Free of football: How Walsh prepped for epic finals run

Scott Bailey | October 6, 2025

Reece Walsh has revealed the Michael Maguire life lesson that put him on the path to breaking Brisbane’s premiership drought with one of the greatest finals series in history.

Walsh produced a grand-final performance for the ages on Sunday night against Melbourne, with both Johnathan Thurston and Darren Lockyer hailing it the best ever.

The fullback scored a superb try and set up three others in the come-from-behind victory, but it was also three try-saving plays in defence that ultimately shaped the Broncos’ thrilling 26-22 win.

It is no exaggeration to say Walsh saved not only Brisbane’s grand final, but their season.

The Broncos were struggling in 11th spot off four straight losses when the 23-year-old returned from a knee injury in June, and inspired Brisbane to 13 wins in their remaining 16 games.

He immediately breathed life into Brisbane’s season with a flogging of Gold Coast, before lighting up the finals with match-defining displays against Canberra, Penrith and Melbourne.

Asked on Sunday night what the difference had been, Walsh joked it was “drinking out of a toilet” — a reference to his social media gag last month — before he got rather morer serious by heaping praise on Maguire.

“When I got injured, I got a lot of time away from the boys and that was from Madge telling me that when I’m at home, be at home and enjoy those moments,” Walsh said. 

“At the start of the year I was so heavily invested in footy, which is obviously a good thing, but sometimes it gets a little bit too much. 

“You’re sitting up at night watching film at home and my little ones there playing and I’m on my phone,looking at clips from training. 

“So when I got that injury, I reset. I let myself be the footy player at work, and then when I’m at home, I just enjoyed being dad.

“I enjoyed being a son to my old man. We got on the tools together. 

“I had the mentality of, when I’m in the building, work hard and when I’m out, enjoy my time. But when it’s time to switch on, it’s time to switch on.”

A proud Queenslander, Walsh was four the last time the Broncos won a title.

But he had made no secret of how driven he was to regain the trophy for the Broncos.

On returning from the Warriors in 2023 he immediately asked to see Adam Reynolds’ ring from his 2014 title at South Sydney.

That determination was there on Sunday night at Accor Stadium, from his brilliant effort to beat five men for a first-half try to his last minute effort to deny opposite number Ryan Papenhuyzen a Melbourne match winner.

“In Queensland, you want to play for the Broncos, you want to play for Queensland,” Walsh said.

“No one gave us a chance and the only ones that believed were the ones in the room and us players. 

“Our backs were against the wall and we could have shied away, but we went towards those moments.

“I’m just so honoured and grateful to be a part of this team. It’s been 19 years and we’ve just etched our names in history. So I’m extremely honoured.”