Reece Walsh made another bizarre toilet joke after the full-back produced a performance for the ages to win the Clive Churchill Medal and lead the Broncos to their first premiership in 19 years.
Brisbane secured an epic comeback victory against Melbourne Storm on Sunday night at the Accor Stadium, with Deine Mariner and Gehamat Shibasaki both scoring a brace of tries during the 26-22 victory.
The Broncos needed to overcome a 22-12 halftime deficit and mid-game injuries to starting halves Adam Reynolds (hamstring) and Ben Hunt (concussion) to claim the club’s first premiership since 2006.
Star fullback Walsh continued a breathtaking finals series and was involved in everything Brisbane did well in front of 80,223 fans at a heaving Accor Stadium.
Walsh had, though, survived a potential sin bin earlier in the match after a high shot on Xavier Coates, but will face the match review officer in the coming days.
Despite that, Walsh was rightly handed the Clive Churchill Medal and subsequently thanked the fans for their support.
Reece Walsh made another bizarre toilet joke after the full-back produced a performance for the ages to win the Clive Churchill Medal and lead the Broncos to their first premiership in 19 years
Pictured: The moment Broncos star Reece Walsh drank a handful of water out of a toilet bowl in a video he has since deleted
‘I just want to thank Melbourne Storm, Craig Bellamy and his whole team, youse are the standard in the game this whole year,’ he says.
‘Thanks all of our fans, everybody that turned out tonight.’
Walsh then paid a nod to the Brisbane coaching team, before signing off, cracking the toilet joke.
‘If it wasn’t for all those defensive sets on our line this year we wouldn’t be here.
‘Thank you’s all. Plumber out.’
It appears Walsh was once again paying a nod to his bizarre social media post earlier this year in which he videoed himself appearing to drink out of his toilet.
Walsh had bizarrely claimed that the move was for ‘recovery’ purposes, but the act sent the footy world into meltdown.
The Broncos were then bizarrely forced to issue a statement, telling people not to drink out of the toilet, adding that Walsh had only just installed the new lavatory.
Walsh (pictured with Ben Hunt) addressed the stadium after the match, thanking the coaches and fans before saying ‘plumber out’
The triumph is vindication for the Broncos’ bold call to oust coach Kevin Walters after a middling 2024 season and install renowned taskmaster Michael Maguire (pictured) to the top job.
The club tried to water down the fullback’s post by explaining that the toilet was brand-new and had never been used
Walsh has continued to poke fun at his bizarre toilet water stunt, by changing his Instagram display profile picture
Walsh made light of the furore over his video by posting this image to Instagram on Tuesday morning, showing his dog in a Bunnings hardware store with a sign reading ‘Thru to plumbing’ prominently featured
‘The club can clarify that Walsh is currently renovating his home and has installed a brand-new toilet in a new bathroom which remains unused,’ Brisbane said in a statement.
‘The video represents a poor attempt at humour posted privately by Walsh. No one should take this video seriously or act upon the advice.’
While Walsh has raised eyebrows over the post, he has continued to make references to the joke, celebrating scoring tries by appearing to make a gesture that he was drinking out of the bowl with his hand.
He had also hilariously changed his Instagram display photo to a picture of him dressed as a plumber, as he again made fun of the bizarre toilet video.
The triumph is vindication for the Broncos’ bold call to oust coach Kevin Walters after a middling 2024 season and install renowned taskmaster Michael Maguire to the top job.
Brisbane’s seventh premiership also buries the demons from the 2023 decider, when the Broncos coughed up a 16-point lead for one of the most demoralising grand-final losses in memory.
The Storm dominated Sunday’s first half but, like Canberra and Penrith earlier this finals series, could not control the NRL’s comeback kids once their attack began humming after halftime.
Melbourne are now the first team since 2004 to lose consecutive grand finals.
