The Warriors have confirmed Reece Walsh is free to move to Brisbane. Wayne Bennett may have torpedoed a potential deal with the Dolphins.
Reece Walsh is set to return to the Broncos after the bombshell revelation he will quit the Warriors.
The Daily Telegraph broke the news on Monday that the talented fullback will head back to Red Hill in 2023.
According to the report, Walsh has inked a deal having turned down a staggering $2.8 million offer from Wayne Bennett’s Dolphins.
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The New Zealand club confirmed they have given Walsh permission to explore his options for next season.
Walsh is contracted with the Warriors for 2023 with an option for 2024.
“There has been a major change in Reece’s personal circumstances in the past two months
which have impacted on his ability to move to Auckland with the club next season,” Warriors CEO Cameron George said in a statement.
“We’re working through his situation and have given him permission, with some conditions,
to look at options in Brisbane.
“It’s not the way either Reece or the club had wanted this to play out but we respect the issues he has.”
Warriors head of football Craig Hodges, however, confirmed to NewsCorp Walsh will would link up with the Broncos.
“Reece came to us about a month ago and said he couldn’t commit to coming back to New Zealand,” Hodges said.
“Reece has had a relationship breakdown and he has a young daughter and he said he simply couldn’t be away from her in another country.
“We totally understood that so we said what do you want to do and he said, ‘I would like to go to the Broncos’.
“On that basis, we said OK you can negotiate only with the Broncos, we didn’t want to turn it into a circus with Reece talking with all sorts of clubs and ending up going to a Sydney team.”
It is a massive blow to Wayne Bennett and the Dolphins who had made him a priority target and were understood to be close to signing him.
The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield, however, revealed “bad blood” between the Warriors and the Dolphins may have scuppered any deal.
“Warriors gave him conditional release that he goes to Broncos. Bad blood between Dolphins and Warriors,” he tweeted.
It comes amid news the Warriors have signed Raiders fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.
The Warriors confirmed on Wednesday that Nicoll-Klokstad had signed a three-year deal and would join the club from next season.
Originally published as Warriors’ cryptic ‘conditions’ call on Walsh as ‘bad blood’ revealed in Broncos coup
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