🏉 Reece Walsh — the NRL’s most dangerous attacker — is getting his chance for the Kangaroos
My Week in Sport(s) 🏉 ⚽️ 🏏 ⚾️ 🏒
Welcome to My Week in Sport(s) — a regular newsletter from Plot the Ball.
Covered in this edition: 🏉 Reece Walsh, ⚽️ Spain, 🏏 Alana King, ⚾️ Roki Sasaki and 🏒 Matthew Schaefer.
🏉 Reece Walsh — the NRL’s most dangerous attacker — is getting his chance for the Kangaroos
For many sports, international competition is the pinnacle. Bluntly, rugby league isn’t yet one of them. Australia — who run the 13-a-side code’s elite club tournaments — have lost just one of their 29 men’s World Cup matches this century.
While the NRL does attract talent from all over the rugby world, the advantage that the Kangaroos possess over every other team they face is astonishing. This does make their squad selection particularly interesting, though. When there are four or five stars who could plausibly be selected at a given position, how difficult is it for any one player to stand out? Over the last few years, it’s been hard to imagine anyone building a stronger case than 23-year-old fullback Reece Walsh.
His dominant performance for the Brisbane Broncos in this year’s NRL Grand Final capped off a three-season stretch during which he was the most productive attacker in the league — by some distance. Walsh has scored or assisted 1.7 tries per 80 minutes since joining the Broncos at the start of 2023; during this period, he has also created 2.4 line breaks per 80 for himself and others. There is clear daylight between him and every other NRL player on both metrics — including his direct competition.
Walsh’s selection in the Kangaroos squad for their three-match tour of England was still far from guaranteed. For starters, he was fortunate that James Tedesco removed himself from contention last month. The 32-year-old started the last World Cup final at fullback for Australia, and was one of the strongest players at the position in the NRL this season — neck and neck with the Bronco — according to one of The Rugby League Eye Test’s advanced metrics.
Even after making the touring squad, it wasn’t clear that he would unseat last year’s starter Dylan Edwards. (Per the chart above, his attacking impact is less impressive.) Ultimately, though, Kangaroos coach Kevin Walters couldn’t ignore the production: Walsh has been picked in the green and gold ‘1’ jersey for tomorrow’s first test at Wembley. If the young fullback takes his chance this year, he’ll be well placed for the 2026 World Cup; somehow, I think he’d have a good chance of winning a medal.
⚽️ Seeking another Nations League title under a new manager, Spain can rely on a familiar strength
Later today, Spain will play their first game since losing to England in the final of Euro 2025. While it will also be the team’s first game under new head coach Sonia Bermúdez, it’s unclear how different we should expect them to look.
Her promotion from within the RFEF has frustrated those who wish to see the Spanish federation make more substantial changes to their women’s programme. She replaces Montse Tomé, who was herself elevated from an assistant role after the 2023 World Cup. To me, the on-field success that followed this previous continuity appointment indicates that it’s the skill of the country’s playing talent that deserves the attention — not whoever is on the sideline. And even at the Euros, that talent shone through.
According to data released by Hudl Statsbomb, Spain were by far the most accurate European team with the ball under pressure for the third major tournament in a row. This summer, they successfully completed 82% of their pressured passes — over 10 percentage points better than France, the next-best team by this metric. I’d expect this current generation of Spanish players — bolstered by a couple of returning stars — to continue to demonstrate their supreme on-ball skill in this international window.
What else I learned last week
🏏 Leg-spinner Alana King is nailing her restrictive role at this World Cup
Spin bowlers have played an unusually large part in this year’s ODI World Cup. So far, they have delivered 59 balls out of every 100 bowled — up from a share of 47% in the 2022 edition hosted by Australia, and a 53% mark at the 2012 tournament in England.
Alana King — Australia’s first-choice leg-spinner — has been exceptional in their five completed matches to date. While she hasn’t taken wickets all that frequently, King has managed to restrict the flow of runs expertly. Across her 32 overs, she has conceded an average of 3.8 runs per over; other spin bowlers in her games have gone at an economy rate of 5.3 in aggregate. That makes King’s economy rate 1.5 runs per over better than expectation — a differential twice as large as the next best spinner’s.
⚾️ Working out of the Dodgers bullpen, Roki Sasaki is back in control
I hope you don’t need me to tell you anything about Shohei Ohtani’s recent exploits in the MLB playoffs. Let’s focus on one of his Japanese teammates instead. As I briefly mentioned last month, Roki Sasaki’s path back to the Majors has been remarkable.
A drop in the velocity of his fastball was a major warning sign for the 23-year-old earlier in the year; so far in the playoffs, he’s back above 99 mph. Sasaki was also wayward during the regular season, however; his inability to throw strikes meant that, on average, every seventh batter he faced got a free pass to first base. That has also changed in October. Heading into Game 1 of the World Series tonight, Sasaki has already faced 29 batters in the postseason — and only issued two walks.
🏒 18-year-old Matthew Schaefer already looks a solid NHL defender
Matthew Schaefer only turned 18 last month, but the aggressive defender hasn’t seemed fazed by his transition to the top level. He was the first-overall selection in this year’s NHL Draft — and he’s already playing 22 minutes a night for the Islanders.
Since the league expanded to 30 teams in 2000, only two players at Schaefer’s position have immediately stepped up to the NHL level after being drafted and taken on such a heavy workload. (This excludes players who appeared in fewer than 41 games.) Most impressively, the Islanders have been solid in the minutes he’s played: heading into yesterday’s game, the team had a 61% share of the even-strength goals scored — and a 50% share of the total xG generated — with Schaefer on the ice.
The next edition of My Week in Sport(s) will be published in two weeks, on Friday November 7th.
