For Manly teenager Joey Walsh, back-to-back starts in the No.7 jersey only strengthened his confidence as the highly-rated halfback continues to grow into first grade.<\/p>\n
The 19-year-old rugby union convert has quickly become one of the most talked-about rising stars in the game, stepping into the starting halfback role following Jamal Fogarty\u2019s groin injury and showing composure beyond his years.<\/p>\n
After spending the past two seasons developing inside Manly\u2019s system and making his NRL debut in 2025 off the bench, Walsh\u2019s rapid rise has come during a crucial period for the Sea Eagles.<\/p>\n
But despite the growing hype, Walsh is doing everything he can to stay grounded away from football.<\/p>\n
\u201cAway from footy, I try not to live too much of that, which is good,\u201d Walsh said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving hobbies in different areas helps you focus on other things.<\/p>\n
\u201cOutside of footy I cut hair a couple days a week and then golf takes a bit of my time.<\/p>\n
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From the field: Joey Walsh<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to stay off all the social media as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walsh revealed Manly\u2019s support staff and senior players have also played a key role in helping him handle the outside noise that comes with being labelled one of the club\u2019s brightest young talents.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone\u2019s really good here at the club helping me with things like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGot some mind coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 19-year-old\u2019s opportunity has come at the perfect time.<\/p>\n
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Sea Eagles v Broncos – Round 10, 2026<\/p>\n
After a difficult start to the season under Anthony Seibold, Manly\u2019s campaign has been reignited under interim coach Kieran Foran, with the Sea Eagles rediscovering their identity over the past month.<\/p>\n
Walsh has also benefited from learning alongside some of the game\u2019s most experienced halves, spending time around Daly Cherry-Evans last season before working closely with Jamal Fogarty, Luke Brooks and now interim coach Kieran Foran.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the best halves, DCE last year which was unreal, Jamal and Brooksie,\u201d Walsh said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we\u2019re getting Foz and Noddy, got so many halves in the system just helping me build my game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether he comes off the interchange bench at NRL level or returns to NSW Cup, Walsh is happy to continue building valuable reps in rugby league after switching codes from union.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the moment I\u2019m just enjoying coming to league and getting used to the code. So my focus is on playing good footy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecond year helps a lot, definitely getting more reps and feel a lot more confident, getting more used to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means if I go back to Cup and keep getting more reps there, it\u2019s still my second year back in league.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s getting as many reps as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foran\u2019s influence has already helped settle the teenager into first grade, with Walsh crediting the interim coach and playing group for giving him the confidence to simply play what he sees in front of him.<\/p>\n
\u201cFoz and also all the boys just told me to go out there and play your game,\u201d Walsh said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it gave me the confidence to play like we do at training every week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know the boys will back me if we make an error, we\u2019re going to defend it up, so it definitely helps.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Manly teenager Joey Walsh, back-to-back starts in the No.7 jersey only strengthened his confidence as the highly-rated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-430884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}