Reece Walsh took a call from Billy Slater on Monday as the 19-year-old Warriors star looks to learn all he can from arguably the greatest fullback of all time.
Slater, who coached Queensland in the State of Origin this year, continued his words of wisdom after what Walsh described as a disappointing performance by him in the 20-18 loss to the Titans on Saturday.
Walsh says it opened him up to chat with Slater on a semi-regular basis and there could be no better way to learn the fullback’s intricacies.
“I’m pretty grateful and happy to be in the position to have a conversation with someone like Billy,” Walsh said.
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“I would not say we chat every week, or every few weeks. But when there is an opportunity to talk, he calls me.
“He will give me some tips on how I can get better and I feel like when I talk to him he always says the right things and he inspires me to keep going, work hard and I have tremendous amounts of growth in my game that I must get better.
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No matter where the Warriros play, he’s a fan favorite.
“What better way to get this advice than by possibly the best fullback we’ve ever seen?”
No doubt Slater has his eyes on Walsh for this year’s Origin series, but whatever feedback he gives Walsh is something the Warriors will benefit from.
It shows how far he has come that Walsh is now a player relying heavily on the Warriors.
He made a big impact last year and it’s easy to forget that he’s only played 17 games in the NRL. But the expectations he sets for himself are high and he was not satisfied with last weekend.
“To be very honest, I was pretty disappointed with myself and how I played,” he said.
“There were some key moments and key things in the game that I did not do right. Luckily we had another game this week so I went out there, took my lessons and kept trying to put my right foot forward.
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Reece Walsh can learn a lot from Queensland coach Bill Slater.
Walsh spent part of last season working with Roger Tuivasa-Sheck to learn all he could before the former club captain switched codes to the Blues.
Even though the Tuivasa check is gone, Walsh is still trying to pick up all the knowledge he can.
“I chat regularly with Browny (Nathan Brown, head coach) and Morgs (Justin Morgan, assistant coach) and I sometimes forget that I’m still learning.
“I’m pretty hard on myself, I want to be these fantastic players now and it’s easy to forget how many games I played, how young I am and that I still have a lot of growth.
“I talked to Morgs this morning about Billy Slater and how good he was when I watched him.
“One thing he told me was not to expect that player to be overnight. It took Billy many years to become the player he made.
“It took a lot of lessons and I think it’s hard for people out there to see that.
“But I’m grateful for the coaching staff and the players I have here, who keep me on the things I do wrong, where I do good things and what I need to keep working on.”
After losing to the Titans, Brown was more critical of his young players than he ever was at the club.
He thinks it’s time for them to stop and stop making costly mistakes and they got that said in the review of Saturday’s game.
“The clear message for us was that they would not fight the stupid mistakes or stupid things like shooting myself the ball early, giving the ball possession,” Walsh said.
“We are first class players and even though we are young, we play the best counter in the world and we will not get away with doing such stupid things anymore.
“We have to be better, this is our job and that’s what we do to live. So we have to start catching those balls, putting ourselves in better positions and just respecting the first degree a little bit more than what we have. .
Meanwhile, the Warriors are in Friday’s game against the Wests Tigers with their third half in as many weeks.
Chanel Harris-Tavita will partner with Kodi Nikorima for what will be a must-win game for both teams that have struggled so far this season.
Ash Taylor, who played alongside the Harris-Tavita in the 20-18 loss to the Titans, came out with a hip complaint.
Shaun Johnson is expected to be out for a few more weeks with a small pectoral load, so Warriors coach Nathan Brown has left with a half-combination that produced mixed results last season.
Other than Nikorima coming in for Taylor, the Warriors are unchanged at 17.
AT A GLANCE
Warrior: Reece Walsh, Adam Pompey, Jesse Arthars, Rocco Berry, Marcelo Montoya, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Kodi Nikorima, Addin Fonua-Blake, Wayde Egan, Matt Lodge, Euan Aitken, Eliesa Katoa, Josh Curran. Interchange (from): Jazz Tevaga, Bunty Afoa, Aaron Pene, Bayley Sironen, Jack Murchie, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Taniela Otukolo, Pride Petterson-Robati, Valingi Kepu, Junior Ratuva, Edward Kosi.
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