Gould hails Walker ‘a genius’ and taunter of Maroons

Joel Gould | July 13, 2023

NSW’s most successful coach Phil Gould has labelled Cody Walker “a genius” after his man of the match display in game three of the State of Origin series.

Speaking on the Nine Network after the game, Gould was in awe of the display by the 33-year-old Blues No. 6 in the 24-10 win over Queensland in Sydney.

Debutant centre Bradman Best cashed in and scored two tries on the back of Walker’s magic.

“Gee whiz, If I got fit I could score tries outside of Cody Walker. He is a marvel isn’t he? He is just a genius player,” Gould said.

Three of NSW’s four tries were scored on the left side back after Walker found the perfect passes for his supports.

“He brought that left side to life and really taunted that Queensland right-hand side defence,” Gould said.

“I just love the way he changes the pace. He gets the ball and everything moves quicker. He gets the ball and everything moves slower. Bradman Best was able to tap into that.”

Queensland assistant coach Cameron Smith said Walker was, “by a clear margin the best player on the field”.

“He is just one of these players that seems to have so much time with ball in hand no matter whether there’s rushing defence coming at him or defence backing away from him,” Smith said of the South Sydney playmaker.

“I saw Cody Walker develop those skills when he was at the Melbourne Storm in his early days. There’s three or four variations (of plays) in the back of Cody’s mind when he knows he is going to receive the football. In an instant he comes up with the right play.

“There was some wonderful work on the inside to give him time and space but what he did do was unlock every man outside of him.

“(Winger) Josh Addo-Carr found open space which he hasn’t been able to find all series and I thought he brought (fullback) James Tedesco into the game as well.”

Gould said there were two major factors in the NSW win.

“One was the South Sydney connection with Damien Cook at dummy-half, Cameron Murray (lock) and obviously Cody Walker,” Gould said.

“The NSW defence improved out of sight. Their defence was troubled in the first two games (of the series)…but tonight they scrambled a lot better as a group rather than just individually.”