in 1992, walsh played 22 games for illawarra as the club made their first ever finals appearance. walsh played in all of the club's finals matches including their 4-0 defeat against st george in the preliminary final. the loss was hard to take for illawarra as they had beaten st george 18-16 just two weeks earlier in the qualifying final. illawarra did finish the season with a trophy however as they defeated the brisbane broncos 4-2 in the toohey's challenge cup which was a pre-season tournament that started before the commencement of the official competition.