Walsh a true 'Roo Aussie as work continues unearth his best

“I guess it's something that you adapt to, I feel like I’ve probably had that my whole career, so, I'm pretty used to it now,” Walsh said of the commentary around his games.

“I've got a good circle around me of friends, family and the people at the club that keep me accountable, hold me to a high standard and want to see me do well, so if I just keep doing those things and work hard on myself; at the end of the day, just be a good person, good dad, I'm sure everything will be alright.

“I have just got to keep building my game and I'm working extremely hard here with the club and the message has been just keep doing me and keep being positive and building my game.

“It’s only (been) Round 4, it's a big season and I have just got to keep building each week and turning up to training with a good attitude.

“I think I've probably been someone that's relied on talent and those things that come natural to my game, but (there’s) things that I need to work on … the boys are working extremely hard together and without them, I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing.

“I feel like I've put myself in better positions this year defensively, my work at the back, I think it's improving each week and that's probably something that I haven't had in my game too much, but I think it comes back from the hard pre-season that we had, a lot of running (and working on a) defensive mindset.

“I think that's something that I'm incorporating in my game, having that defensive mindset on top of that attack.”

Taking on Wests Tigers this week, Walsh said the side would still need to prepare well, despite their major attacking threat in Jarome Luai being missing due to suspension.

With the 19-year-old Latu Fainu – who has 10 NRL games to his name – called up to partner Lachlan Galvin, who is also 19 with 25 games played, it would pit the competition’s least experienced halves pairing against the most, with Adam Reynolds and Ben Hunt steering the ship for the home side.

“They're a really interesting team, playing some really good footy at the moment, they've got a lot of individuals that can really hurt you, so I think I've got a really big job this week with my preparation,” Walsh said.

“(Playing with Hunt), he's a class player and it just shows over these four weeks.

“The way he's taking control, he’s really opening up that left edge, so I have just got to keep working hard, doing my job and keep taking the feedback on board and trying to grow each week.”