Why Walsh is living \u2018rent-free\u2019 in NSW heads as scary Maroons scenario revealed<\/a><\/p>\nBoyd Cordner gets behind Laurie Daley | 05:16<\/p>\n
I guess that is normal enough given we always pick apart team selections and throw our two-bobs worth in for the fun of it.<\/p>\n
But it went to the next level when a report in The Courier Mail emerged this week questioning Daley\u2019s coaching credibility with sensational claims that his pre-match speeches were basically putting the Blues players to sleep.<\/p>\n
It referred to the fact NSW had been outscored 66-12 in the first halves of the past three Origins under Daley and claimed \u201cmultiple sources\u201d had suggested players had concerns about his coaching throughout the 10-day camp leading into Origin I.<\/p>\n
This in turn led Queensland great Gorden Tallis, of all people, to jump to Daley\u2019s defence on NRL 360 on Tuesday night, where the Raging Bull said the player who leaked the information should \u201cnever play again\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should not need to be motivated to play for this state or anybody,\u201d Tallis fired.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are so privileged to run out in any jersey in rugby league and if you need to be motivated … go play another game\u201d.<\/p>\n
When it is left to a Queensland legend to defend the NSW coach, it says everything about the mess the Blues have created for themselves.<\/p>\n
And NSW fans are entitled to question what the hell is going on.<\/p>\n
NSW Blues coach Laurie Daley and Queensland Maroons coach Billy Slater speak to the media before State Of Origin II in Melbourne.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Yet this wasn\u2019t the only alleged leak that came out of the Blues camp.<\/p>\n
Days earlier, multiple reports across rival media outlets emerged attempting to justify the controversial dumping of Olakau\u2019atu.<\/p>\n
Both News Corp and Nine Newspapers carried details about the perceived weaknesses in Olakau\u2019atu\u2019s off-ball effort areas.<\/p>\n
I found it extraordinary that the information would be revealed from within, even if that was the real reason behind Olakau\u2019atu\u2019s mind-boggling omission.<\/p>\n
Olakau\u2019atu had already suffered the indignity of arriving in camp believing he was in the team before later being told he had been dropped.<\/p>\n
Why then was there a need to throw him under the Blues bus for good measure?<\/p>\n
It reminded me of what happened at the Bulldogs last year when Toby Sexton was dropped and suddenly statistics about his shortcomings seemed to appear everywhere.<\/p>\n
Daley questioned on big Olakau’atu call | 01:31<\/p>\n
Yet compare that to Queensland, where Slater made one of the biggest selection calls in Origin history when he overlooked Reece Walsh for Game I.<\/p>\n
But did we hear stories detailing the flaws in Walsh\u2019s game to defend Slater for leaving him out?<\/p>\n
Not a bloody word.<\/p>\n
Instead, Slater publicly praised Walsh at every opportunity.<\/p>\n
And even after Queensland lost, I can\u2019t recall anyone questioning whether things might have been different had Walsh been on standby after Kalyn Ponga\u2019s send-off.<\/p>\n
There was no pile on or second-guessing.<\/p>\n
Now Walsh is back for Game II.<\/p>\n
And again, it all seems to slide under the radar as though Billy had it mapped out perfectly from the very beginning.<\/p>\n
Yet when questioned about how he plans to use Walsh, Slater offers little more than his trademark Origin response: \u201cIt is what it is … we\u2019re Queenslanders.\u201d<\/p>\n
And everyone nods as the conversation moves on.<\/p>\n
‘Do you wanna bet?’ Walsh QLD impact | 01:18<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the best edge forward in the NRL has been punted from the Blues for Game II, and Olakau\u2019atu\u2019s so-called shortcomings are out there for everyone to debate.<\/p>\n
Now I am not suggesting it was the coach or even the coaching staff who leaked any of this.<\/p>\n
But it didn\u2019t just appear from thin air across multiple news outlets unless someone leaked it.<\/p>\n
So you can only assume it came from within.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s my point.<\/p>\n
For decades Queensland\u2019s greatest strength when it comes to Origin hasn\u2019t been talent.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s how they always seem to pull together regardless of any situation they find themselves in.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t matter who they pick, or who they leave out, it is like the entire state rallies as one and never turns on each other.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Blues end up fighting battles of their own making.<\/p>\n
And then they wonder why Queenslanders keep saying they get Origin, and NSW don\u2019t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For a state that is coming off a win in the Origin opener, it is fascinating how much…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":741212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,11170,66896,114538,6406,18021,761,762,158,13391,159,85,6405],"class_list":["post-741211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-billy-slater","tag-courier-mail","tag-haumole-olakauatu","tag-laurie-daley","tag-mcg","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-reece-walsh","tag-rugby-league","tag-sports","tag-state-of-origin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741211","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=741211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/741212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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