{"id":787246,"date":"2026-07-08T15:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/787246\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T15:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:47:10","slug":"state-of-origin-iii-confusion-as-nsw-blues-legend-disappears-from-channel-9-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/787246\/","title":{"rendered":"State of Origin III confusion as NSW Blues legend disappears from Channel 9 coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Channel 9 has stunned viewers by snubbing former NSW Blues captain Paul Gallen from their State of Origin III coverage on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Code Sports<\/a> revealed Gallen is doing corporate gigs at Suncorp Stadium, but has been omitted from the broadcaster\u2019s commentary team.<\/p>\n

The reason behind the decision to oust the 2016 Origin-winning captain remains unclear, and news.com.au has approached Channel 9 for comment.<\/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

Many fans on social media were quick to criticise the move from Channel 9, with The League Scene saying: \u201cCuriously, will not be featuring in tonight\u2019s Origin coverage.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite being the most capped NSW captain of all time and a regular on Nine\u2019s coverage \u2014 and being at Suncorp Stadium for the match – Gallen will not be featuring pre, during or post match.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Shannon added: \u201cGive us Gallen over Gus (Phil Gould) any day.\u201d<\/p>\n

SuthoBrian reacted: \u201cBecause 9 would rather show Joey (Andrew Johns) sulking in the commentary box all night.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Tedles reacted: \u201cOh no, what a shame.\u201d<\/p>\n

But others were in favour of the brutal move as Homer Wells replied: \u201cMaybe they thought it would be a bad omen? Among the losingest NSW players of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Aotesam said: \u201cGet rid of all of them and just give us Fox coverage please.\u201d<\/p>\n

The controversial decision comes after Channel 9 were criticised earlier in the Origin series for two awkward moments involving Phil Gould.<\/p>\n

The ex-Blues coach, 68, turned the mood rather frosty during the opening Origin game<\/a> of the 2026 series.<\/p>\n

\"Connor<\/p>\n

And he managed a similar feat during the second game<\/a> on Wednesday after a pointed comment towards the Blues camp.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cTonight\u2019s not the night to be looking at selection.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I\u2019ve got some advice for them, stop listening to advice\u2026 stop taking advice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The remark was met by an eerie silence across the studio as legends Brad Fittler and Darren Lockyer were left speechless.<\/p>\n

On the field in Origin III, the Blues made a hugely impressive start in Origin III as they raced into an 18-0 lead, inspired by a superb Nathan Cleary performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Channel 9 has stunned viewers by snubbing former NSW Blues captain Paul Gallen from their State of Origin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":787247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-787246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787246","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=787246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}