CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
New Zealand Warriors fullback and rising Queensland Maroons superstar Reece Walsh has admitted to behaving like literally every single person on the Gold Coast with a bit of coin behaves, regardless of their age.
This comes after the NRL player was arrested by Queensland Police and found to be in possession of a little bag of that stuff that anyone on his salary, at his age, would be carrying on a night out.
However, unlike most Gold Coast party boys, Walsh’s incident differs in the fact that he probably didn’t need to get caught if he had followed the police move-on orders earlier in the evening.
Instead, he stuck around and kept partying, like a 19-year-old would.
Footage of the fullback being placed in handcuffs by police emerged on social media platform TikTok on Saturday evening, with onlookers filming the incident – another hurdle that young footballers are forced to contend with in this day and age.
Funnily enough, nobody except the sensationalist Fox Sports staff writers are even going to pretend that this is something that football fans should care about.
However, an emotional Walsh still owned up to his club and their fans when he fronted the media on Sunday, admitting to reporters he had been in possession of a small bag of Bondi Marching Powder during the arrest.
He apologised to the rugby league before promising he would begin immediate drug and alcohol counselling, and was ruled out of winning any 2021 Dally M awards.
“No-one else is involved in this. It is solely on me. I put my hand up – I should never have done it. It is a mistake I made. I want to say sorry to sponsors, fans, the Warriors.”
As embarrassing as it is, this scandal may even come as a relief to Walsh, who now no longer has to worry about carrying the burden of being one of the ‘good boys’ of rugby league – which is a brand that can only come crashing down when it eventually becomes apparent that he is only human like the rest of us.
While the drug and alcohol counselling may help Walsh from finding himself in this situation again, it is not known when NRL clubs are going to pull their fingers out and teach these young kids that those degenerate hanger-ons that follow them around nightclubs should be the ones carrying the bag.
