{"id":303485,"date":"2023-06-02T21:11:45","date_gmt":"2023-06-02T21:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=303485"},"modified":"2023-06-03T01:00:17","modified_gmt":"2023-06-03T01:00:17","slug":"daunting-origin-prospect-facing-axed-ponga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=303485","title":{"rendered":"Daunting Origin prospect facing axed Ponga"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dumped Queensland<\/a> fullback\ufeff Kalyn Ponga<\/a> is facing the astonishing prospect of never again pulling on the Maroons' No.1 jumper despite being crowned man of the match in his latest State of Origin<\/a> outing.<\/p>\n

That's the view of former New South Wales coach Phil Gould<\/a>, who's declared Queensland's fullback position will always belong to Reece Walsh<\/a> provided the freakish talent is fit.\ufeff<\/p>\n

The Broncos young gun turned in a sparkling performance on his Origin debut on Wednesday night, handling the NSW kicking tremendously well and setting up a Selwyn Cobbo try with a quick-thinking cut-out ball.\ufeff<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Raiders prevail in 'craziest game of football'\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Explosive twist in Hawthorn saga as identities revealed\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Kokkinakis sent packing after spraying umpire\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The 20-year-old repaid the faith shown by Queensland coach Billy Slater as the Maroons trumped the Blues 26-18 at Adelaide Oval<\/a>.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"Reece Walsh, I've been saying for years, ever since I first met the young man and watched him play as a youngster, is a superstar," Gould said on Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles with Gus<\/em> podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

"I was not surprised he was selected for this team, and no one's ever going to get that No.1 jersey back\ufeff while ever he's fit and well. He's a phenomenon."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/six-tackles-with-gus-1\/he-ll-go-down-with-the-ship-gus-believes-freddy-sh?in_playlist=podcast<\/a><\/p>\n

Mat Thompson, the host of the Six Tackles with Gus<\/em> podcast, asked Gould to repeat his remarkable comments.<\/p>\n

"I said no one will get that Queensland jersey while ever he's fit and well," Gould said.<\/p>\n

"It'll be his forever as long as he can stand up and do it. Reece Walsh is now the Queensland fullback for the next decade."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

When pressed on Ponga, who scored a solo try to steal victory for the Maroons in the 2022 decider<\/a>, Gould was blunt.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"Well, as they say, never have a day off work," he said.<\/p>\n

Gould's comments followed the revelation that, after copping the axe for the Origin opener<\/a>, Ponga messaged Slater to make himself unavailable for selection for the remainder of the series.<\/p>\n

"Yes, it is true I have told Billy that I need to focus on Newcastle at the moment," Ponga confirmed on Thursday.<\/p>\n

"I reached out to him earlier in the week to let him know and wish him luck.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"I love Queensland and the Maroons jersey but I need to play more games and be on the field for Newcastle at the moment.<\/p>\n

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

"It was a really difficult decision to make, but I will fight to win back my place in the Queensland side next year."<\/p>\n

Slater has admitted that Ponga's concussion history was a factor in the Knights co-captain being cut from the Maroons side.<\/p>\n

After suffering his fourth concussion in 10 months as the Knights met Wests Tigers in round two, Ponga flew to Vancouver for\ufeff advanced neurological testing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The testing revealed no serious signs, but Slater decided he could not afford selecting someone so vulnerable to head knocks.<\/p>\n

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

\ufeffGould believes Ponga should have been selected as an interchange player.<\/p>\n

"I was surprised he wasn't picked on the bench for this one, because he covers everywhere, he can do all sorts of things for them," Gould said.<\/p>\n

"But Reece Walsh is a superstar, mate\ufeff. He is an absolute superstar.<\/p>\n

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

"I'm not saying Kalyn isn't\ufeff; we've seen what Kalyn's done.<\/p>\n

"But you're not going to get this fullback position off Reece Walsh now."<\/p>\n

The Blues must win at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium on June 21 to keep the series alive.<\/p>\n

The shield is in the Maroons' keeping after they won the 2022 series 2-1<\/a>.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeffFor 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":"

Dumped Queensland fullback\ufeff Kalyn Ponga is facing the astonishing prospect of never again pulling on the Maroons' No.1 jumper despite being crowned man of the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":303487,"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\/303485"}],"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=303485"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":303490,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303485\/revisions\/303490"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/303487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=303485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=303485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=303485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}