Reece Walsh slammed after ‘all-time’ spray as Broncos KO’ed of NRL finals

The Broncos’ season has been ended in humiliating circumstances but an “all-time spray” from Reece Walsh has been torn to shreds.

Reece Walsh unloads on Corey Oates. Photo: Fox Sports

The Brisbane Broncos have gone from the cusp of premiership glory to crashing out of finals contention five weeks from the finals.

And it’s ended in horrific circumstances, getting trounced 46-18 by the Gold Coast Titans despite having led 18-10 at halftime.

The result is the first time since the Titans came into the competition in 2007 that the club has beaten the Broncos twice in a season.

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With the finals dream quickly becoming a nightmare, the Broncos needed everything to go their way to overcome the horrific record during the Origin series, where they came into the match having lost seven of their last eight matches.

But injuries to superstar prop Payne Haas 11 minutes in with a foot injury which has been reported as a suspected season-ending Lisfranc injury, and Ezra Mam with a serious looking ankle injury, it clearly did not go to plan.

Haas’ season could be over. Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images

Ezra Mam was helped off with an ankle injury. Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images

But arguably the most telling moment came after Walsh threw a hard, short pass which veteran winger Corey Oates couldn’t catch, and then berated his teammate.

Fans jumped on the moment, taking aim at Walsh and the Broncos in general for what their season has become.

One fan said: “Corey Oates hasn’t had a great season for the Broncos. But Walsh having a go at him after throwing a shocker of a pass sums up the Broncos season, no accountability.”

Another commented: “Reece Walsh giving Corey Oates an all time spray after dropping an absolutely shocking pass from Reece Walsh himself.

“Not to mention the numerous selfish mistakes Walsh had already made this game.

“Culture.”

A third said: “If I’m Corey Oates and Reece Walsh throws the ball at my knees with Titans players all over me & then HE blows up at me for dropping the ball I’m inviting him to the carpark after the game for a private meeting. “

Post-match, Broncos captain Adam Reynolds defended Walsh for letting the frustration get the best of him.

“It’s part of learning and he’s still a young kid,” Reynolds said.

“He’s still growing into his role. He’s a competitor and he tries hard and he’s going to get errors in his game but we believe in Reece and those things happen.”

Walsh has been slammed for the spray. Photo: Fox Sports

The season has been a disaster for the Broncos. Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images

A dejected coach Kevin Walters had few answers in his press conference, saying the second half was “pretty ordinary”, admitting the Broncos didn’t “stay in the fight”.

Asked about the season being essentially over, Walters said: “The eight is the furthest thing from my mind at the moment. We’ve got more issues than making the eight — not issues, but it’s disappointing there today.

“We’ve still got four games to go and we’ll endeavour to fix that before we get to the end of the season.

“There’s plenty to work on as you’ve seen so we’re not going to wait until next year. That’s next year.”

However, post-match former Queensland Origin representative Will Chambers and rugby league Immortal Mal Meninga said Broncos injury dramas didn’t paper over the complete capitulation against the Titans.

“There’s got to be a bit of an attitude problem up there,” former Queensland representative Will Chambers said. “You can’t go in at halftime, be in front and then just fall away out of a game.

“I know they had some injuries but they also had some pretty star players out there. Everyone was saying throughout the year that they had no Adam Reynolds … well Adam Reynolds was there today, they had Pat Carrigan, they had Reece Walsh. There was no reason for them to fall out of the game the way they did. There’s obviously something not right there.

“Something needs to change and change drastically now because their season is over and they’re planning their trip away.”

Mal Meninga agreed.

“They had one of their best sides on paper today,” he said. “Losing a couple of your main players does hurt, but that doesn’t cover up the effort levels and energy levels.

“Some of those tries the Titans scored were exceptional tries but am lot of missed tackles, a lot of poor decisions.”

Chambers questioned whether the Grand Final heartbreak last year had seen the Broncos “when the going gets tough, they do throw their tools away?”

Nightmare for the Broncos. Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images

Yvonne Sampson also pointed out a potential “Panthers curse”, with each of the Rabbitohs, Eels and Broncos, the three teams they defeated in the grand finals for their three-peat.

The Rabbitohs made the finals in seventh in 2022, and while they made the preliminary final, missed the playoffs last year and are more than likely to miss again in 2024.

The Eels are on their second season missing the finals, and now the Broncos have missed the top eight.

Meninga didn’t necessarily believe this but said: “You can’t substitute hard work. You can’t substitute fit players playing week to week with the right attitude and mentality.

“The Panthers are a really good example — they lost it in 2020 and then suddenly, they’ve won three in a row. It comes down to mindset.”

AAP’s Scott Bailey said it was “a truly remarkable capitulation”.

“Brisbane have gone from leading a grand final by 16 points with 20 minutes to play, to sitting 14th on the ladder and out of finals contention. All in the space of 10 months,” he wrote.

Hell of a second half from the Titans. Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images

Questioned about why the Broncos had capitulated so clearly, he said it was “too close” and that he’d speak to the other coaches about how to at least finish the season positively.

Worse for the Broncos is that they started well, with Reece Walsh scoring two tries in four minutes, running 60m before kicking for himself to score the first and outjumping Titans fullback Keano Kini for the second.

The Titans hit back with two tries of their own before Kobe Hetherington gave the Broncos an eight point buffer at the break.

But the second half was all one way traffic with the Titans running in seven tries to none to run away with a famous victory.