NSW Blues five-eighth Jarome Luai has explained why the “dangerous” presence of Reece Walshmeans there’s a target on his back as the fallout from his game one knockout continues.
Walsh left the field after seven minutes in Origin I after Joseph Suaalii was sent off for high contact, and since then there’s been fierce debate as to whether the Blues deliberately took him out.
The NSW camp has vigorously denied the theory with foes Paul Gallen and Nate Myles notably butting heads on the issue.
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Ahead of game two, Luai was asked whether the furore around Walsh’s hit was to influence the adjudicating to which he simply replied “maybe” before explaining why the fullback must be shut down defensively.
“I think he’s an awesome player so if you’re one of those great players, there’s going to be a target on your back regardless,” he told media.
“It’s no one’s intention to physically hurt someone the way he got hurt game one but I think from a defensive perspective you need to have that mentality on someone that fast and that skillful otherwise he’s going to hurt you.
“You can’t go in 50 per cent or anything like that. At the end of the day that’s Origin footy, things are happening at a 100 miles an hour. It’s a contact sport.”
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Luai and Walsh famously clashed last year at Suncorp Stadium, resulting in both players being sent off as the Maroons clinched the series on their home turf.
With the approach to Walsh set to be under intense scrutiny once again, Luai added the fullback can’t be defended just like any regular player.
“He’s not really any other player like I said, he’s a dangerous man if you give him that space and time,” he said.
“We’re going to try and restrict him as much as we can by sticking to our systems and not much is going to change.”