“Walsh flirts with the rules, while Reg didn’t have to,” Riley admits. “He was as straight as an arrow.”
The prince of centres: Reg Gasnier finds himself in another gap for the Dragons.Credit: Fairfax Archive
Gasnier, therefore, did not receive any exalted treatment from officialdom, while Walsh, dubbed “the Justin Bieber of rugby league” by Peter V’landys, could well benefit from the subliminal message in the ARLC chief’s oft-repeated claim that the NRL is primarily about entertainment.
Storm supporters certainly believe Walsh should not have stayed on the field in the grand final for a tackle on Xavier Coates which appeared identical to one by Storm captain Harry Grant in a semi-final against Canterbury.
Grant was sin-binned after the intervention of the bunker and suspended for two weeks.
Walsh certainly shocked the Storm in the grand final, with fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen acknowledging that while Walsh tended to fade in and out of games in defence, he did not do so in
the decider.
Walsh appeared as a phantom in the final two minutes to move from ball carrier Eli Katoa to tackle his support, Papenhuyzen, killing off the Storm’s final chance to win. Broncos coach Michael Maguire deserves praise for his year-long campaign to improve Walsh’s positional play in defence.
Riley, who was also a strong defender, is a keen observer of the game and was one of the three
judges on the panel I chaired to select the Dragons Team of the Century. His point about Walsh not being focused on supports is endorsed by some NRL coaches who have described the 23-year-old as
“selfish.”
Still, Walsh did not need a support when he busted past five Storm defenders for a solo try.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy warned that Walsh is deceptively strong, yet inexplicably, none of the
defenders attempted to tackle him low.
Gasnier had an analytical, computer-quick mind that snapped a mental speed map of the field, allowing him to fly chest out to the tryline, or set up a support.
“When Reg took off with the ball, one of two things would happen,” Riley says. “He would score himself, or he would set the winger up for a try.”
Gasnier’s unselfish attitude is reflected in the tries his wingers scored on the 1959/60 Kangaroo tour: Eddie Lumsden 25, Brian Carlson 19 and Ken Irvine 17.
Any comparison between Walsh and Gasnier must factor in the changed roles of fullback and centre. The modern game’s left and right defence means the fullback is the game breaker, while centres
now work in half the field.
Reg Gasnier in 1960.Credit: Noel Stubbs
However, Riley points out that he and Gasnier played left and right.
”If the scrum was on the left-hand side of the field, Reg was inside centre and I was outside centre. If the scrum was on the right-hand side, I was inside centre and Reg was outside.”
Asked if this was because Gasnier had a better left-to-right pass, Riley said, “No. Killer (coach Ken Kearney) told us that was what he wanted and we didn’t question Killer.”
Scrums are now mainly set in the middle of the field and the ball tends to go with the fullback.
Riley concedes that Gasnier returned from injury later than his teammates, a common phenomenon
with the highly tuned athletes.
“St George had so many internationals, you’d lose your spot if you delayed your return. But Reg never had to worry about losing his position. The only thing I could say against him was that he might have waited an extra week to come back.”
Gasnier’s deeds sold newspapers. Walsh has one million social media followers. Gasnier loved the
game, as Walsh does. Gasnier told me he slept in his first Australian jumper. Walsh plays with manic
glee, as if the recess bell is about to ring and a grown up will come and take the ball away.
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Perhaps the best similarity is the reaction from the crowd when each received the ball. It’s as if all the oxygen in the stadium is suddenly drawn in by the home and away crowd alike.
It’s the curious sound of anticipation and anguish mixed. Fred Daly, the long-term politician, once described former Prime Minister Paul Keating to me in these terms.
“When Keating stood up in parliament, you could hear the snarl and hiss from the opposition benches. I heard the same thing from the opposition supporters when I went to see Gasnier play.”
It was the sound of fear.
