NRL 2023: Billy Walters set for full-time hooker switch, as Cory Paix, Blake Mozer and Tyson Smoothy eye No.9 jersey
While Billy Walters started 2022 in the halves, he’s set for a full-time positional switch in 2023. But he is facing some stuff competition for the Broncos’ No.9 jersey.
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Billy Walters is all in on a permanent switch to hooker next season but knows a talented youngster is lurking in the background ready to swoop on the No.9 jersey at some point in 2023.
The 28-year-old came off the bench, filled in at five-eighth and officially started 13 games at hooker last season before he inked a new two-year deal to keep him at the Broncos until the end of 2024.
While he started out his career hoping to play in the halves like his dad Kevin Walters, he’s ready to make a permanent switch to dummy-half next year as he battles a number of Brisbane hopefuls for the jersey.
Walters will duke it out with Cory Paix, young gun Blake Mozer and Tyson Smoothy, who joined the club in the off-season.
“It’s always good to have competition for the No.9 jersey,” Walters said.
“We all know that no one has got their hands on it yet. That’s up for anyone to work hard, train hard and play well in the trials.
“Even if you do get it in round 1, it’s not a guaranteed thing (that you’ll keep your spot). I know I’ll be trying my best to get it and I know I’ve got a lot of people trying to get the same position.”
Brisbane’s spine looks threatening on paper with the experienced Adam Reynolds partnering Ezra Mam in the halves, while Reece Walsh has returned to the club and will likely win the battle to play fullback.
But dummy-half is going to be the most contentious selection given no one was able to lock down the position last season.
If Walters is to make the position his own, he knows he’ll have to work on his running game to attract the markers and make defenders second guess themselves around the ruck.
“I need to be more of a threat out of nine,” he conceded after finishing 2022 with just two try assists.
“You look at the best nines in the game like Harry Grant, Damien Cook and Api Koroisau, they all run and they’ve got deception around the ruck.
“If I can start doing that a bit more and work on my combinations with the forwards (then I’ll be better). I didn’t get to do a pre-season with them last year because I did the whole pre-season in the halves.
“That’s a big asset this year because I get to work on combinations with them and hopefully learn how they like to play, and they can learn how I like to play.”
Walters joked that he’d be back playing reserve grade if he wanted to return to the halves and praised premiership winner Matt Ballin’s guidance for helping him develop his game at dummy-half.
“He’s got a lot of experience in that role,” he said.
“He’s won comps and he’s played Origin, so he knows how to play that role well. He’s been helping us a lot and helping us with that deception around the ruck.
“He’s a big asset.”
While Walters is on track to start the season, teenager Mozer is waiting in the wings and appears to be the club’s long-term option given he re-signed until the end of the 2025 season.
Mozer is still learning his craft and will only get better with more opportunities in reserve grade after playing several matches last season on top of his duties with the Queensland under-19s side.
“I think he’s just got to play a little bit more Cup,” Walters said, adding that Mozer is dealing with a shoulder injury.
“I think he only played a couple of games last year and it’s a big step going from 18s to even Cup and then to NRL.
“The more he gets to tackle grown men, and the more he gets used to it and his body starts to handle it, he’ll probably be there at some point this year.”
YOUNG BRONCOS: WORLD CUP WONDERKID READY TO RUMBLE
—Paul Crawley
Adam Reynolds has delivered his verdict on the Brisbane Broncos’ next generation of emerging stars and what they need to do to prove they are ready for a shot at NRL in 2023.
With competition for spots already heating up, the veteran skipper declared the challenge for young guns like Blake Mozer, Ethan Quai-Ward and Logan Bayliss-Brow this pre-season was to win respect through their attitude at training.
All three along with Xavier Willison and Deine Mariner were recently elevated into the Broncos’ top-30 squad for next year.
Willison, still just 20, is a big prop with a lot of physical similarities to a young Payne Haas.
After getting his debut back in 2021, he was then held back after suffering an ACL knee injury.
Mariner, 19, also joined the Broncos from New Zealand as a 15-year-old and stepped up and grabbed his chance in the top grade this year.
While Mariner is still behind Herbie Farnworth and Kotoni Staggs for the starting centre spots, he has certainly showed enough to suggest he will be next cab off the rank when the opportunity arrives.
Now Mozer, Bayliss-Brow and Quai-Ward are next on the list.
While all are still to debut at NRL level, Reynolds reckons they are in charge of their own destiny this summer.
Mozer, 18, is one of the most hyped dummy half prospects to emerge in years, with a style of play likened to a young Cameron Smith.
Meanwhile, Quai-Ward and Bayliss-Brow are both 23 but closing in on their shot.
Quai-Ward is an outside back with huge potential, while Bayliss-Brow is a big prop with a hard edge who is really starting to make his presence felt.
REYNO’S VERDICT
Reynolds on Blake Mozer: “Like most of them in our squad they are pretty inexperienced. But he is a keen learner and a hard trainer. He is just coming off a bit of an injury so he is not training with the full squad. But I have been in a lot of opposed sessions against him last season and for a young fella he is pretty smart. He has good knowledge of the game and is enthusiastic and ready to rip in.”
Reynolds on Logan Bayliss-Brow: “He is a big fella that played with Scotland at the World Cup. He goes all day, does his job and never lets you down. He is still young and growing into his body, and with another full pre-season under his belt good things are expected of him.”
Reynolds on Ethan Quai-Ward: “He has come back in pretty good nick. He has been training really well. He is a young fell with a lot of potential. We have got some quality outside backs. But look, if they turn up and perform well at training and put their best foot forward in games there is no doubt that they won’t get a shot.”
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