He struggled for game time under former Manly coach Anthony Seibold, but 19-year-old Joey Walsh is set to make his NRL starting debut on Sunday night against the most daunting of opponents, Nathan Cleary and the table-topping Penrith Panthers.
With reports that veteran halfback Jamal Fogarty will miss the Panthers clash with a groin injury, it opens the door for Walsh to make just the second appearance of his fledgling NRL career.
A former Australian U18 rugby union captain, Walsh is about as ‘local’ as any Sea Eagles player can get having attended St Augustine’s College, barely a cut-out pass from the gates of 4 Pines Park at Brookvale.
Walsh made his NRL debut in the final round of 2025, playing 19 minutes off the bench against the New Zealand Warriors.
Prior to the 2026 season Walsh had been widely tipped to be one of this year’s boom NRL rookies following the departure of club legend Daly Cherry-Evans with former premiership-winning halfback Greg Alexander especially high on Walsh’s prospects declaring him ‘as good as any kid I’ve seen at schoolboy level.’
However despite the departure of Anthony Seibold, the opening months of the season have continued to see Walsh exclusively playing No.7 in NSW Cup where he was originally named to play again this weekend.
After taking over as Manly’s interim head coach last month, Kieran Foran explained that like Seibold he was reluctant to throw Walsh straight in the deep end with the club then sitting towards the bottom of the NRL ladder.
“There’s obviously been a lot of noise from the outside… but what people have got to understand is that Joey is 19,” Foran said.
“My opinion of Joey is extremely high, he is an absolute superstar and he is going to be a great player for our club for a long time.”
“But we’re not travelling good enough to put the responsibility of turning a game around on a 19-year-old’s shoulders.”
“Everyone has got to be a bit patient.”
Of course, things have changed considerably since then with the Sea Eagles up to seventh on the NRL ladder following four straight wins and with the pressure released somewhat the need for patience is over.
While his first opportunity of 2026 may only have come about due to Fogarty’s injury, the NRL is about to see first hand what Joey Walsh can do on the biggest stage of all against the toughest opponents of all.
Good luck to him, we say.
Manly face the Panthers on Sunday at CommBank Stadium in the final match of NRL Round 9. Kick-off at 6:15 p.m.
