Manly’s Joey Walsh gets his chance against Nathan Cleary
Scott Bailey
Kieran Foran has made the biggest call of his rookie coaching career, revealing youngster Joey Walsh is set to start as NRL halfback opposite four-time Penrith title winner and NSW Origin champion Nathan Cleary.
Regular Manly player Jamal Fogarty has been ruled out of the Sea Eagles’ round nine clash against Penrith at CommBank Stadium on Sunday evening with a groin injury.
This means Walsh will have one of the toughest starts in the game and will go head-to-head with Cleary.
“He has endless natural talent,” Manly interim coach Foran said of 19-year-old Walsh.
“And he’s a great student of the game, he works extremely hard. He’s a tough kid, really brave and competitive.”
“He ticks so many boxes. We have high hopes for Joey’s future in this game, without putting too much pressure on him. “We love what he’s about.
“And he’s going to go out there and do it tomorrow night. And we have full confidence that he’s going to go out there and get the job done.”
The Sea Eagles had given Fogarty until yesterday’s captain’s run to prove his fitness and he is hopeful of facing Brisbane next week after coming off late against Parramatta.
Walsh is seen as Manly’s future; The former Australian schoolboys rugby union representative played 19 minutes off the bench in his NRL debut in Daly Cherry-Evans’ farewell match at the end of last season.
Former Manly coach Anthony Seibold opted to move on from Walsh to develop in the NSW Cup earlier this year, before Foran adopted a similar approach following Seibold’s sacking.
Junior point guard Onitoni Large is also considered a long-term prospect.
The Sea Eagles have Luke Brooks at five-eighth on the books until the end of next year, while Fogarty is contracted until the end of 2028.
Fogarty has been one of Manly’s best this year, while Brooks has improved significantly since Foran’s takeover, with the Sea Eagles winning four in a row.
“He had been knocking on the door for a while and knew he was around,” Foran said of Walsh.
“It was really important for him to continue to work on his game in the NSW Cup and build on the parts of his game that we wanted him to work on.
“He’s playing really well. I told him a few weeks ago that his opportunity would come at some point through injury or something else, and this week it did.”
Another aspect of Manly’s future is that they are yet to enter into talks about their next coach and taking over full-time after Foran’s flawless start.
The Sea Eagles face the Panthers, Brisbane and Wests Tigers in the next three weeks and it looks set to be their biggest test yet under Manly’s superb management.
Penrith coach Ivan Cleary joked this week: “I’m a bit annoyed with Foz, he makes it look so easy when we’re trying to tell everyone how hard it is.”
“This is an incredible achievement, isn’t it?
“It is clear that it is still early in his coaching journey but it is clear that he knows what he is doing and has the full respect of the team.”
AAP
