Reece Walsh’s star continues to rise as Broncos prepare to pay up

In light of three recent $1m-plus player re-signings the mind boggles at the price tag on the head of dynamic young Brisbane Broncos fullback Reece Walsh when his contract comes up for renewal at the end of next season.

Brisbane recently splurged more than $1 million-a-season to keep forward Payne Haas at the club until 2026, while the Titans splashed out $15 million in multi-year package deals to ensure forwards Tino Faasuamaleaui and David Fifita remain at Gold Coast club long-term.

It raises the question; can clubs sustain this type of player-spending and how much will clubs be forced to fork out to secure a marquee player of Walsh’s ilk in the future?

Newcastle fullback Kalyn Ponga is reportedly the game’s highest paid player, currently on around $1.5 million a season.

It’s taken rugby league more than 100 years to get to a $1 million a year player and given Ponga’s pay packet, clubs could be looking at $2 million-a-season price tag in four or five-years’ time.

Rugby league immortal Joey Johns recently suggested if Walsh was on the open market now, he would command $1.5 million-a-season.

In just one season with Brisbane, Walsh has been part of a winning Queensland Origin team, and he is odds-on to play for Australia in the end-of-year Pacific Championship as well as clean up a number of individual player awards.

On Saturday night, Walsh played one of his best games for the Broncos, finishing with two try assists, two line breaks, eight tackle breaks, a try and a field goal in their 29-18 victory over Canberra Raiders.

Next month he may be part of a premiership-winning Broncos team at the age of 21.

Potentially, he could become the game’s highest player should he continue to improve and deliver the form and results which have pundits already raving about him as league’s most exciting entertainer.

Walsh is one of 10 players, including young five-eighth Ezra Mam, long-serving, popular winger, Corey Oates, and club captain Adam Reynolds, coming off contract at the end of next season.

No doubt Brisbane Bronco’s CEO Dave Donaghy and the club’s recruitment and retention committee, of which Broncos’ legend Darren Lockyer is a member, are already crunching numbers with a view to locking down the recently turned 21-year-old Walsh, who following one season at Red Hill, is already pushing incumbent James Tedesco for the Australian No.1 jumper.

Under the guidance of six-time premiership winner and former club and champion, Kevin Walters, Brisbane is building toward winning a premiership or two in the coming years with its young, talented and extremely exciting squad.

They might, after Penrith’s shock loss to Parramatta on Thursday night, even break the club’s 17-year drought in October.

Haas and Walsh, along with veteran half, Reynolds, and some glowing talent in the shape of Mam, Selwyn Cobbo and future club captain, Patrick Carrigan, have led the Broncos all year.

They are seen as the future of club.

The NRL salary cap was increased 25 per cent this season, from 9.8 million to $12.1 million, to be divided between each club’s top 30 players.

Players can, however, earn extra (unlimited) income from private sponsors who have no ties to the club, provided the club does not use them as contract incentives and they are negotiated by the player and approved by the NRL.

In that case, Walsh is in line for a massive pay hike from the reported $450,000 deal he is currently on after securing a release from the Warriors to join Brisbane this year.

Should he help Brisbane to their seventh premiership and its first since beating Melbourne Storm in 2006, his market value will skyrocket on the open market.

Walsh ticks all the boxes on the field.

He has already a cult figure with fans, not just Brisbane followers on and off the field, adding even more value to his worth for the club to market and build an image around.

Lockyer, a Broncos Board member and part of the club’s player retention committee, admits things have changed considerably since he played when other factors, not just money, were key factors in players making big career decisions.

Player managers now have much more control and much more say than when Lockyer – who has had the same manager, George Mimis, since he broke into rugby league as an 18-year-old.

“For me it was more about being a Bronco for life, winning premierships, playing for Queensland and being at a club I enjoyed,” he said recently on Channel 9s QLDER show, hosted by Adam Jackson.

“I always wanted to be in an environment I enjoyed. I always dreamt of playing for the Broncos and Maroons as a kid, so I was always reminding myself that I wanted to be a Bronco for my whole life.

“It’s a different world we live in today.

“When I played the thinking was; ‘let’s keep the group together, take less money and win more premierships and enjoy yourself’.”

“I think those days are pretty much done.”

The Broncos are a $2.80 chance with online bookmakers to win the 2023 NRL Premiership, with only Penrith ($2.40) ahead of them in betting.

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David O’Callaghan

1 year ago

Insightful and informative article…. Got it all there ….

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