Reece Walsh and Ezra Mam make first public appearance since off-season incident in Bali
The high-profile players were in attendance at the Brisbane Broncos' presentation night.
Reece Walsh and Ezra Mam fronted up to the Broncos' presentation night on Thursday in their first public appearance since an investigation was launched into an incident in Bali last month. The Broncos held their annual Paul Morgan Medal night in Brisbane, with Patrick Carrigan taking out the prestigious award as the club's player of the season.
All of the team's high-profile stars were in attendance, after arriving back in Australia after an end-of-season trip to Bali. Walsh and Mam both fronted up following a tumultuous time during their holiday to the Indonesian island.
The Broncos stars were at the centre of an NRL investigation after a complaint was made about their behaviour. The complaint was in relation to damage that was caused to a person's mobile phone, after they attempted to take a selfie with Walsh.
Mam is said to have taken exception to the person's behaviour, and the phone was damaged. However the players later replaced the phone and paid for it themselves.
Walsh and Mam’s manager Nash Dawson told the Courier Mail: “The damaged phone was simply an accident within a heavily populated nightclub in Bali. A person’s phone was dropped and damaged, to which that person has asked for the player to pay for the damages and the player has already paid it.”
Just days later a photo emerged on social media showing Walsh lying in a hospital bed after a mishap while surfing. The photo was taken from the “resuscitation area” in an Indonesian medical facility, showing Walsh in his underwear receiving treatment.
The fullback was reportedly dragged across a reef after coming off his board while in the surf. While his injuries weren't serious, it caused another unwanted headache for Broncos officials. CEO Dave Donaghy later suggested Walsh and Mam should "pick another destination" for future holidays.
Kevin Walters and wife skip Broncos presentation night
Meanwhile, former coach Kevin Walters opted to skip the presentation night on Thursday despite being invited. Walters was sacked two weeks ago after failing to lead the Broncos into the finals for the third time in his four seasons in charge.
Walters has been retained in an 'ambassadorial' role for the next three years, and club officials had been hoping he would attend on Thursday night. But the former coach and wife Narelle decided to stay away, and Walters is clearly not ready to front the playing group yet.
The Broncos legend was sacked while the players were in Bali, which they claimed "blind-sided" them. But the club had received some not-so glowing feedback from the playing group about Walters when they commissioned an independent review after the season. Some of Walters' communication skills and processes came under heavy fire, and the club hierarchy felt they had no choice but to move him on.
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Carrigan's triumph as Paul Morgan medallist snapped a five-year streak of Payne Haas winning the gong. The back-rower won with 86 votes from Broncos coaches and fellow players, ahead of Selwyn Cobbo (50), Kotoni Staggs (48), Haas (32), Walsh (26), Corey Jensen (23) and Kobe Hetherington (22).
Carrigan was also named best forward of the year, while Staggs won best back and Blake Mozer was named rookie of the year. For the NRLW team, Julia Robinson was voted player of the year and best back, while Keilee Joseph won best forward and Stacey Waaka was rookie of the year.
