There will be no lingering demons with Queensland fullback Reece Walsh from his State of Origin I concussion when he takes to the MCG on Wednesday night, according to Maroons coach Billy Slater.
The 21-year-old has not played a game since he was knocked out in the seventh minute of the Maroons’ 38-10 win in the June 5 series opener by a high shot from NSW centre Joseph-Aukuso Sua’ali’i, which were his only minutes in the past month, dating back to his last full match in round 12 on May 26.
Walsh has been energetic at training and has vowed not to be gun shy in the way he attacks his game in Melbourne.
ABC Sport will have live blog coverage of the women’s and men’s State of Origin series.
Slater was having none of any suggestion that Walsh would carry demons into the match when he spoke at Melbourne’s Fed Square in a pre-game press conference.
“That’s the first time I have thought about demons and Reece Walsh. He has been incredible all week, he was incredible in his preparation for Game I and he started well in Game I and I expect no different,” Slater said.
“I love the way that he plays, I love the attributes he has in his game and I love the way he works hard to go after it. It’s been a pleasure to help him do that this week and get his game on.”
Walsh was the last man off the training field on Thursday in Maroons camp at Sanctuary Cove. He was fine-tuning his kicking and doing extras on aspects of his running game.
“Everyone sees the bright and shiny stuff that Reece brings to a footy field and people gravitate to our game for that, but he is a really hard worker and wants to be as good as he possibly can,” Slater said.
“He wants to play our game and how good is that? I have a lot of time for him and [am] really looking forward to him playing his part in our team.”
Slater was asked whether he suspected the Blues would employ the same tactics as they did in Game I with Walsh where he was tackled in the air while catching a bomb and roughed up after kicking, on both occasions by NSW forward Liam Martin, before being knocked out cold by Sua’ali’i.
“That’s not a question for me I don’t think,” he quipped.
NSW coach Michael Maguire was quizzed directly whether the Blues would go after Walsh again as they did in Game I.
It was clearly a question that he knew was coming.
“We have put a lot of focus on all of their players. It is not any individual,” Maguire said.
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AAP
