. I think that’s something there that I’ve seen within the team, you can’t give up your spot because there’s people there ready to do.
“We’re fortunate that Jesse was able to come in and do a great job. It gives me a good head ache for the week ahead.”
The 30-14 win means the Broncos will head to Canberra next week to face the minor premiers. But more importantly it’s granted them a second chance should they lose to the Raiders.
Maguire is “really pleased for the players” and was excited to see his side put together an 80-minute performance when it mattered most.
“I said that to the boys, we’ve been talking about it (an 80-minute game) and they were able to produce it. It’s the right time of year to do it and a big opportunity for us,” he said.
Captain Pat Carrigan was asked about what seemed to be — at least from the outside — a disruptive week, but he took the chance to praise his squad’s unity and preparation.
“It’s Brissy, there’s always noise here, we touched on ‘Walshy’ before but those sort of things don’t really faze the group,” he said,
“We’ve become accustomed to our performances coming off the back of preparation and I think we prepared really well this week.
“Credit to Melbourne too, there was a lot going in that game (between) penalties everywhere and sin bins but I thought we really turned up for each other.”