Buzz: Reece Walsh didn’t commit the crime of the century but it could send Brisbane to rugby league jail

As far as rugby league scandals go, the Reece Walsh punch video is hardly the crime of the century. But, as PHIL ROTHFIELD explains, the timing of the incident is worth a 20-year sentence.

The timing of Reece Walsh’s video is a disaster for the Broncos. Picture: Matt Roberts/Getty Images

As far as rugby league scandals go, the Reece Walsh punch video is a 1/10.

On the stupidity meter, it’s a 9/10.

The superstar Brisbane Broncos fullback on Wednesday conceded the video of him punching a friend “is not a good look”, after initially passing it off as “boys being boys”.

However, not only is it a dumb thing to do, but it’s even dumber to go and post it on social media, especially when your team has suffered five losses in six weeks and you’re the star player who hasn’t played for a month.

You can only imagine what coach Michael Maguire was thinking when he saw footage of Walsh, wearing a boxing glove, egged on by mates as he strikes another man in the head and knocks him out.

The incident allegedly happened last Saturday, the night before the Broncos’ loss to St George Illawarra.

The Broncos would have been hoping for some quiet calm in the week they have the bye. Instead, Walsh is appearing on national television to explain his actions and CEO Dave Donaghy is forced to go on radio to address the issue.

Now the club has the unwanted distraction of investigating a silly incident, instead of focusing on winning football games and prevent their NRL season from nosediving further.

The Broncos have fallen out of the top eight and enter a crucial Origin-interrupted period that will define their season.

Originally published as Buzz: Reece Walsh didn’t commit the crime of the century but it could send Brisbane to rugby league jail