Reece Walsh is still finding his feet in Michael Maguire’s new look Broncos outfit.
Brisbane Broncos coach Michael Maguire has revealed he hasn’t told Reece Walsh to rein in his running game after the fullback has been down on attacking moments in 2025. Walsh has been heavily criticised so far this season having only crossed the line for one try and made one linebreak in five games, which were both in the opening round.
Since the thrashing of the Roosters, Walsh has contributed three try assists, but has failed to take on the line as we have come to expect from the dynamic fullback. Walsh was criticised after the Raiders and Cowboys games having appeared to rush his attacking execution.
Last year in 14 games, Walsh recorded 14 tries and 18 try assists. And while his numbers are down, the 22-year-old has started to find his feet in Maguire’s Broncos system. Ben Hunt is now controlling the left-side of the field and Walsh has contributed three try assists in the last three games.
His defensive efforts have also also improved with both Patrick Carrigan and Maguire praising the maligned fullback for his gutsy displays. Despite the improvements on the defensive end, Walsh’s attacking stats have been a talking point.
And NRL coaches are looking for their outside backs to jam the fullback when he starts his sweeping backline moves get going. This has resulted in the fullback overplaying his hand on a number of occasions and making errors.
Maguire has moved to shut down claims the fullback has been told to scale back his solo efforts and even suggested he has only encouraged him to play his natural attacking game. “Reece is just like any other player. Everyone is studying everyone,” the Broncos coach told The Courier Mail when asked about rival teams targeting him. “I don’t know whether I would say he has been subdued.
I have told him to go after it – I don’t want him to change. How he is seeing the game and how teams are defending around him will keep evolving and changing. The maturity around how he is going about things has been really good so he has another opportunity (against the Roosters) to go out and show that.”
Reece Walsh’s teammates defend fullback
Maguire mentioned Walsh is working on both the attacking and defensive parts of his game in 2025. While Walsh has always been one of the most electrifying attackers in the NRL he was critiicsed last year for his defensive efforts.
The fullback has moved to silence those doubters and recently teammate Carrigan praised Walsh for improving his organisational skills and helping the team when on the back foot. “Everyone loves him for his flashiness, but I actually love him for his effort areas and his D-side of his game,” Carrigan said after the game. “Just his effort areas and what he is doing for us as a team organising our defensive line.
“The fans don’t always get to hear, but a lot of the good things we are doing are coming off the back of his voice. I’ve played enough footy with him to know he will keep doing him and it is exciting for us the rest of the year.”
Reece Walsh focusing on his defensive efforts
Last week, Walsh admitted he focused on the defensive side of his game ahead of the season under his new coach. “I think it all just comes form the pre-season where I worked extremely hard on organising our defence and that’s probably the area that I need to work on the most,” Walsh said on Saturday.
“I have put a lot of time and effort into that and you can see some results are coming, but I just have to keep working hard.” Walsh will have an opportunity to show fans at Suncorp his attacking game hasn’t abandoned him on Friday night against the Roosters.
