The Tackle: Boom youngster Reece Walsh could become a bargain buy for Warriors

The Dragons sensed Andrew McCullough would bring extra spark out of Ben Hunt’s game given they were such a potent pair of schemers in the past. They weren’t disappointed on Saturday.

Gifted rookie Reece Walsh was poached by the Warriors.

The Broncos will win some and lose some of their looming player signing wars but the acute pain of a “Kalyn Ponga moment’’ could sting for much of the decade.

The Cowboys have not been quite the same since (then Newcastle coach) Nathan Brown plucked a young Ponga from their grasp and now Warriors coach Brown may sentence the Broncos to long term lament by snatching gifted rookie fullback Reece Walsh in a similar move.

When Brown signed an 18-year-old Ponga on a $600,000 four year deal he had played just two first grade games and many initially thought the contract fee was over the top. Within a year everyone realised they got him cheap, such was Ponga’s early poise.

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Young gun Reece Walsh has departed the Broncos to join the Warriors. Picture: Liam Kidston

Could Walsh be a similar story to Kalyn Ponga? Picture. Phil Hillyard

Walsh has not even played a game so his rich $450,000 three-year deal could be interpreted as a gamble.

But this is where the narratives differ because it’s nigh impossible to find anyone who thinks this is a case of ambitious spending.

Many are already saying it will be one of the best investment the Warriors have ever made.

Salary cap pressures insist you cannot sign everyone but some misses hurt more than others. The pain of watching a man you once had at your club cutting defences to ribbons for someone else is like watching that yearling you wanted to bid on but didn’t win the Golden Slipper.

The Broncos must ensure coach Kevin Walters does not become isolated in what shapes as a brutal season where he will have to face the heat generated by repeated on field losses and somehow do his best in a ruthless game of off-field chess to keep his club’s best players.

In bygone eras players like Corey Parker sacrificed hundreds of thousands of dollars to stay with Brisbane.

Not only is that drawing power gone but Brisbane, with the current form woes, are occasionally forced to play “overs’’ to sign the men they really want.

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Corey Oates will be a hard man to ignore when Walters names his side for the must-win game against the Bulldogs.

Oates wallowed in the most miserable conditions imaginable for the South Magpies in the Intrust Super Cup against Burleigh at Davies Park, making two bone-jarring tackles and running like a man who wants to be playing under bright lights at major stadiums rather that dodging puddles, thunder and lightning in the suburbs.

So heavy was the rain at one stage the corner post was sticking up like a beacon in an estuary.

Karmichael Hunt’s comeback to rugby league in the same game was smooth if not spectacular.

Playing at left centre he displayed silky skills and timing with slick balls in two tries in the quagmire. Clearly, he has not forgotten how to play the game even though he left the NRL back in 2009.,

At 34, time might have beaten him if he wants to return to the NRL but stranger things have happened.

Karmichael Hunt in action playing for Souths Logan Magpies. Picture: John Gass

DYNAMIC DUO

The Dragons are at long odds to have a major role in September football but the workings of their former Broncos linchpins will be fascinating to watch.

Dragons officials sensed new recruit Andrew McCullough would bring extra spark out of Ben Hunt’s game given they go back to the under-11s and were such a potent pair of schemers in the 2015 season when the Cowboys pipped Brisbane in the grand final.

Hunt had his best moment as a captain when he piloted the Dragons to victory against the Cowboys and already looks a happier player for McCullough’s presence.

Former Broncos duo Ben Hunt and Andrew McCullough celebrate a try. Picture: Evan Morgan

MAD COWS
Cowboys coach Todd Payten has started his first-grade career with two losses but at least the rugby league world knows what he stands for.

Payten was widely accused of going too hard to early when he called out superstar Jason Taumalolo for poor marker defence in game one but he was similarly blunt after the second round loss to the Dragons.

He was unsure whether his side was “confused, scared or too fatigued’ but said they dropped their heads and lacked resilience.

The mail is that Payten will continue to call it as he see it and we applaud him for that.

Originally published as The Tackle: Boom youngster Reece Walsh could become a bargain buy for Warriors