Broncos superstar Reece Walsh has revealed the Mad Monday phone call he shared with Adam Reynolds and the pledge he gave to skipper to deliver a premiership to Red Hill.
Reynolds made the switch to Brisbane ahead of the 2022 season, with Kevin Walters’ side finishing in ninth after a late season slide to drop out of finals contention.
Walsh, meanwhile, was establishing himself as an NRL star at the Warriors before he secured a return to his boyhood club ahead of the 2023 season.
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While farewelling his New Zealand teammates, the 23-year-old got on the phone and called his new skipper to plan for the future — with a premiership in the pair’s sights.
The duo helped break a 19-year title drought for the Broncos on Sunday night, with Walsh delivering on his promise with a fullback masterclass.
“I remember when ‘Reyno’ first came to the club, invited me over for the first time. The only time since then,” Walsh said in a subtle jab to his teammate in the post-match press conference.
“But I asked to have a look at his ring, I was just a young kid coming back to Brissy (Brisbane). I remember calling him on Mad Monday for the Warriors.
“Saying ‘I am bloody going to come back and help you win a comp’. Just to be here right now, from day one dodging Madge’s calls, I was too scared to talk to him.
“But we were in the trenches together, we were running through the bush together. The culture we have built, the belief. No one gave us a chance, the only ones that believed were the ones in that room.
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“Our backs were against the wall and we could have shied away… I am just so honoured and grateful to be apart of this team. It’s been 19 years and we have just etched our names in history.
“I am extremely honoured.”
Walsh has been the NRL’s in-form player to close out the season, but he credits his late surge to a mid-season injury which gave him a new perspective on life and football.
However, he couldn’t help but deliver a hilarious quip when quizzed on how he turned his season around.
“Drinking out of the toilet,” he said.
“No, no. Mate to be honest, when I got injured I got a lot of time away from the game, away from the boys and that was from Madge.
“Telling me, when I am at home, be at home and enjoy those moments. I think at the start of the year I was so heavily invested in footy. Which is obviously a good thing.
“But sometimes it gets a little bit too much, you’re sitting up at night watching film at home and my little one is there playing and I’m on my phone looking at clips.
“To be honest I felt like it got a little bit too much for me. When I got that injury I reset, I let myself be the footy player at work.
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“When I was at home I just enjoyed being dad, being a son to my old man. We got on the tools together, we were enjoying those moments.
“When I came back I sort of had the mentality of when I am in the building work hard, when I am out enjoy my time… that was probably it.”
Alongside Walsh, Ezra Mam also delivered a strong performance off the bench after a turbulent year which saw him serve a nine-game ban.
He was handed the suspension after being caught drug driving while unlicensed, crashing into an oncoming car in October last year.
Broncos coach Maguire heaped praise on his playmaker for “working hard” through a “tough” period.
“Yeah, it’s a credit to Ezra. I mean, obviously, I met Ez to start with when I first arrived at the club in pretty tough circumstances and he’s obviously working hard through that,” he said.
“And he still is, he still works very hard on that and working on himself about how he wants to improve and be better.
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“We all know that there’s been plenty of thrown at him, but he’s just put his head down and he wanted to make sure that he could do the right thing by his players, the team and the club, and he’s done that. It’s nice to see him get a reward there tonight.
“No doubt deep inside he knows the path that he’s taken.
“I got to meet Ezra five or six years ago and met his mum, his beautiful mum via a Zoom call because I tried to sign him elsewhere. I knew he was a great person by the way he spoke and the way Mum was and their family life. So there’s a lot of good inside these players.
“I’m really pleased for him as well with his journey.”
Maguire also paid tribute to Ben Hunt, who now has a premiership 10 years on from his golden point heartbreak against the Cowboys.
“I mean, someone like Benny Hunt. In 2015, I think it was where he had a tough moment in a grand final,” he said.
“To see and be able to give him a hug after that, that was a special moment because I know what players go through.
“They get beaten up at times and they don’t miss them. But to see the smile on his face and he’s just sitting in the changing room there with the players with a grin from ear to ear. So bloody unreal.”