NRL talent Reece Walsh has been arrested during a night out on the Gold Coast’s Surfers Paradise party strip, now under investigation for “drug and public order offences”.
The NRL’s integrity unit and the Warriors are understood to be investigating after footage emerged on social media of the Gold Coast-born 19-year-old being handcuffed by Queensland Police in the early hours of Sunday morning.
“At 0.15am this morning, a 19-year-old Nerang man was issued with a direction to move-on from an area in Surfers Paradise,” a Queensland Police statement obtained by AAP read.
“Around 1.00am, police saw the man had returned to the same area in an alleged contravention of this direction.
“The man was arrested and taken to the Surfers Paradise Police Station where he assisted police with their inquiries.
“He was released a short time later with police now investigating whether the man was involved in drug and public order offences.”
Walsh won the RLPA’s Rookie of the Year award last week and is among the top chances to claim Dally M equivalent at Monday night’s end-of-season function in Brisbane.
Unable to crack it for the Broncos’ top 30, Walsh signed a deal to join the Warriors in March and was given an early release to head there immediately.
Warriors coach Nathan Brown shifted captain and superstar fullback Roger Tuivasa-Sheck to accommodate Walsh and the young gun responded in kind, scoring nine tries and setting up 11 others from 16 appearances.
It was enough for Queensland coach Paul Green to call him up for a State of Origin debut after just seven games, although Walsh never played after suffering an injury the day before the game.
AAP
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