{"id":301030,"date":"2023-05-27T08:51:35","date_gmt":"2023-05-27T08:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=301030"},"modified":"2023-05-27T12:59:49","modified_gmt":"2023-05-27T12:59:49","slug":"joey-ponga-axing-a-tactic-in-disaster-prevention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=301030","title":{"rendered":"Joey: Ponga axing a tactic in 'disaster' prevention"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blues<\/a> legend Andrew Johns<\/a> believes Queensland<\/a>'s decision to leave Kalyn Ponga<\/a> out of its side was an exercise in "disaster" prevention.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Wide World of Sports' Freddy and The Eighth<\/em><\/a> from inside Blues camp in Coogee, Johns said the entire Maroons squad had been picked on form.<\/p>\n

He suggested Ponga's form was certainly strong enough to be picked, but the lingering doubt about his vulnerability to repeat concussions was enough to leave him out of the squad.<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Aussie bolter's 'crazy' journey to Ashes selection\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

"[Queensland] is a really well-balanced team \u2026 It's a team in form," Johns said.<\/p>\n

"The Kalyn one maybe didn't surprise me too much because it's not on form; it's about the dramas with the concussions.<\/p>\n

"If you lose a fullback in Origin, it's a disaster for your interchange."<\/p>\n

Fittler said the fact Maroons coach Billy Slater was "a huge fan" of Reece Walsh was also a factor.<\/p>\n

\"Freddy<\/p>\n

Watch the 2023 State of Origin series LIVE and exclusive on Channel 9 and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

"The fullback [is] extremely important \u2026 I think Billy is just a huge fan of Reece Walsh," he said.<\/p>\n

"I think he wanted to pick him a couple of years ago before he started coaching, and I can see why – look at what he's done this year at Brisbane."<\/p>\n

Stream the NRL premiership 2023 live and free on <\/strong>9Now<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Walsh was picked in the 2021 and 2022 Maroons squads and looked set to make his Origin debut in game two 2021, before being ruled out with injury.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blues legend Andrew Johns believes Queensland's decision to leave Kalyn Ponga out of its side was an exercise in "disaster" prevention. Speaking on Wide World […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":296851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301030"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=301030"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":301033,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301030\/revisions\/301033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/296851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=301030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=301030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=301030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}