NRL 2024: Warriors dealings revealed that landed Reece Walsh at Brisbane Broncos despite Dolphins interest

Reece Walsh was firmly on the radar of Wayne Bennett and the Dolphins as he was emerging into a superstar for the Warriors. As it would pan out, the Warriors would only allow their young star to deal with the Broncos.

The Dolphins were denied a play at Reece Walsh

Warriors boss Cameron George has hit out at suggestions he sabotaged the Dolphins and gave the Broncos a saloon passage to sign NRL superstar Reece Walsh.

Walsh returns from injury in Friday night’s Battle of Brisbane and George addressed speculation his Warriors club ran political interference by robbing the Dolphins of the chance to make a formal play for the flashy fullback.

George was a pivotal figure in Walsh’s return to Brisbane last year.

The Warriors boss formally authorised Walsh’s release from the New Zealand club on compassionate grounds to reunite with the Broncos and live in Brisbane to be closer to his baby daughter.

At the time, Dolphins super coach Wayne Bennett had Walsh on his radar, but the Warriors stipulated their whizkid could deal with Brisbane only _ effectively banning the NRL expansion newcomers from entering negotiations.

On the eve of the third instalment of the Battle of Brisbane, George provided a detailed account of the off-field battle for Walsh, saying the player _ not his club _ made the decisive call.

New Zealand Warriors CEO Cameron George. Picture: Hannah Peters/Getty Images

“There was talk we blocked him from going to Redcliffe but that was never the case,” George said.

“To be honest, I was half-expecting him to go to the Dolphins because they were in the market for him.

“I said to Reece, ‘If you want to go home, that means you can only go to south-east Queensland’.

“Even going to Townsville and the Cowboys would have been a stretch.

“But Reece made the final call. He said my first preference is the Broncos, so we gave him permission to deal with the Broncos first.

“Reece was adamant about the Broncos and I said, ‘OK, let’s go through this club by club, rather than us having a feeding frenzy and sitting back watching it all unfold’.

“There were those conditions. The first thing Reece said was, ‘I want to be at the Broncos’, so I said, ‘OK, you have permission to talk to them and if that fails, well we’ll look at some other options’.”

As the Warriors opened the door for the Broncos to thrash out a deal, the Dolphins were left on the periphery, ostensibly a Plan B option if Brisbane’s plan to bring Walsh home to Red Hill collapsed.

There is a view the Dolphins were denied the opportunity to table an offer for Walsh, partly as a ‘get-square’ after former Warriors recruitment chief Peter O’Sullivan quit the Kiwi club to join Redcliffe.

18-year-old Reece Walsh joined the Warriors in 2021. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

O’Sullivan was the man who pulled off one of the greatest poaching raids in NRL history. The veteran scout ambushed the Broncos, convincing Walsh, then 18, to quit the club in 2021 and join the Warriors, who were based in Australia during the Covid crisis.

Within weeks, Walsh made his debut for the Warriors. A superstar was born. But when O’Sullivan left the Warriors to head-up the new Dolphins franchise, speculation was rife the Kiwi club would do ‘Sully’ no favours as a retaliatory strike.

“I’ve heard the rumours about us blocking the Dolphins, 100 per cent,” George said.

“There was never any bad blood with Redcliffe or anyone there. We actually stayed at Redcliffe during the Covid period and we had a great relationship with that club, they were very good to us.

“There was no issue at all with the Dolphins.

“I didn’t want to open up a feeding frenzy in the press between the Broncos, Dolphins and Titans and us as a club having to digest all that.

“I called Dave Donaghy (CEO) at the Broncos and Simon Scanlan (Brisbane recruitment chief), I told them straight away and they then got on with the process of signing him.

“If it didn’t work out with the Broncos, we would have looked at the Dolphins option.”

The Broncos signed Walsh to a three-year deal worth around $400,000 a season.

A Dolphins faction privately believes Walsh was short-changed, given that the $100 million Redcliffe operation was prepared to offer him double _ in the vicinity of $800,000 annually.

It’s rumoured Reece Walsh could have been on double the money at the Dolphins. Picture NRL photos

George said the issue for him was not about money, but honesty and transparency, both of which he said Walsh and his management displayed.

“Reece handled it well and his manager Nash Dawson was fantastic. It basically took us 30 minutes to sort things out,” George said.

“I remember getting the phone call from Nash saying, ‘Can you come and meet me and Reece for lunch’.

“I just knew in my gut what was coming.

“I had a bit of time to think about it in my head.

“Reece was a young kid still learning his trade and growing as an adult and a young father. His little daughter wasn’t moving to New Zealand and I could see how much it meant to him to be at home with his family.

“Being through what we had at that time as a club, being away from family and friends during Covid, it struck at the core of what we wanted to do as a footy club, which was to get us back home.

“And for me to then stand there and say to Reece, ‘You can’t be at home in Brisbane’, I looked at him as a human before him as a player.

“Regardless of his talent and our desire to want him, there was no use having Reece move to New Zealand in those circumstances.

“It was bloody hard, but we were very sensible about it.

“But we made it clear we needed an option to replace Reece and it’s funny how the planets aligned.

“Within days, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (ex-Canberra fullback) became available, he was wanting to come home to New Zealand for the same family reasons.

“It all worked out for everyone, so we signed off on Reece’s release.

“Reece was going to be playing against us, whether it was the Dolphins or Broncos. But ultimately it was Reece’s call and he chose the Broncos.”

George says he’s proud of what Walsh is achieving at Brisbane. Picture: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Walsh has since become one of the leading players in the game. It would be easy to wonder what ‘Reece Lightning’ could have achieved at the Warriors. But George is philosophical about the superstar that got away.

“I don’t regret it one bit,” he says.

“Because Charnze has been amazing for our footy club and Reece has been amazing for the Brisbane Broncos.

“To see the way he is playing at the Broncos, I am so proud of him.

“Sometimes you have to put the guys in their right environments. Would Reece be doing in New Zealand what he is doing now at the Broncos, I doubt it, because he wouldn’t have been happy and that’s the most important thing.

“It was a really sensible approach by all parties. As a leader, that’s what you have to facilitate, happiness in these NRL players’ lives.

“To see Reece living up to his talent because he is happy at the Broncos, that’s the most pleasing thing for me.”

Originally published as NRL 2024: Warriors dealings revealed that landed Reece Walsh at Brisbane Broncos despite Dolphins interest