Source : ABC NEWS
Brisbane Broncos coach Michael Maguire has defended Reece Walsh despite an error by the talented fullback that handed the Warriors a golden-point 20-18 victory in New Zealand.
The 22-year-old had a torrid night in Auckland, suffering a suspected knee injury in the second minute of the game that limited his involvement to only seven runs over 50 metres.
He bravely battled through the pain barrier to score the 73rd-minute try that sent the contest to a golden point.
But Walsh made a costly gaffe by kicking out on the full from the extra-time restart, allowing the Warriors’ Luke Metcalf to land a 50-metre penalty goal to hand the home side victory.
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Maguire refused to criticise his star man, while praising him for battling through the pain barrier to finish the match.
“He has done something to his knee,” Maguire said. “There is something there that we need to have a look at.
“It was a real credit to him to fight through the game.”
Walsh’s injury setback puts him in doubt for Thursday’s home match against the unbeaten Bulldogs, while potentially affecting his hopes of being selected as a Maroons’ starter for next month’s Origin opener at Lang Park.
Knights’ favourite Kalyn Ponga is considered Walsh’s main rival for the Queensland number-one jersey.
“We need to get a scan around [Walsh’s knee injury]. He fought through the whole game with that issue,” Maguire said.
“We will have to wait and see whether or not he is right to play again over the next couple of weeks.”
The Broncos’ second consecutive defeat could see them slip out of the top four by the end of the weekend and highlights their ill-discipline at crucial times, with them losing the penalty count 10-4.
Despite being one of the favourites to win this year’s NRL, they have won only four of seven games this season.
“In the first half, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves through discipline and errors. We need to be smarter there,” Maguire said.
“We can control how we go about our game. We defended well for a long period of time in the first half, there was a lot of effort, but we just need to be smarter in what we are doing.”
Despite another below-par performance, the Broncos showed character to score two tries in the final 15 minutes to set up the golden point after trailing 18-6 in front of a hostile Auckland crowd.
“We had an opportunity there at the back end of the game,” Maguire said.
“We were set up for field goals and we have to be smarter in that space.”
