‘Kevvie gave me some pills’: Reece Walsh’s cheeky reply after being put in his place

The Broncos were nowhere near their best, scoring two nearly length of the field tries in the first half off Eels mistakes, which proved too much for Parramatta to overcome after they butchered countless tries in the second half.

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But while it was far from pretty in wet conditions at CommBank Stadium, the Broncos’ next gen did what they needed to do.

Although the NRL has become used to Reece Walsh providing moments of brilliance, his error rate has been pointed out as a big issue.

Last week against the Roosters, Walsh had four errors, with Broncos coach called the No. 1 out for his error rate.

“Walshy needs to take a chill pill and just relax himself and get himself into the game,” Walters said.

“As the game develops and unfolds, that is when his skillset will come to the fore.

“Nothing happens overnight. (Players like Walsh) are young in the NRL and still learning about the game in different situations in games, with the scoreboard and time clock.

“Last week was a great learning experience for everyone.”

Similarly, injured half Adam Reynolds said what Walters was looking for was Walsh “not trying to score off every play”.

“We love what he brings to us, obviously we just want him to cut out of few errors,” Reynolds continued.

“We want him to still be Reece Walsh, still want him to attack the way he does but just obviously limit errors there.

“We still what to see an aggressive game from him tonight, that’s Reece Walsh that’s what we love about him, but I’m sure he’ll rein it in a little bit.”

And rein it in he did — even though he ran his second most metres in a match this year, only making one error in the 80 minutes against the Eels.

Speaking to Channel 9 after the match, Walsh quipped: “Kevvie gave me some pills during the week, I do not know what they were but they worked.”

Walsh, the incumbent Queensland fullback, had a strong game, running 190m with a line break and line break assist after being challenged to relax during the game.

He also put in the kick that led to Selwyn Cobbo’s try, kicking a grubber that sat perfectly for the centre to ground the ball just inside the deadball line.

While the result moves Brisbane within striking distance of the top four heading into Magic Round and a clash with under the pump Manly, the Eels continue to struggle with just three wins from nine matches in 2024.

For the Eels, there was one bright spot with 19-year-old Blaize Talagi putting in a starring performance.

With inspirational skipper Clint Gutherson out for up to five weeks, Talagi was handed the number one jersey after making his debut earlier this year at centre and playing two games at five eighth.

The 19-year-old was in everything in the first half — for better or worse.

He completely muffed a Josh Rogers bomb that would have cost his side a try, save for an errant off-side Bronco, and was later dumped on his head by Kotoni Staggs, who was placed on report.

In between Talagi was brilliant. In an eight minute period two thirds of the way through the first stanza he was arguably the most important player on the field.

He first foiled a certain try with a tough one-on-one stop on a runaway Cobbo before defusing a tricky bomb and breaking into the open field six minutes later.

Then came a moment Walsh would have been proud of with Talagi beating Ezra Mam all ends up with speed and a swerve for a sizzling try.

Earlier this week Talagi indicated he would test his value on the open market after failing to trigger an option in his contract for 2025.

After tonight the interest in the young gun will now doubt have grown.

With Dave Lyall, NCA Newswire