{"id":743485,"date":"2026-06-18T01:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T01:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/743485\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T01:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T01:50:11","slug":"state-of-origin-2026-kotoni-staggs-learns-fate-over-kalyn-ponga-high-shot-victor-radley-cops-fine-for-high-shot-what-happened-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/743485\/","title":{"rendered":"State of Origin 2026: Kotoni Staggs learns fate over Kalyn Ponga high shot, Victor Radley cops fine for high shot, what happened, news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kotoni Staggs\u2019 62nd minute sin-bin for his shot on Kalyn Ponga has come under fire as NSW consider what went wrong in their second-half capitulation in Origin Game II<\/a>.<\/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

Staggs was placed in the bin in the 62nd minute of the Blues\u2019 44-24 loss to the Maroons at the MCG on Wednesday, after he was found to have come out of the line and pose an \u2018elevated risk of injury\u2019 to Ponga – according to referee Ashley Klein.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Staggs received a fine of 13% of his match fee for the tackle but escaped suspension.<\/p>\n

Teammate Victor Radley was also punished for a seperate incident in the first half where he collected Trent Loiero high.<\/p>\n

Despite his poor track record, Radley will be fined just seven per cent of his Game II match fee with an early plea.<\/p>\n

Ponga passed the ball to Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow before Staggs could take his shot, leading to a Queensland try. Tabuai-Fidow linked with Selwyn Cobbo, who kicked for the speedster to score – opening the floodgates for Queensland to pile on 32 second-half points.<\/p>\n

Blues legend Johns drew comparisons between the Staggs incident and the infamous Joseph-Aukuso Sua\u2019ali\u2019i dangerous shoulder tackle on Queensland fullback Reece Walsh. That incident resulted in Sua\u2019ali\u2019i being sent from the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s extraordinary, he\u2019s been hammered,\u201d said Nine commentator Mat Thompson.<\/p>\n

\u201cTempers are frayed in back play. Ponga got hit hard. But on the scoreboard it will be a victory to Queensland.<\/p>\n

Shoulder charge or play on? | 00:58<\/p>\n

\u201cThe replay shows he\u2019s come out with intent. If its determined there\u2019s direct contact to the head, there\u2019s a fairly inevitable conclusion about what happens here.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a night where Queensland playmaker kicked eight from eight, and led a devasting second half from the Maroons side, Staggs\u2019 brain explosion will be examined as a key flashpoint in the game.<\/p>\n

Kalyn Ponga was flattened by Kotoni Staggs. Image: NineSource: Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cKotoni Staggs comes up out of the play. This is bad. This is bad,\u201d Johns said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is not good.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt reminds me on the Joseph Sua\u2019ali\u2019i tackle on Reece Walsh.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kotoni Staggs\u2019 62nd minute sin-bin for his shot on Kalyn Ponga has come under fire as NSW consider…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":743486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,85,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-743485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743485","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=743485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/743486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}