{"id":530014,"date":"2026-07-17T02:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T02:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/530014\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T02:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T02:54:12","slug":"nrl-2026-reece-walsh-tipped-to-switch-to-halves-after-brisbane-broncos-defeat-penrith-panthers-analysis-reaction-after-masterclass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/530014\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Reece Walsh tipped to switch to halves after Brisbane Broncos defeat Penrith Panthers, analysis, reaction after masterclass"},"content":{"rendered":"

Superstar fullback Reece Walsh is set to follow the path of an all-time Broncos great after he masterminded Brisbane\u2019s upset win over Penrith at CommBank Stadium on Thursday night<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From the opening bell, Walsh was everywhere with the ball in hand and basically played fullback and halfback on the night as Adam Reynolds and Ezra Mam took a back seat. <\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the NRL Premiership LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Walsh set up all three of Brisbane\u2019s tries with his boot and sublime ball-playing, which was reminiscent of last year\u2019s grand final where he won the Clive Churchill Medal.<\/p>\n

He got the Broncos on the board in the sixth minute with a lovely little grubber to Jordan Riki to score.<\/p>\n

His pass to Kotoni Staggs in the 23rd minute gave his centre enough space to crash over.<\/p>\n

But it was his pinpoint pass to Josiah Karapani in the 69th minute that was the play of the night.<\/p>\n

READ MORE<\/p>\n

Walsh brilliance after Madge\u2019s shock switch saves Broncos\u2019 season in wild Penrith upset<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018Let me speak to Wayne\u2019: How Bennett phone call from other side of world sparked return<\/a><\/p>\n

Madge & Reynolds praise GUTSY win | 04:56<\/p>\n

And after putting him over in the corner, he even lined up and kicked the goal after Reynolds uncharacteristically missed two earlier conversions. <\/p>\n

Speaking on the Matty Johns Show after the game, fellow Clive Churchill Medallist Luke Keary said Walsh could follow the path of a Broncos legend. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost like he\u2019s playing halfback for them. I reckon he\u2019ll translate into a five-eighth, like Darren Lockyer,\u201d Keary predicted. <\/p>\n

\u201cJust get out of his way now. I can see him going for eight weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matty Johns went back to Walsh\u2019s State of Origin III performance when he came off the bench and tried to spark the Maroons.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you saw him play in Origin III, that\u2019s when you go \u2018he\u2019s got a purple patch coming up\u2019,\u201d Johns said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the chief playmaker (on Thursday night), and when he\u2019s the chief playmaker, they play Bronco ball and they open the game up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Broncos fullback Reece Walsh starred against the Penrith Panthers at CommBank Stadium on Thursday night to help keep Brisbane\u2019s season alive. (Photo by Matt King\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t all Walsh, however.<\/p>\n

Four Broncos forwards ran for more than 100m each with Xaiver Willison leading the way with 189m from 22 runs.<\/p>\n

It was the first time Payne Haas and Patrick Carrigan had played together in months, and they carried the ball 142m and 115m respectively.<\/p>\n

By contrast, only one Penrith forward, Isaiah Papali\u2019I (115m), ran the ball more than 100m. <\/p>\n

Bryan Fletcher said the performance showed what a full strength Broncos side was callable of.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was probably the best roster they\u2019ve had on the field and from the opening whistle, they had intent when they ran, intent when they tackled and it was the Broncos we saw last year when they were the premiers,\u201d Fletcher said. <\/p>\n

Henry and Haas’s fiery clash! | 00:36<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they dominated the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Broncos won 10 of their final 12 games in 2025 to run fourth before going on to win the grand final.<\/p>\n

And they\u2019re going to need to win their next seven just to sneak into the finals. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor them to go deep, he (Walsh) has to have another display like he did tonight. He got his hands on the ball and took control of the game and the side,\u201d Eels great Nathan Hindmarsh said.<\/p>\n

\u201cReynolds took a bit more of a back seat, and Ezra was out on the edges more so it looked like it was his game to run tonight.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was everywhere tonight, he was outstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Can’t remember a game like it!” | 05:22<\/p>\n

The Broncos also benefited from Penrith not being at their best.<\/p>\n

They played tough, but it wasn\u2019t their smartest game as they went sideline-to-sideline too much in the wet conditions instead of carting the ball through the middle like the Broncos did.<\/p>\n

The Panthers also came up with 13 errors to the Broncos\u2019 seven. <\/p>\n

Despite the committed performance on Thursday night, Johns thinks the Broncos have too much to do to make the finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cSurely it\u2019s a bridge too far,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey haven\u2019t been consistent enough, but that Reece Walsh bloke, if he gets going and his confidence starts bleeding through that football side, you could see the way he played in Origin III that this bloke might be about to transform their season.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Superstar fullback Reece Walsh is set to follow the path of an all-time Broncos great after he masterminded…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-530014","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\/530014","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=530014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}