Walsh carries target on his back into crucial match
BY ROBERT DILLON
THE Newcastle Knights have warned former teammate Luke Walsh there will be nowhere to hide in tomorrow's live-and-let-die showdown with Penrith at EnergyAustralia Stadium.
Walsh will be playing his first game against Newcastle since requesting a release in March to join the Panthers, for whom he has played 17 games to resurrect his NRL career.
Walsh, a popular clubman in his years with the Knights, can expect a hostile reception tomorrow in a game that is a sudden-death battle to determine the last available berth in next week's play-offs.
Newcastle's big forwards will be on a seek-and-destroy mission and have pinpointed Walsh and Penrith five-eighth Wade Graham as their main targets.
At 173 centimetres and 82 kilograms, Walsh is one of the competition's bantamweights, and statistics highlight his defensive shortcomings.
In his 30 NRL games, the 22-year-old has made 282 tackles and missed 110. In other words, on average he misses more than one in four tackles he attempts.
In his past two games, against South Sydney and Parramatta, he missed more tackles (10) than he effected (nine).
Knights coach Rick Stone said Newcastle "probably know Walshy's game as well as anyone" and confirmed heavy traffic such as Cory Paterson, Steve Simpson, Danny Wicks and Richie Fa'aoso would be heading in his direction at every opportunity.
"It's just the law of the jungle in the NRL these days," Stone said.
"You've got to hold your gloves up if you're a halfback or a little bloke in the defensive line.
"It's the same for Scotty Dureau and Jarrod Mullen and Ben Rogers, or whoever's playing in the halves.
"Every week their opponents go looking for them, some a little bit harder than others.
"Walshy knows he'll get his little bit of attention, like he does every week."
Paterson, who stands 22 centimetres taller and weighs 25 kilograms more than Walsh, said he had spoken to his long-time mate this week, but their friendship would be put on hold tomorrow.
"Hopefully I can get over the little fella," Paterson said.
"My plan will be to make it tough for him and get into him a bit. Walshy's a great player and a great friend of mine, but it will be part of our tactics to get at him.
"He's in for a tough day.
"He gives as good as he gets and tries hard, but if we get plenty of ball and complete our sets, we'll find him."
It is understood Walsh told his former Knights teammates in March that his only regret about leaving was that he would eventually have to play against Simpson.
That daunting prospect becomes a reality tomorrow, and the veteran back-rower said Newcastle would try to isolate Walsh and 18-year-old Graham, who has missed 81 tackles in 21 matches this year.
"We've got a job to do on Sunday, and if there's something we can do to unsettle him, we'll be doing it," Simpson said.
Stone said he was pleased Walsh had proved himself to be a first-grader at Penrith and revealed they had a friendly chat last weekend when they bumped into each other at a junior grand final.
"I wished him well, but he understands that he's going to get a little bit of a workout, as most halfbacks do each week," he said.
Herald
