Brown in quandary with Walsh

It was bound to happen at some point and on Saturday against the Rabbitohs Reece Walsh suffered his first setback as an NRL player.

The gifted 18-year-old did score an outstanding try in the second half, but otherwise the 60-22 loss was a game where he was taught some tough lessons.

Souths targeted Walsh’s defensive limitations, sending big runners directly towards him when close to the try line.

With his kicking game, Walsh also made a number of costly blunders, with two poor kicks in the first half resulting in tries to Souths.

Warriors coach Nathan Brown has often looked to play down the hype around Walsh and he has also said the young star might not play every game this season. So is it time to give him a week off?

After the hiding on the Sunshine Coast Brown acknowledged that the game should be a good learning experience for Walsh.

‘‘[Reece] saw Cody [Walker] as a five-eighth and Latrell [Mitchell] as a fullback and they’re blokes that have got a lot of experience.

‘‘So he would have got some great lessons out of how those blokes approached the game.

‘‘At 18 years of age, they wouldn’t have been approaching it like that themselves and that’s what experience does for you.’’

Brown will have the tough decision to make whether to play Walsh against Wests Tigers on Friday or let him play for Redcliffe Dolphins in the Queensland Cup, to regain confidence.

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck will be back for the Tigers game and Brown may be inclined to hand him the No 1 jersey.