Broncos coach Michael Maguire praised Reece Walsh and his new halves pairing as Brisbane showed there is life in their season without their star halves in a 38-28 win over the Dolphins.
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Many experts were ready to write the Broncos off after they lost halves Adam Reynolds and Ezra Mam until the finals at the earliest, but Ben Hunt and Billy Walters stepped up along with Walsh in his best game of the season.
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Walsh’s 40/20 in the second half turned the match and saw the Broncos come back from 14 points down to score the final 24 points.
“That was a massive play,” Broncos skipper Patrick Carrigan said.
“Tonight he really got the balance right. He’s done some really special things for him, but at the end of the day, we just need Reece to be Reece Walsh.
“He’s actually really calm out there, talking really well to the boys, and I think that instilled a lot of confidence in him, but that was a big play.
“He’s a hard taskmaster on himself, but I think he found that balance tonight and he was a massive for us.
“All that back five, to be honest. You know, the way that Deine and Josiah started our sets was pretty special too, so when those boys are doing that for us, I think it makes it a lot easier for us middles.”
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Carrigan believes Walsh is growing as a leader and picking and choosing his moments better, but he still encouraged him not to lose what makes him special.
“I think that’s always the growth for him, but in saying that his mindset’s always to take the game on and that’s why we love him, that’s why we love playing with him,” Carrigan said. “He’s a special player. He works hard at those sort of things at training and he’s reaped the rewards for that tonight.
“We just need Reece to be Reece and we can all support each other and that’s where we’re going as a team.”
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Maguire praised Hunt, Walsh and the other Broncos leaders for stepping up in Reynolds’ absence.
“His presence with the group, I guess as the general he was good I thought,” Maguire said of Hunt.
“You can see him around the group and I guess having him out there and our leaders, I think that’s something there’s I’ve really seen a growth or a space that’s really grown in us as a team.
“They’re driving it, that’s the best part about what I’m seeing at the moment and the more they keep driving the better we’re going to become.
“I think Hunt was able to just capitalising on being able to do his role and like Reece he played his part. I thought Payne came on and really got the momentum of the game, he flipped that for us but they’re all playing their part and if they’re doing their jobs for each other I guess I’m pleased at that point.”
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Maguire reserved special praise for Billy Walters, who switched to five-eighth with ease and set up a try of the year contender.
“I was really confident in Bill to be honest,” Maguire said.
“I mean I’ve had Bill before in the halves and I thought he was excellent.
“How he got that kick to Josiah I’m not quite sure, he came out of nowhere and it literally changed the game didn’t it.
“Look he’s going to grow off the back of that, he’s going to get better and better with the opportunities and new combinations take a little bit of time, but I felt they really found that at the back end of the game and stuck to the plan so that’s what we needed to do.”
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