Winners and losers: Why Maroons great does not want snubbed Walsh to change

“You never want to take the brilliance away from him.”

That was the declaration of Maroons great Justin Hodges, who has implored Reece Walsh to continue his risk versus reward mentality.

Walsh appeared destined to reclaim his place on the Queensland side for the looming State of Origin series – game one taking place on May 27 – on the back of his historic performances to spearhead the Brisbane Broncos’ premiership triumph last year and his selection to represent Australia as the Kangaroos fullback.

However, coach Billy Slater has instead called on the in-form Kalyn Ponga to take the No.1 jumper, despite a late push for the Newcastle skipper to assume the halfback duties vacated by Tom Dearden, who suffered a serious syndesmosis “high ankle” injury earlier this month.

Walsh has become the NRL’s poster boy for his flamboyant style on the field, polarising pundits for meshing moments of magic with glaring mistakes.

When his attacking brand pays off, it reaps rewards. When it doesn’t, the Broncos often concede points, and those are errors which will not be forgiven in the Origin arena.

That approach was on show in the Broncos’ 42-12 Magic Round defeat to the New Zealand Warriors. He threw a brilliant cutout pass to unleash winger Phillip Coates to orchestrate a try for Adam Reynolds, and replicated the play before firing a miracle cross field kick for Josiah Karapani, only for the winger to fumble the ball.

Walsh did, however, rush a pass coming out of trouble which gifted Warriors centre Ali Leiataua the easiest of tries, and was penalised for dissent in the shadows of full-time.

But Hodges, who amassed 24 caps for his state, insisted ‘Reece Lightning’ needed to be given a license to trust his instincts.

“Reece is a different type of player, he’s a guy who backs himself and that’s what rugby league players are supposed to do. He comes up with a couple of mistakes here and there, but you never want to take that out of his game,” Hodges said.

“That’s what makes him so special, and some of the guys who I played with – Karmichael Hunt, Darren Lockyer, Johnathan Thurston – they all took risks at some stage. Reece sees the game at a different pace to other players, and sometimes he pulls the trigger a little early, but you never want to take that away from him.

“Reece just gives you that little bit of special … he pops up on both sides, and when the game is on the line he steps up.”

Walsh began the 2026 campaign in hot touch, however since returning from a fractured cheekbone three weeks ago has been unable to re-capture those heights – aside from a brilliant second half performance in Brisbane’s loss to the Roosters. He has come up with eight errors in that time, but Hodges stressed he should not be criticised for daring to take the game on.

“I think as he gets older he’ll start to rein it in a little bit, when we’re all young we all like to look flashy and want to come up with the big play and look good, and that’s why you can never bag him because we all did that when we were young as well,” Hodges said.

“He’s so different to every other player. You look at the best fullbacks in the game – [James] Tedesco, [Scott] Drinkwater – they’re all a little bit older than Reece is, but they don’t bring that same unpredictability.

“At times you want him to know when to pass and run, and I think he’ll get that when he gets older.”

Queensland and Brisbane legend Darren Lockyer believed Walsh had already shown signs his decision-making was improving under coach Michael Maguire, and suggested the club’s concerning injury toll – 13 top-liners unavailable in Magic Round – had played a part in his mistakes across three-straight losses.

“You just want Reece to be Reece, but as he gets older and a little more experienced he’ll understand what taking a calculated risk is,” Lockyer said.

“He’s definitely improving and maturing in that department, but I think the other part too is because the injuries the Broncos have had, I think maybe there is that sense of having to try and do something to lift the team.

“I’m very confident in what Madge [Maguire] does in terms of the culture and game plan that he has, and Reece can be a big contributor to the Broncos’ performance.”