Whether he’s stepping, limping, spewing, complaining or simply batting his eyelids, Walsh glues eyeballs to the game because nobody wants to miss the next swan dive or subsequent cut-away vision of an enraged boomer.
This makes him virtual money in the bank, and that’s why Peter V’landys (the horse racing guy) needs to intervene before the 21 year old does something stupid, like sign with rugby.
Currently tied to Brisbane until the end of 2025 on a modest deal, rumours abounded last month of Walsh signing a five year upgrade worth $1.2m per year, but these were shot down by the man himself.
Either way, even though this amount could easily buy him a suburb in Brisbane, it’s chump change compared to the beefed-up contracts offered in global rugby.
Put simply, European rugby print their own money and Rugby Australia neglect theirs, and that’s what makes the rival code so dangerous.
French clubs have the advantage of no salary cap, and even though 80% of their turnover is funnelled to Israel Folau and Eddie Jones, Rugby Australia won’t hesitate to starve grassroots or a Super Rugby club to fund a unicorn raid.