{"id":399083,"date":"2026-01-08T05:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T05:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/399083\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T05:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T05:32:10","slug":"maguire-praises-walshs-exceptional-pre-season-form-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/399083\/","title":{"rendered":"Maguire praises Walsh\u2019s exceptional pre-season form &#8211; NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/brisbane-broncos\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brisbane Broncos<\/a> superstar <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/reece-walsh\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Reece Walsh<\/a> is wasting no time setting the tone for 2026, with coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/coaches\/michael-maguire\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Michael Maguire<\/a> impressed by the fullback&#8217;s condition and attitude as he returns to pre-season training at Red Hill.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Fresh off a Clive Churchill Medal-winning performance in last year&#8217;s grand final, Walsh has hit the ground running as the Broncos prepare to defend their premiership, drawing praise for both his fitness and mindset.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">While Walsh&#8217;s recent \u201cRipped Reece\u201d social media post sparked plenty of online chatter, Maguire played it down, confirming the 23-year-old has reported back in outstanding shape.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">\u201cHe&#8217;s got a bit of fun about him,\u201d Maguire told the Daily Telegraph.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">\u201cIt&#8217;s nice to see his personality and it keeps everyone entertained, but he&#8217;s in good shape too, which is good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Walsh ended the 2025 season in scintillating form, producing a finals series for the ages as Brisbane snapped their 19-year premiership drought.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-226747\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"NRL Qualifying Final \u2013 Raiders v Broncos\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" data-lazy- data-lazy- data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2235326858-scaled.jpg.webp.webp\"\/>CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA &#8211; SEPTEMBER 14: Reece Walsh of the Broncos celebrate victory following the NRL Qualifying Final match between Canberra Raiders and Brisbane Broncos at GIO Stadium on September 14, 2025 in Canberra, Australia. (Photo by Mark Nolan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">His Grand Final performance against the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/melbourne-storm\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Melbourne Storm<\/a> has already been labelled by some as the greatest individual display in a decider.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Despite that success, Maguire believes Walsh is only just getting started.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">\u201cI think he understands he&#8217;s got a lot in his game that he can keep getting better at,\u201d the Broncos coach said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">After a disrupted start to last season due to injury, Walsh exploded during Brisbane&#8217;s finals campaign, culminating in his Clive Churchill Medal-winning display in the club&#8217;s final match of the year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">The Broncos are hopeful that greater continuity across their spine will allow Walsh to elevate his game even further in 2026, after a stop-start year that saw key playmakers spend limited time together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brisbane Broncos superstar Reece Walsh is wasting no time setting the tone for 2026, with coach Michael Maguire&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-399083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}