{"id":131111,"date":"2021-09-19T06:28:52","date_gmt":"2021-09-19T06:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=131111"},"modified":"2021-09-19T09:57:30","modified_gmt":"2021-09-19T09:57:30","slug":"warriors-ace-struggling-to-fathom-crazy-feat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=131111","title":{"rendered":"Warriors ace struggling to fathom 'crazy' feat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Warriors<\/a> prodigy Reece Walsh<\/a> says it was "crazy" to hear he had won this year's peers-voted Rookie of the Year gong, expressing his surprise at beating a host of other stellar youngsters.<\/p>\n

Walsh, 19, edged Roosters<\/a> halfback Sam Walker<\/a>, Sea Eagles<\/a> playmaker Josh Schuster, Titans<\/a> fullback Jayden Campbell and several other eligible young guns to take home the prized Rugby League Players Association award.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Penrith Panthers concede Villiame Kikau will probably leave club after next season<\/a><\/p>\n

"It's pretty crazy and still surreal to receive this award," Walsh said on Nine's NRL Sunday Footy Show<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"There are a lot of great rookies that came through this year so I'm pretty humbled to receive it."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

All it took was one game at the Warriors for rugby league's most respected voices, including Andrew Johns and Brad Fittler<\/a>, to slam the Broncos<\/a> over their failure to retain Walsh, who was poached from Brisbane in April<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The speedster was so promising that captain and superstar fullback Roger Tuivasa-Sheck<\/a> made the call to move to a wing to allow Walsh to wear the No.1 jumper.<\/p>\n

He collected nine tries and set up 11 others from 16 appearances.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'A sad day': Geelong great Billy Brownless set to walk away from Sunday Footy Show<\/a><\/p>\n

Walsh made such a striking impression on Queensland's State of Origin<\/a> selectors that he received a shock call-up<\/a> at the age of just 18, before a hamstring injury dashed his hopes<\/a> of fulfilling his Maroons dream.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"(Playing in the NRL<\/a>) was everything and more," Walsh said.<\/p>\n

"Coming up into first grade \u2013 like you said it was early. I didn't think I was going to get my crack this year and I was lucky enough to get that. To play a full year in first grade \u2013 I'm still pinching myself. It's pretty crazy."<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Retired cyclist Chris Anker Sorenson dead at 37 after being struck by car<\/a><\/p>\n

Walsh said Roosters whiz-kid Walker received his vote for the Rookie of the Year award.<\/p>\n

"I'm pretty shocked, to be honest," Walsh said.<\/p>\n

"Sammy's been playing some outstanding footy."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Warriors prodigy Reece Walsh says it was "crazy" to hear he had won this year's peers-voted Rookie of the Year gong, expressing his surprise at […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131111"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=131111"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131113,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131111\/revisions\/131113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=131111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=131111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=131111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}