‘They clearly had a target on him’: Blues deny anything sinister as Maroons assistant cleared following off-field sledge

The fallout from Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii’s tackle on Reece Walsh looks set to continue with a member of Queensland’s coaching staff in hot water.

Queensland assistant coach Nate Myles is under fire for spraying Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii after he was sent off. Picture: NRL Photos

Queensland assistant coach Nate Myles has been spoken to by the NRL but avoided any punishment following his sideline altercation with NSW rookie Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, who was sent off for a high shot on Reece Walsh.

It comes as Blues coach Michael Maguire rubbished suggestions it was a result of his team going after Walsh, physically calling it “just an unfortunate tackle”.

Myles, who represented the Maroons 32 times and is now a part of Billy Slater’s coaching staff, reportedly told Suaalii “Hope you enjoyed your debut” as the centre walked towards the Accor Stadium tunnel.

An official had to caution him at the time, with the NRL deciding against any further action for the spray.

Suaalii has been hit with a grade 2 reckless high tackle charge for the first-half incident and will miss four matches with an early guilty plea.

The rugby-bound Rooster addressed the tackle on Thursday morning and stressed there was nothing intentional about the hit that knocked Walsh out of the contest after seven minutes and reduced the Blues to 12 men.

#Breaking: Queensland assistant given official warning after launching a verbal tirade towards Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii.#Origin Confidential: https://t.co/jzEgQw0lrqpic.twitter.com/InIremDIDe

— Telegraph Sport (@telegraph_sport) June 5, 2024

“I didn’t mean it at all,” he said.

“I just wanted to go and tackle him and I accidentally clipped his head. I hope he’s doing all right, I hope he’s doing well. But yeah, I didn’t mean to hit him in the head.”

Blues coach Michael Maguire thought the send off was harsh, while Queensland counterpart Billy Slater didn’t want to share his views following the 38-10 win in Sydney.

But Maroons legend Johnathan Thurston made it clear that he thought the tackle was part of a targeted campaign to go after Walsh, with the livewire fullback also tackled late after he put in a kick in the opening minutes.

“Everyone’s seen it, it’s unfortunate for Suaalii making his debut. We want to see our best players playing in the biggest games,” Thurston said.

“But it was direct contact to the head, forceful contact. They clearly had a target on him and it didn’t turn out right. The officials had no other option, really.”

Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii was apologetic as he left the team hotel on Thursday morning. Picture: Jane Dempster/Daily Telegraph.

Maguire spoke outside the Blues hotel on Thursday morning and shot down any suggestions there was a plan to go after Walsh.

“Everyone is going to have an opinion on it, it’s an Origin game,” Maguire said.

“Reece was falling there, that’s just my opinion … you could look at it many ways.

“He (Suaalii) is a young player and he was just trying, he was out there trying … he’s a really good human being, so we’ll look after him. He was feeling pretty rough after the game as you’d expect.

“He was just going out to make a tackle and Reece was slipping underneath as Joe was coming down over him.

“It was just an unfortunate tackle.”