Brisbane Broncos great and board member Darren Lockyer has defended the retention/recruitment failures that cost the club young guns Reece Walsh and Sam Walker.
Livewire fullback Walsh is starring for the Warriors after being released by Brisbane, while the Broncos botched the signing of brilliant halfback Walker, allowing him to becoming a blue-chip asset for the Roosters.
"A lot of kids come through the Broncos system. At the Broncos, there's always going to be a lot of kids that come through there that are going to get picked off by other clubs," Lockyer said on TODAY on Sunday.
"There's other clubs that don't have the same pathways as the Broncos. The Roosters, they got lucky with Sam Walker, he's a really big star of the future.
"The same as Reece Walsh. The Broncos were keen to keep Reece Walsh but unfortunately, he decided to go to the Warriors."
While Walker was never part of the Broncos roster, Walsh's departure from the club has only become more confounding after his immediate success for New Zealand. Lockyer said that there was no ill-will.
"It's good to see him go as well as he is, because we knew he had the talent," Lockyer said.
"He got the opportunity early and he's doing the Warriors proud. Good luck to him."
Walsh scored a try as the Warriors beat Wests Tigers 30-26 on Friday in Gosford. He also had three try assists and four line break assists.
Walker, an Ipswich product, is among the leading players for try assists in the NRL and may end up battling Walsh for NRL Rookie of the Year honours.
The Broncos were already under fire over the recruitment/retention heading into this season, due to Queensland State of Origin forward David Fifita's defection to local rival Gold Coast. Walsh is salt in the wound; so too the looming departure of Origin winger Xavier Coates to Melbourne next season.
Rugby league great Peter Sterling hailed Walsh's fearless play, after he was pushed into the fullback spot on Friday in place of former Dally M Medal winner and Warriors captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.
"Roger Tuivasa-Sheck actually went to the coach, Nathan Brown, and said, 'Look, I'm not here next year, I know we're still got a season to get through, but this young man is that good I'm happy to go out on to the wing to accommodate him coming into the top grade and playing at fullback'," Sterling said on Sports Sunday.
"I don't think that'll be every week and they'll manage him physically but we just saw what obviously the Warriors players are seeing at training, what he did in this game.
"The great thing about this performance, if you go back and look at it, he throws an intercept pass. Now, if there's something that will make a young player conservative, it's throwing an intercept because you tend to go back into your shell.
"Two minutes later, he throws another cut-out pass for a try, Tuivasa-Sheck scores in the corner. No fear whatsoever, backed his ability."
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from WWOS https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/brisbane-broncos-roster-reece-walsh-sam-walker-darren-lockyer/db0f0cf5-c201-48c6-a01e-4149539096f6
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