Reece Walsh makes no apologies for setting the bar high this year.
But don’t mistake his ambition for arrogance. He has matured.
He wants to win an NRL premiership with the Brisbane Broncos. He has his sights set on wearing the Queensland No.1 jersey again. He is also eyeing Dylan Edwards’ Australian No.1 jersey.
And with a bit of luck and consistency, Walsh is striving to one day topple Nathan Cleary and be recognised as the best rugby league player on the planet.
Every player aspires to be the greatest, but only a select few have the talent and skill to do it. Walsh is all class, and at the age of 22, he knows the sky’s the limit.
In a rare one-on-one interview, Walsh told this masthead during the week: “If you play this game and you don’t want to be the best, you shouldn’t be playing.
“Of course that’s what I want. I want to be the best in my position. If I work hard, and my teammates hold me to a high standard, and I hold myself to high standards, I know I can be anything.
“It’s pretty crazy. I didn’t think I’d play in the NRL. I always thought it was out of reach. Being in the position I’m in now, I have awesome people around me who will push me to my limits, have those hard and honest conversations with me, and drive me to be better every day.”
Broncos star Reece Walsh trains at the club’s Red Hill base.Credit: Brisbane Broncos
Walsh’s Broncos teammate Ben Hunt is 34, can become just the fifth player to reach 350 first-grade games later this season and has been around long enough to recognise a genuine star when he sees one.
“It gets lost on us a bit how young he still is,” Hunt says.
“He obviously burst on the scene and excelled so quickly. Who knows where he will end up. We’ve all seen glimpses of his exceptional talent.
“If he can keep building on that, and get that consistency in his game, I can’t see why he can’t be the best.”
While Penrith’s four-time premiership-winner Cleary is widely regarded as the best player in the NRL, Walsh might be the most popular, especially with young female fans. Security needed to be beefed up around Red Hill in 2023 when a couple of female supporters snuck into the players’ car park and sat in the back of Walsh’s ute.
Hundreds of fans waited behind Campbelltown Sports Stadium last year more than hour after a big win over Wests Tigers to catch a glimpse of him.
ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys famously said during grand final week that year that Walsh was “the Justin Bieber of rugby league”.
Reece Walsh in full flight is one of the best sights in the game.Credit: AP
“Not only is he a brilliant rugby league player, he’s bloody good-looking,” V’landys said at the time.
When reminded of that comment, Walsh laughs and says: “It was funny. I actually love his music.
“The [constant] attention is tough. I’m also a young father who has a lot of responsibilities outside of footy.
“I need people to keep me grounded. I have my family and friends I lean on.
“It’s a different life to your average 22-year-old where you can go out and party. But I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
There was so much hype about the Broncos last season, especially after the way they performed in 2023, when they led Penrith 24-8 with 18 minutes to go in the grand final and lost. But they battled injuries in 2024, and lost Walsh, Payne Haas and skipper Adam Reynolds for half the season because of injuries.
Not only did the Broncos miss the finals, coach Kevin Walters was axed and questions were asked about the fame going to the young Broncos’ heads.
The general feeling on the streets of Brisbane was that they believed the hype, they believed they were rock stars – and Walsh was the unofficial polarising frontman.
The 22-year-old Reece Walsh enters his fifth season in the NRL.Credit: Brisbane Broncos
To help bring them back to earth, new coach Michael Maguire ordered the players to keep their shirts on rather than stripping down and posing after training, according to News Corp reports.
When you ask him about the perceived ego, Walsh says: “People on the outside might look at it as that. But if you sit down and have a genuine conversation with someone, talk about life, and what they want to do, you get to know them for who they are, rather than how they are [perceived].
“I’ve learned to keep my circle small and tight. There were tough moments last year, and it’s easy for people to flip on you and not be in your corner.
“I feel a lot more comfortable in my own skin. I feel like I don’t have to be someone I’m not.
“I just need to stick to my morals and what I stand for, which is being a good father, someone who cares about their teammates, who wants to work hard for his teammates, and isn’t scared of having that hard conversation, or getting that kick up the butt when it is needed.”
Joseph Suaalii’s tackle on Reece Walsh changed the course of the young fullback’s season.Credit: Getty Images
Walsh suffered a facial fracture in round three against the Panthers in 2024. Penrith fans cheered when they spotted blood on a white towel that was pressed against Walsh’s face as he came from the field. The locals had not forgotten the way Walsh and Penrith five-eighth Jarome Luai had clashed the previous year in Origin.
Walsh was then knocked out in Origin I, and spent more time on the sidelines when he broke his hand later in the year.
The arrival of Maguire has made it easy to get motivated, and opened Walsh’s eyes to how good he can be if he works hard.
“Reece has been given a gift, but it’s about how you use that gift,” Maguire says. “We all love watching him, myself included.”
Walsh is trying to keep it simple.
“I want to win, I want to put more games together, and I want to be more consistent than I have been the past few years,” he says.
“I’m excited because the level we’ve trained at this pre-season, it’s bloody better than [the level] I have trained at my whole career.
“I want to be someone who is reliable, and someone my teammates can lean on when we’re going through a tough time.
“I have a lot of areas I need to keep growing, including my defence, and getting fitter.
“I couldn’t string games together last year. It was tough. It’s not an excuse, it’s a lesson.
“We still remember the feelings from last year. We have a saying here, ‘Keep the receipts’, which is where we have to remember the tough moments because they will only make the good ones extra sweet.
“I just want to win with this team, with my brothers.”
Walsh was in Sydney on Thursday for promotional shoots. Plenty of NSW fans were only too happy to stop Walsh in the street.
“I still get surprised every time we come to Sydney and there are fans,” he says. “They’ve come up for photos. But it’s nothing too crazy. There’s been no Justin Bieber treatment today.”
