Brisbane Broncos fullback Reece Walsh faces surgery and a lengthy lay-off after scans this afternoon confirmed he suffered a high-grade syndesmosis injury in the club's Round 24 clash with the New Zealand Warriors.
The Broncos have begun prepping Walsh with a recovery plan that will see him with a surgeon on Monday, with surgery expected and a recovery window of up to eight weeks.
Walsh's night unravelled quickly after he was caught by New Zealand Warriors fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad in an awkward hip-drop tackle.
The 2025 premiership winner tried to battle on, but in his next involvement threw an intercept pass to Alofiana Khan-Pereira, who ran all the way and scored a try.
Walsh was then taken off the field and ruled out for the rest of the game, while Klokstad was put on report and sent to the sin bin for ten minutes.
Since the injury, the Warriors star has been suspended by the Match Review Committee for two weeks and will miss rounds 25 and 26 of the season.
The injury capped a miserable evening for Brisbane, who slumped to their 12th loss in 13 games.
Injury woes continued in the game when Luke Metcalf pulled up with a hamstring injury.
When asked about Reece Walsh's high ankle sprain injury following the 40-6 loss, Maguire said, “I'm more concerned about our performance.”
From the game on Saturday night, the eight-week recovery timeline points to a return in the second week of October, which would be roughly eight and a half weeks by the time the Kangaroos take the field.
It would give Walsh only days of training and contact before the World Cup opener, with no match fitness.
This means we could see the Kangaroos weigh whether he will be fit for Australia's second or third pool match, depending on how well he recovers.
The World Cup opens up with Australia playing New Zealand on October 15, before the Kangaroos play Fiji on October 25, and the Cook Islands on October 31.
For Michael Maguire, his side conceded seven tries, and the coach was brutally straightforward about how his side played in front of their home fans.
“Not good enough, just plain and simple. We won't want to do that next weekend because we'll cop the same. It was really disappointing, that one. We're not playing the style that we know we've practised,” he said in the post-match press conference.
The Broncos will play the Raiders in Canberra, the Storm at home, before concluding the season in Sydney, facing the Bulldogs.
