How the Blues bullied Reece Walsh out of the game

It’s not often you see Reece Walsh short-circuiting in a big game, but as Latrell Mitchell soared over for the Blues’ fourth try, a worried look washed over the young star’s face.

NSW had barely touched the 21-year-old Maroons fullback, but it appeared that the knock-out blow from Joseph Suaalii in game one had rocked Walsh more than he’d let on, and the lingering effects were present in every part of his game.

Reece Walsh looked stunned against the Blues on Wednesday night. Credit: Getty Images

He was reluctant to be part of the attacking line, slow to cover in defence and his kicking was sloppy. No more was it obvious than when Zac Lomax put a foot into touch from a Walsh kick-off, to give NSW a fresh set of six from halfway.

As the game’s most marketable man flashed onto the big screen at the MCG just before half-time, his eyes were wide, hands in his hair – it was a deer-in-the-headlights look that mirrored that of Billy Slater up in the coaches box.

It was the little things that ate away at Walsh across the 80 minutes, but even as he went to the sheds at half-time, he looked like the shell of the player who turns up for Brisbane each week.

At times, it looked like he was inside a Blues pinball machine, bouncing between the likes of Mitchell and Stephen Crichton. At one point, Mitchell picked Walsh up and flung him on the ground like a rag doll. That came after he had already knocked Walsh to the ground in the first half after the young fullback cleaned up a grubber in-goal.

Spencer Leniu and Reece Walsh exchange words. Credit: Getty Images

When Walsh tried to break through the Blues left-edge defence, Mitchell repelled him like a force field. The Blues message to Walsh was clear: no matter where you go, no matter what you do, we’ll drive you out of the game.

When quizzed about Walsh’s involvement after the game, Slater kept his answer brief.

“It’s a hard game to play, it’s even harder when you’re tired,” Slater said. “I think it was nearly 70 [to], 30 possession in that first half, and the scoreline reflected that. Any individuals, it’s going to be hard for them.”

But it wasn’t just Walsh. The Blues had pulled a Survivor on the Maroons – outwitted, outplayed, outlasted.

Queensland’s game one hat-trick hero, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, struggled to get into the game after picking up a shoulder injury and missing 16 minutes of the first half, while Daly Cherry-Evans couldn’t get his kicking game to click.

It took a double sin-bin to ignite the Maroons, with Jeremiah Nanai keeping the dream alive with a try in the 53rd minute. But it was a mountain too high for Queensland to climb, and the damage from the first half too great.

Slater said the team were on the receiving end of a snowball effect, that they just couldn’t stop in the first 40 minutes.

“It was a tough old first half, it just felt like we were running up hill, just couldn’t stop the momentum of the game... NSW just got a snowball of possession. We held them out for a few sets, then they broke and got a try and just sort of went downhill from there.”

“I thought the second half was quite good... I thought our actions, the way we started the second half, we went after our footy a little bit more. We were a little bit more patient, we weren’t looking for any shortcuts to draw back the score line. That’s a positive in the second half, but there was [sic] too many things in that first half on our behalf that we didn’t do as well as we would have liked.”

If you want one moment to sum up Queensland’s night in Melbourne, you need only look at the final minute of the first-half.

As Lomax snuck over for his second try of the night, Blues coach Michael Maguire was rushing to the sideline to rally his troops. Meanwhile, Slater sat still and stunned 60 metres from the field.

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