BRONCOS legend Kevin Walters believes Cody Walker can partner Cooper Cronk in the Melbourne halves next year after the Storm won a bidding war for the Queensland Cup's No.1 player.

Already crowned player of the year, Walker has received the ultimate reward, signing an NRL contract with Melbourne following Easts' 31-18 semi-final defeat of Mackay last Sunday.

Remarkably, the Storm have secured the competition's best-and-fairest Walker and rookie-of-the-year Cameron Munster after both were overlooked by the Broncos.

The 23-year-old five-eighth was offered to the Broncos earlier this season, but Brisbane scouts opted for 20-year-old Redcliffe rival Zac Strasser.

Walters, currently an assistant at Melbourne, believes the Storm are the big winners.

The champion former Broncos pivot has monitored Walker's development and is adamant he can flourish outside Cronk in 2014 as the successor to Dragons-bound Gareth Widdop.

"Cody is a real talent," Walters said.

"Cody actually came down to Melbourne in pre-season and he buggered his shoulder doing some wrestling drills, so we didn't see a lot of him on the training field.

"But his attitude was good. There's no questioning his ability and he will be a good acquisition for the Storm.

"With (Brett) Finch and Widdop moving on ... Ben Hampton is here but Cody is also a quality five-eighth and he will learn a lot from Cooper in the Melbourne system."

It has been a bitter-sweet period for Walker. Twenty-four hours after winning the Queensland Cup player of the year last week, he drove to the far-north NSW town of Casino to attend the funeral of an uncle.

Easts Tigers coach Craig Ingebrigtsen has no doubt the match-winner has the skill-set to succeed at the Storm.

"He's NRL ready, I'm proud of him," Ingebrigtsen said.

"I watched him train last Friday night alongside Gareth Widdop and he wasn't far behind him.

"He's just a natural footballer, Cody is so instinctive. I coached Daly Cherry-Evans (Manly and Queensland playmaker) and Cody is very similar, he knows what he is going to do two plays before it happens.

"The Broncos went off him a bit. They signed Zac Strasser but naturally we think Cody is a better player and he would have been the perfect choice for the Broncos at five-eighth.

"But he gets his chance at Melbourne and he will really respond under (coach) Craig Bellamy."