Warriors wonder kid left on bench again

In a move that will ignite fierce debate amongst Warriors fans, Nathan Brown has left wonder kid Reece Walsh on the bench for Sunday’s NRL clash against the Parramatta Eels.

Brown has resisted the temptation to move the 18-year-old sensation into the starting side ahead of the Magic Round match in Brisbane despite a dire performance from his team with the whizkid on the bench last week.

Sunday’s match will see the Eels’ Isaiah Papali’i – one of the form players this season – go up against his former club for the first time. Compounding the disappointing loss to Manly at the weekend is news that centre Peta Hiku is out for the season with a shoulder injury.

Playing in the halves, Walsh made an immediate impact with a line break, a try assist, two tackle breaks and a try.

But Walsh made only three tackles and missed just as many so with Brown already raising the issue of possible burnout for the teenager later in the season, he will want to tread carefully with his prized recruit at such an early stage in his career.

However, Brown could hold the naming of Walsh in the starting side back until as late as an hour before kick-off, if he desires.

Meanwhile, the Eels, who will be without the suspended duo of half Dylan Brown and centre Marata Niukore following two ugly incidents against the Roosters, have been dealt an even bigger blow due to the NRL’s Covid-19 level 3 biosecurity protocols.

Almost all the 16 NRL sides chose to pull their fringe top 30 players out of the reserve grade competitions last week so they could remain in the NRL bubble but the Eels were the exception and it has thrown their preparations into disarray after the NRL denied them an exemption yesterday.