Wally Lewis responds to Billy Walters' new role as Kevin Walters truth singled out

Yahoo

18 hours ago

League legend Wally Lewis says Billy Walters' move to the halves is another chance for the Broncos star to silence his critics and does not believe he will be overrawed by stepping into his famous father's old jersey. Kevin Walters is one of the greatest players in Brisbane's history to wear the No.6 jersey, featuring at five-eighth in four of his five grand final victories with the Broncos during his playing days.
Now his son Billy looks set to be given his chance to make his mark in the famous jumper after hamstring injuries to first-choice halves pair Ezra Mam and Adam Reynolds. The Broncos playmakers both went down in the same crazy passage of play against the Storm last week, with Brisbane also losing Selwyn Cobbo to a hamstring injury in a devastating blow to Brisbane's NRL finals hopes.
Reynolds is reportedly a chance to return before the finals but the prognosis is not as good for Mam and Cobbo, whose seasons could be over. But Walters is ready to step up into the halves void to play alongside Ben Hunt, after training alongside the veteran playmaker in the five-eighth role on Monday.
Walters played in the halves at the Storm and Wests Tigers and was initially signed by the Broncos to play in that position. He also alternated between the halves and hooking roles in pre-season after admitting that he 'wasn't ready' to be thrust into the five-eighth role last season when injuries struck.
But with Brisbane's finals hopes on the line, pressure will be on Walters to perform, with Saturday's home game against local rivals the Dolphins looming as crucial to both side's top-eight chances. Lewis says the inevitable comparisons to his famous father make it even more challenging for the younger Walters, but doesn't believe he's phased by the weight of expectation after hailing the move to five-eighth.
Wally Lewis backs Billy Walters in No.6 role for Broncos
'It is selections like this which prove that Billy has forged his own path and done very well and the critics have learnt to shut their mouths. I admire him. He has plenty of skills," Lewis told . 'He has done well. Early in his career he may have lacked a bit of confidence and he would have gone through that period where people would have said, 'Well, his father would not have done that'... (but) Billy doesn't need to be compared to his father. He is a completely different kid."
Walters played two trials in the halves to prove to coach Michael Maguire that he can be trusted in the playmaking role if called upon. Brisbane's late-season injury carnage means that opportunity has now come, and Walters said earlier this year that the work he did in pre-season would hold him in good stead.
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'I have always enjoyed five-eighth," Walter said at the time. 'I trained probably 50-50 in the halves in pre-season. Something me and Madge (coach Michael Maguire) spoke about in pre-season was that I hadn't trained too much at six. I got thrown in there a few times last year and wasn't ready for it, so I got some reps in there after talking to Madge and dusted off the cobwebs."
Walters' move to the halves is expected to see Cory Paix move into the starting hooker role, having played most of the season in the No.9 jersey. Frontrunner Josiah Karapani and Jesse Arthars are battling it out for Cobbo's vacant wing spot, with the sixth-placed Broncos knowing a win against the eighth-placed Dolphins will all but wrap up a spot in the finals.
with AAP