{"id":302725,"date":"2023-05-31T22:52:14","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T22:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=302725"},"modified":"2023-05-31T23:59:21","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T23:59:21","slug":"star-rookies-beautiful-post-origin-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=302725","title":{"rendered":"Star rookie's beautiful post-Origin moment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reece Walsh<\/a> made an immediate statement in his State of Origin debut as the Maroons toppled the Blues 26-18 in game one<\/a> at Adelaide Oval.<\/p>\n

In the lead-up to the series opener, there was \ufeffplenty of doubt around whether the 20-year-old was ready for the Origin arena and if his selection was the right choice at the expense of Kalyn Ponga.<\/p>\n

Asked by Nine's \ufeffDarren Lockyer if the experience was everything he thought it would be, Walsh was ecstatic with his debut.<\/p>\n

LIVE UPDATES:<\/strong> State of Origin 2023 Game I<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Real reason Ryles snubbed 'stubborn' Dragons<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Hawks still 'in the gun' despite 'diabolical' probe<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"[It was] \ufeffeverything and more," he said.<\/p>\n

"When I was a little kid, I would dream to put on that Maroon jersey and I was full of nerves today. But I am very proud of the boys out there today and we got the job done."<\/p>\n

\"Billy\u00a0fires\u00a0back\u00a0at\u00a0critics\u00a0over\u00a0selection\"<\/p>\n

Walsh paid tribute to Maroons coach Billy Slater<\/a> – who has been a vocal supporter of Walsh – for having his back in camp.<\/p>\n

"It was just about doing my job," he said.<\/p>\n

"Everyone is gonna question me, but Billy is a good coach and he had trust in me and I was confident throughout the week.<\/p>\n

"Every session, he was pulling me in and giving me advice. One thing that stuck with me is he wanted me to be Reece Walsh, and that's all I needed to be and that's what the team needed me to be and to do my job.<\/p>\n

"So, it wasn't that hard. I just had to go out there and do my job for the team."<\/p>\n

Nestled in Walsh's arms during his interview, dressed in maroon from head to toe, was his "little girl" Leila\ufeff.<\/p>\n

\"Reece<\/p>\n

"She's my rock," he said.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffShe's the reason why I go out there and put on this jersey. I'm very grateful."<\/p>\n

Clearly sharing her dad's pride in the iconic jersey, \ufeffLeila quickly interrupted.<\/p>\n

"I've got my jersey," she said\ufeff.<\/p>\n

\"Addo-Carr\u00a0late\u00a0hit\u00a0on\u00a0Walsh\u00a0sparks\u00a0melee\"<\/p>\n

Walsh received a frosty welcome to the Origin stage after Josh Addo-Carr took it upon himself to reprimand Walsh following an early collision with Tyson Frizell that triggered an all-in melee<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Broncos star finished game one with \ufeff83 run metres, two linebreak assists and a try assist.<\/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":"

Reece Walsh made an immediate statement in his State of Origin debut as the Maroons toppled the Blues 26-18 in game one at Adelaide Oval. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":302729,"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\/302725"}],"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=302725"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":302737,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302725\/revisions\/302737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/302729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=302725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=302725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=302725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}