Walsh backed to respond for Broncos after shocker

Joel GouldAAP
Camera IconBrisbane No.1 Reece Walsh had a shocker last week but he's set to respond against North Queensland. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS) Credit: AAP

Reece Walsh will be hungry for redemption against North Queensland after playing one of the worst games of his short NRL career.

That was the word from Broncos teammates after nothing went right for the 22-year-old in the 32-22 loss to Canberra.

Walsh made four errors, missed four tackles and cut a frustrated figure all night against a Raiders side that was unrelenting with their pressure.

This week Walsh has been working on his defensive positioning and has been encouraged by the Broncos brains trust to get his running game going rather than look for the miracle play with a pass.

At his best Walsh is a match-winner but he does not have to do it on his own with creative halves Ben Hunt and Adam Reynolds calling the shots and implementing coach Michael Maguire's game plan.

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The Broncos want Walsh to focus on chiming in rather than attempting to be the conductor on Friday night at Suncorp Stadium.

Walsh was clearly upset with himself during the Raiders clash and is not afraid of an honest assessment of his form.

"I am sure he will be pushing to play one of his better games. I fully back him," Broncos winger Jesse Arthars said.

"I will be be there to support him. We got some good reps in at training and hopefully that translates into the game."Reecey is very hard on himself. He holds himself to a high standard. When we are at training, in meetings and inside the club he is always looking at what he can work on.

"As a back three me, him and (winger Selwyn) Cobbo are always talking about how we can be better for the team."

Broncos prop Pat Carrigan was also supportive of Walsh.

"We just need Reece to be Reece," he said.

"I can speak from my own experience. I've had a bad games, we've all had bad games in the NRL. It's one bad game, so it's all good.

"We know what he is capable of. We will have his back and the consistency around his training is what will put him in good stead for the rest of the year, so it's just another game for Reece when he smiling and enjoying his training. He will be right to go."

The Broncos were out-muscled by the Raiders and Carrigan said it was a wakeup call on several fronts."You just have to address it for what it is. Madge (Maguire) has been good in calling a spade a spade and there were a few areas with our ball control where we were off," he said.

"It's the NRL. We are trying to not look at results, but a team performance. If we were to sneak home and get the win, we wouldn't have been happy with the result."

Brisbane centre Kotoni Staggs trained with the reserves as he nears a return from a quad injury but did not join the main squad in their final full session before Thursday

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