{"id":739557,"date":"2026-06-16T06:06:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T06:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/739557\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T06:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T06:06:17","slug":"unfair-origin-coaches-defend-ref-after-gambling-bombshell-as-daley-responds-to-awkward-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/739557\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Unfair\u2019: Origin coaches defend ref after gambling bombshell as Daley responds to awkward report"},"content":{"rendered":"

State of Origin coaches Billy Slater and Laurie Daley have both leapt to the defence of referee Ashley Klein after claims made over his previous problems with gambling.<\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the NRL Premiership 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

Klein reportedly lost over $400,000 betting on horse racing and greyhound racing, according to a report from the Sydney Morning Herald.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Klein said in a statement \u201cmy job as a referee has never been impacted\u201d and he was cleared of any wrongdoing by the NRL but the issue has sparked widespread debate, with some questioning whether he should be allowed to officiate Wednesday night\u2019s crucial Origin Game II.<\/p>\n

Slater and Daley were both asked about the issue at Wednesday\u2019s official press conference on match eve in Melbourne. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I personally think it\u2019s unfair to have something personal like that to be revealed publicly. It hasn\u2019t been discussed within our camp,\u201d Slater responded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my personal position with it, I think it\u2019s quite unfair on him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daley added: \u201cI agree with Billy. It\u2019s challenging when things like that get brought up and I just hope he\u2019s got the right support and the people around him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got no concerns with Ashley being apart of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘As a Queenslander, I am worried!’ | 01:44<\/p>\n

MORE ORIGIN NEWS<\/p>\n

CRONK AND KEARY VERDICT: NSW\u2019s biggest fear; shocker could spark change<\/a><\/p>\n

ORIGIN DAILY: Worrying Moses sight for Blues as star\u2019s D-day nears<\/a><\/p>\n

The coaches were then asked by the same reporter if they could \u201cappreciate the optics\u201d of Klein remaining in charge given the recent development.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, for sure,\u201d Slater replied while Daley didn\u2019t answer.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t the only tricky question the Blues coach fielded.<\/p>\n

Following a report from Code Sports that ran just hours before Tuesday\u2019s press conference that suggested Daley was failing to inspire some Blues players<\/a>, the NSW legend was asked to respond to the narrative around his coaching ability at this level – a question Daley responded with a laugh.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want what\u2019s best for New South Wales. I want to win, I want the boys to win and I want to fans to win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I can satisfy everyone from New South Wales and the boys are really happy with their performance, then great.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very funny. You get excited when you win, and disappointed when you lose. There\u2019s nowhere in between. <\/p>\n

The same question was also put to Blues star Cam Murray.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t read into too much of the outside noise all I know is what\u2019s being said inside the four walls,\u201d Murray said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make the Blues proud and we\u2019re all doing the best job we can to prep as good as we can and Laurie is a big part of that. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s our leader and what he\u2019s done for the jersey as a player and coach has been incredible and we want to repay all that hard work and get the win for him tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"State of Origin coaches Billy Slater and Laurie Daley have both leapt to the defence of referee Ashley…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":739558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-739557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739557","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=739557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/739558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}