{"id":682153,"date":"2026-05-20T03:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T03:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/682153\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T03:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T03:24:10","slug":"worrying-sight-as-blues-star-sits-out-training-real-reason-for-walsh-snub-origin-daily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/682153\/","title":{"rendered":"Worrying sight as Blues star sits out training; real reason for Walsh snub \u2014 Origin Daily"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bulldogs star Stephen Crichton sat out the first Blues training session on Wednesday in a worrying development for NSW coach Laurie Daley.<\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Crichton was spotted in sneakers and his tracksuit while the rest of the Blues squad was put through their paces. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

According to Code Sports<\/a>, he was one of the most vocal members of the squad despite not taking part in the drills.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old picked up an AC joint injury in Round 5 against the Rabbitohs on Good Friday and has been managung the injury<\/p>\n

His selection in the side was already the subject of conjecture with reports he could have missed out if not for Latrell Mitchell\u2019s late withdrawal.<\/p>\n

Blues skipper Isaah Yeo revealed Crichton did not take part due to a niggle from Magic Round.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was just a little niggle from the weekend, but as far as I know he will be training tomorrow,\u201d Yeo said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think we were just looking after him today. We didn\u2019t do all that much, so it was just to give him another day to recover and he will be right tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blues, meanwhile, added four players to the NSW squad to train with the side for the next two days including Eels fullback Joash Papalii, Panthers five-eighth Blaize Talagi, Sharks forward Tom Hazelton and Knights back-rower Mat Croker.<\/p>\n

Stephen Crichton sat out the Blues\u2019 first session.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

BLUES GREAT\u2019S REVEAL ON REASON FOR WALSH\u2019S MAROONS SNUB<\/p>\n

Blues great James Maloney has lifted the lid on the real reason behind Broncos star Reece Walsh\u2019s shock omission from Billy Slater\u2019s Queensland team for State of Origin I. <\/p>\n

Despite being the incumbent Kangaroos fullback, Walsh was overlooked for a Maroons recall in favour of Knights star Kalyn Ponga and he couldn\u2019t even grab a spot on the bench. <\/p>\n

The unusual snub of Walsh, given his heroics in leading the Broncos to the 2025 title and the Kangaroos to an Ashes series sweep was a huge point of conjecture when the Queensland team was named. <\/p>\n

However, Maloney revealed on the Extended Bench Podcast that the call came from Walsh due to his limited game time since returning from a facial fracture. <\/p>\n

\u201cI heard that Reece Walsh had a conversation with Billy Slater and he just said with his facial fracture that he just isn\u2019t 100 per cent,\u201d Maloney revealed on news.com.au\u2019s Extended Bench.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me that makes sense. I don\u2019t know why else you\u2019d leave him out and I don\u2019t think Billy (Slater) would leave him out if he was alright.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if he\u2019s said I\u2019m not quite right then he (Slater) went okay I\u2019ll leave you (out of the team) and I reckon he\u2019s a big chance of being involved in Game 2 and 3.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re not 100 per cent confident and you have to put your body on the line and you\u2019re concerned about it, it would be a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Reece Walsh may have ruled himself out of Origin I.Source: Supplied<\/p>\n

Maloney conceded the Blues would be happy not to see Walsh\u2019s name in the team sheet, but feels it is the right call if the Broncos star was not 100 per cent fit. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think as a New South Welshman I am happy for Reece Walsh not to be there. If we\u2019re talking about leg speed and as guys get tired the last thing you want is Kalyn Ponga, Hammer and Walsh somewhere that\u2019s a scary prospect as people are getting tired on the field,\u201d Maloney said. <\/p>\n

\u201c(But) if you\u2019re not at full strength and you can\u2019t train, you can\u2019t do all that stuff and everything to the you know to your best abilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you got to sit out of sessions and different things, then it\u2019s sort of you\u2019re better off to go with someone who\u2019s 100 per cent fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get all the latest NRL news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\n

Nikora proud to wear Maroons jersey | 00:58<\/p>\n

Earlier former Blues five-eighth Luke Keary felt there was more to Walsh\u2019s omission than Slater was letting on, especially given Cameron Smith left him out of his Origin team weeks ago. <\/p>\n

\u201cSomething doesn\u2019t add up,\u201d Keary said on Channel 7\u2019s The Agenda Setters. <\/p>\n

\u201cLast week Cam Smith, Queensland legend and very close friend of Billy Slater, named his Queensland team and it didn\u2019t have Reece Walsh in it. <\/p>\n

\u201cCam Smith works at the Brisbane Broncos as a leadership consultant, so he\u2019s obviously close with Reece and that team, for him to not have (Walsh) in that team, it was very, very bizarre to me. Very bizarre.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something that doesn\u2019t add up and I don\u2019t know how to explain it.\u201d <\/p>\n

‘Sua’ali’i send off, winning QLD decider | 06:35<\/p>\n

Keary agreed that Walsh may have had a conversation with Slater that ruled him out of contention for game one. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo way (was it form only),\u201d Keary said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obviously a conversation Billy will have with Reece in the background. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just find it very hard to believe that the Clive Churchill medallist, the best player in the Ashes series, he\u2019s probably the best player, behind Nathan Cleary, when he\u2019s on \u2014 and he hasn\u2019t been off this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got injured, but he hasn\u2019t been off, and Kalyn\u2019s been injured too. This isn\u2019t like Kalyn\u2019s absolute lit up the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barnett shuts down Ford speculation | 01:02<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bulldogs star Stephen Crichton sat out the first Blues training session on Wednesday in a worrying development for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":682154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[63,689,11170,328976,328972,4428,3193,3464,328973,17343,68513,763,12099,2105,43,328875,5094,4552,226491,1082,191153,56527,12412,6407,10750,673,1736,44,677,99695,324048,104570,328969,328974,91265,328975,33195,58868,124539,328971,56397,4546,41649,328970,99325,41,39,42,40,125787],"class_list":["post-682153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-billy-slater","tag-blues-star-sits","tag-blues-training","tag-brisbane-broncos","tag-cameron-smith","tag-chelsea-football-club","tag-contentious-call-up","tag-daily-telegraph","tag-facial-fracture","tag-fox-league","tag-game-time","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-headlines","tag-injury-specualtions","tag-isaah-yeo","tag-jake-trbojevic","tag-james-h-maloney","tag-latrell-mitchell","tag-leadership-consultant","tag-luke-keary","tag-matt-king","tag-michael-maguire","tag-mitch-barnett","tag-new-south-wales","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-oceania","tag-open-training-session","tag-origin-i-origin-daily","tag-real-reason","tag-real-reason-billy","tag-reason-billy-slater","tag-rebuilding-team","tag-reece-walsh-origin","tag-season-opener","tag-series-sweep","tag-series-triumph","tag-shock-omission","tag-star-returns","tag-stephen-crichton","tag-team-sheet","tag-team-weeks","tag-tom-hazelton","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-wyong"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/682154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}