Are we all now thinking walsh is the complete player all of a sudden?. His in a purple patch no doubt just like ponga was in 2023. Walsh is every chance of falling off and playing like he did through the first part of the season next year. No reason ponga wont be backing himself to outplay him in 26.
I kind of think Ponga comes out trying to in 2026, which is exciting for us if he can. But I’m also very sick of expecting miracles and peak Ponga performances.
Let’s not forget Walsh started the year very poor. Leading into origin there were talks about who would play 1 with Walsh and Ponga playing poorly.
He seems a confidence player. When his confidence is high, he’s unstoppable. When it’s low, I think he struggles. He’s still good for some errors and trying to do too much. I don’t think they look very good when they have Mam, Hunt, Walsh and Reynolds all trying to run the show.
Can only really judge him now on his last game (or 10 games) and they have been pretty impressive. I think he’s now going into a stage of his career where those superstar performances are expected of him. He’s raised the bar for himself.
I think Broncos coaching team have a big job ahead to keep a lid on things.
I may be reading WAYYYY too much into things. But celebrating the win - we saw Carrigan and Haas celebrating together, and a bit of a group pile in started, Walsh was out there alone for a long time. (Struck me as somebody who expected the team to swamp him). Barely Sherlock Holmes level of evidence I know. But coupled with his antics in the finals where he followed the PTB all set keeping an eye on the clock and pushed hooker out of the way because he NEEDED to be the one to take the final carry and showboat. When you’re winning, it doesn’t matter, but I can see a world where it becomes an issue. You don’t want to coach that personality out of him, we don’t need more robots, but maybe just need to keep an eye on it. Maybe the group absolutely love him.
Cliche but, the term “earned arrogance” came up at the end of the season. Atm, he has earned it. Absolutely great performances to finish the season. But it’ll be interesting to see what happens when there’s a dip. If there is a dip.
