NRL player Reece Walsh has offended The Frownlow Medal with a lame effort to earn another nomination.
Walsh recently posted a video of himself on social media punching his friend and sent the mainstream media into a clickbait frenzy.
The Frownlow Medal is awarded to the player whose off-field demeanour epitomises the values of the modern-day footballer and draws attention to the status of footballers as role models to young Australians. It covers Australia’s four major football codes: the men’s and women’s National Rugby League (NRL), Australian Football League (AFL), the A-League (Football) and Rugby Union’s Super Rugby competition. NRL player Shaun Kenny-Dowall won the inaugural medal in 2015, while NRL star Ezra Mam is the most recent recipient.
The Brisbane fullback recently posted a video of himself on his own social media platform punching his friend in the head while wearing a boxing glove. The punch took place at a party with friends and sent the friend falling to the floor in a fit of laughter.
And Walsh was criticised for that.
This lame attempt to earn yet another Frownlow nomination is quite frankly an insult to the most-prestigious cross-code award in Australian sport. Players have been nominated and awarded for incidents such as assault, domestic violence, prison sentences and rape, and Walsh thinks he deserves to be held in the same esteem for a harmless party prank.
Turn it up!
Or, as they say in the classics,
Reece, give yourself an uppercut.
The paltry punch also pales in comparison to Walsh’s previous nominations. He was nominated in 2022 for a scuffle with former teammate David Fifita in a Queensland nightclub. Disappointingly for NRL fans and fellow patrons, the players did not throw a punch, but Walsh sent himself to the sin bin, leaving the bar without force after security separated the pair.
Walsh was also arrested in Surfers Paradise in 2021 after refusing a move on direction and being found in possession of cocaine. He also made headlines after an incident in a bar in Bali alongside Mam in 2024.
Walsh knows exactly what it takes to win the Frownlow, which makes the latest incident so disappointing.
The reaction to the punch and the video is also a sad indictment on Australia’s mainstream media. Coverage is nothing more than lazy clickbait on behalf of media outlets which are failing to expose real scandals in society.
They and Walsh must do better.
Image: NuNa
The Frownlow Medal 