- Reece Walsh and Broncos humiliate Raiders at Lang Park
- The fullback celebrates the try with the viral trend ‘What’s up brother?’
- Walsh made a strong claim for the Queensland number 1 jersey
Brisbane fullback Reece Walsh made a convincing claim for Queensland’s No.1 jersey with a two-try display in a 34-10 thrashing of Canberra, joining a viral trend in the process.
The 21-year-old young Broncos genius, in his second NRL game after a facial fracture, was too hot for the hapless Raiders defense in another masterclass of skill, speed and daring at Suncorp Stadium in front of 37,286 fans on Saturday. .
The Raiders lost shortstop Jamal Fogarty to a biceps injury to compound their woes.
“They seem to think he tore his biceps,” Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said.
“If that’s the case and it has to be scanned when we get home, the best case scenario is probably 12 weeks.”
Broncos whiz kid Reece Walsh celebrated his attempt with the TikTok trend ‘What’s up bro?’
Walsh is in a battle with Newcastle’s Kalyn Ponga for the Maroons’ fullback gig in the State of Origin series opener in Sydney on June 5.
He shined in the first two games of last year’s series before being suspended for the third.
Ponga, who was excellent at No. 1 for the Maroons in the 2022 series win, missed last year’s series due to a series of concussions to focus on the Knights and won the Dally M Medal.
Walsh broke three lines and finished with a career-high 18 points, including five goals, against the Raiders.
It was after Walsh’s second attempt that he decided to celebrate with the popular TikTok trend and raised his right index finger and said “what’s up bro” to the camera.
The viral trend emerged from a streamer called Sketch and has been copied in sports leagues around the world over the past few months.
“Reece has that explosiveness about him to open a game,” Broncos coach Kevin Walters said after the game.
“He struggled a little bit at first, but when he decided to run, he ran, and we got some good results from that.”
Walsh and the Brisbane Broncos dominated the Raiders in heavy rain at Lang Park
The Broncos cruised to victory with five quality tries in the space of 19 first-half minutes to lead 28-0 at half-time.
“It was a great first half, our best first half of football of the year… to get the win,” Walters said.
The Raiders had all the initial possession and disallowed a try to Hudson Young, but it was Walsh’s magic that lit up the game in the 13th minute.
The dazzling fullback connected with an Ezra Mam pass at electric speed from 45 meters and left centre-back Matt Timoko grabbed at the air before slotting past fullback Chevy Stewart to score.
A bomb from Mam, followed by a clever catch and pass from prop Fletcher Baker, set up second rower Jordan Riki for a try and the score was 12-0 after 18 minutes.
Halfback Jock Madden launched a spiraling bomb, Stewart dropped it and Mum was on hand to step forward and score.
Hooker Billy Walters got into action with a classy kick near the line and ran in to score, before Walsh cut in from close to the line.
The highlight of the first half was a monstrous front tackle by Brisbane hitman Kobe Hetherington on Stewart. He demonstrated the defensive clout the Broncos displayed throughout in a display led by lock Pat Carrigan and prop Corey Jensen.
The Raiders showed grit and bounced back in the second half with tries from Simi Sasagi and Xavier Savage.
“The youngsters were a little nervous at half-time, but my message was that I’m all focused on the next 40 minutes and how to handle them,” Stuart said.
“I thought they showed some character in how they withstood adversity in battle.”