But all the screws, plates and the steel rod holding his battered ankle together let him down when it mattered most yesterday.

A cruel sub-plot of his side's dominant grandfinal triump over Cessnock was the Wests captain and reigning player of the year virtually playing no part in the victory.

Luckless Walsh lasted just five minutes of the decider before being assisted off with a left ankle injury that has become an all too common problem during his career.

He got his ankle wedged awkwardly underneath Cessnock winger Seaton Reid as he went in for a tackle and instantly knew he was in trouble. He showed his frustration by hurling his mouthguard into the turf as he was leaving the field.

"I'm not sure what it is but I felt it straight away and knew straight away I was gone," he said.

Given his history, this latest injury is certain to lead to speculation about whether, at 32, Walsh will play again. He desperately wants to keep playing and hasn't been contemplating retirement.

"It's too early to say," Walsh said. "I hope it's not the end, I don't know to be honest. I'll have to wait and see. Initially when I first did it overseas, it was a compound fracture of my leg and dislocation of my ankle and I've done just about every ligament in my ankle. It's given me trouble ever since.

"I've had 12 surgeries on it believe it or not and it's probably too early to say if I'll have to go again and have another operation. I'll probably have scans later in the week and fingers crossed, it won't be too serious."

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In a euphoric Rosellas dressingroom, Walsh admitted it was a bitter-sweet feeling.

"Personally, I'm shattered but at the same time, I'm over the moon for the boys," he said. "We worked so hard during the year so I couldn't be prouder or happier for everyone at the club."

He was particularly pleased for his younger brother Ryan, who started the game in the halves alongside Walsh before taking a more dominant role when his brother went off. He also landed six from six in the goal-kicking department.

"Ryan's a class player and I'm very proud of him," Walsh said. "He's worked hard for this and I couldn't be prouder of how he took the reigns today and his kicking was great."

Walsh said he had plenty of faith in his teammates to get the job done without him.

"We knew if we started well, we'd go a long way to putting ourselves in a position to win and we really set it up in the first half. "Ryan, Chad [O'Donnell] and Keeno [Sam Keenan] really stepped up for us and a big rap to our hooker [Alex Langbridge] too, he's been outstanding all year. Our middles were great and obviously Ryan Walker on the edge there.

"But everyone did their job out there."