Reece Walsh has risked the wrath of his club again after the Brisbane Broncos star appeared to make a joke about his bizarre toilet water stunt on social media on Wednesday.
Walsh took to Instagram to change his display picture to an image of himself wearing a blue denim shirt with the words ‘Plumber & Co’ embroidered on the top.
It was a direct reference to a bizarre and now deleted video published on his Snapchat account earlier this week that showed him dipping his hand into a toilet before appearing to scoop out a handful of water and drink the fluid.
In the clip, the footy larrikin, who has come under fire earlier this year for another bizarre social media clip, appeared to claim that drinking the water was good recovery for one’s muscles, stating: ‘They reckon there is a new form of recovery, to recover the muscles.’
‘You just get a little drink,’ he said, as he scooped water out from the toilet bowl.
The video shocked many around the AFL, with the Broncos subsequently being forced to release a statement, urging people not to follow suit of the 23-year-old, who had supposedly been drinking water from a newly-fitted toilet in his house.
‘Brisbane Broncos are aware of a video posted by Reece Walsh on a social media platform,’ a club spokesperson said to The Daily Telegraph.
‘The club can clarify that Walsh is currently renovating his home and has installed a brand-new toilet in a new bathroom, which remains unused.
‘The video represents a poor attempt at humour posted privately by Walsh. No one should take this video seriously or act upon the advice.’
While Walsh has continued to lean into the joke, which the Broncos called ‘a poor attempt at toilet humour,’ the footy star has also been warned by one former AFL player-turned-plumber that the toilet might not have been as clean as he thinks.
Josh Reynolds made 145 appearances for the Canterbury Bulldogs during his footy career, while he also enjoyed a spell with the Wests Tigers and Hull FC before hanging up his boots in 2023.
Away from footy, Reynolds has also worked as a plumber and noted that the Broncos had claimed that Walsh was dipping his hand into a brand-new toilet.
‘Timing is everything in comedy, but oh my god, Reece,’ Reynolds began, while speaking on ESPN’s podcast, NRL Boom Rookies.
‘I obviously see the player’s side to this that he probably goes into training and everyone goes: “What are you doing?”
‘In the Broncos statement, they said: ”Just to let everyone know this is a new toilet in a new build”.
‘Just to let everyone know, I’m actually a plumber… and let me just tell you, if you’re building a new house and you’ve bought the new unit, the toilet’s been used before by the workers. Trust me.
‘So it’s not a first use… Reece, he’s thinking it’s all clean, it’s not.
‘It’s definitely been used by the tiler, the possible plumber, when people go to do the work, where are they going to go?’
Later on Wednesday evening, Walsh also published an image of a tradie working in his bathroom wearing a high-visibility top.
The footy star had also published an image on his Instagram account of himself in a Bunnings hardware store underneath a sign that read the words ‘Thru to plumbing’.
Walsh was forced to apologise earlier this year after he published a video on Instagram where he was seen punching one of his ‘best mates’ in the side of the head while wearing a pair of boxing gloves.
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The clip was said to be a joke, but saw the 23-year-old fullback wind up a big right hook before sending the other man to the ground. The Broncos were ‘privately furious’ about the bizarre clip.
The Queensland star’s latest antics come when Brisbane have had to stand down top try scorerer Gehamat Shibasaki after he allegedly turned up to training after he turned up to training on Monday still feeling the effects of a big night out on Sunday.
On Wednesday, Broncos boss Michael Maguire addressed questions on behavioural standards at the footy club, claiming Walsh’s actions were‘ unusual’ before stating that he needed to change his behaviour.
‘I speak to the players about that, and we are all different. That’s a different one,’ Maguire said of Walsh
‘They’re things that we talk about internally. I’ll keep those conversations internal.
‘He’s very passionate about what we’re doing, and he just needs to make sure he adjusts to the expectations.
‘We’re all in this together, working towards trying to build a great club, and that’s what I set out to (do) when we first got here.
‘It is a great club and the support is incredible. It’s probably bigger than I expected now with the club itself, and it’s unreal, so whatever we do is magnified. And obviously, he understands that part of who he is as a Broncos player and needs to adjust to the various things that we’re moving towards.’
The footy boss then added that Walsh needed to understand that his antics could have had ‘influence’ on the wider community, with the club later having to tell fans that the clip was not meant to be serious.
‘You’ve got to go through experiences, and that’s an experience. I guess the club itself had to feel they had to do something and he needs to adjust that,’ Maguire said.
‘We have a big influence on our community, and I spoke to him about the great influence that he can have as well.’
