State of Origin: Blues double down on Reece Walsh ‘target’ talk

The Queensland campaign to make Reece Walsh a protected species in Origin II has fallen on deaf ears with Jarome Luai and Liam Martin making it clear that they intend to target the Maroons number one.

DAILY TELEGRAPH JUNE 3, 2024. Liam Martin during the NSW Blues training session at the NSWRL Centre of Excellence at Sydney Olympic Park. Picture: Jonathan Ng

NSW five-eighth Jarome Luai has remarkably suggested that Queensland’s attacks on suspended Blues winger Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii may be a ploy designed to scare the Blues off targeting Reece Walsh at the MCG next week.

And Luai’s teammate Liam Martin has vowed to maintain the rage on Walsh, doubling down on plans to go after the Queensland fullback as NSW look to level the State of Origin series in Melbourne.

Asked about Queensland’s criticism of the tackle by Suaalii which forced Walsh out of the game in Origin I, and resulted in the Blues winger receiving a hefty suspension, Luai suggested it may be part of a wider plan aimed at getting into the heads of the NSW players and staff.

“I don’t know if it is Queensland’s ploy for scaring us,” Luai said.

“He is definitely one of the x-factor players with how fast he is, how crafty he is. You want him to feel that pressure leading into a game. Definitely not intentional to hurt anyone. It is just game playing, it is the willingness to defend great players.”

Liam Martin says the Blues will target Reece Walsh. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Pressed on whether he believed the Maroons’ outspoken comments on the Suaalii tackle were a ploy, Luai added: “Maybe, maybe. As a group and as a team going into this game two, we can’t fall into that trap.

“That is footy, that is just footy. It is going to happen. Players are moving at high speeds and there are collisions in our sport.

“Freak accident man - if you know Joey Suaalii and who he is as a man, he was just going out there to compete and win.”

If it is a ploy by Queensland, it hasn’t worked. The Blues on Tuesday made it very clear that Walsh would again be a target in Origin II, having left the opening game of the series after only seven minutes when Suaalii got it awfully wrong.

“We have to make it tough for him and he will certainly know that from the first minute of the game,” Martin said.

“It is Origin, it is footy, once you are on the field it is do whatever you can pretty much. Over the last couple of years you have seen what he is capable of. If you give him time and space he can do some pretty freaky stuff.

“You have to - he is such an integral part of their team. You sort of have to go after him. Nothing will change, the physicality there. Obviously you are never intentionally looking to injure or hurt anyone, but the physicality will still be there.”

Walsh hasn’t played since being knocked out of Origin I but there was never any doubt over his place in Billy Slater’s side for game two given the threat he poses for Queensland.

That threat prompted some to suggest the targeting of him had gone overboard in Origin I. In recent days, a war of words has broken out between NSW and Queensland over the criticism from north of the border. Blues coach Michael Maguire suggested some members of the Maroons were living in “glass houses” given their own record during their playing days, a sledge many believed was directed at Slater over comments he made around the hit on Walsh.

Nothing that has been said will change the way the Blues attack game two, nor the way they look to put the clamps on the dangerous Walsh. Martin, who managed to get his hands on Walsh a couple of times before the Queenslander’s Origin I came to a premature end, insists it won’t be just him looking to get at the Maroons superstar.

“Not just me personally, I think it was everyone,” Martin said.

“If you give him time and space, he is such a skilful player and will do some incredible stuff. It is everybody’s role to go after him pretty much.

“It was unfortunate that accident. That Origin arena, you try to find moments to get into them and get under their skin.”

Luai added: “It is that mentality that if you don’t go 100 per cent he is going to get you. He has that talent, he has that x-factor in his game.

“So when he has the ball in his hands it is all hands on deck, we need to work together as a 13-man blue wall and shut him down together.”