{"id":400759,"date":"2024-06-07T06:06:33","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T06:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=400759"},"modified":"2024-06-07T08:05:01","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T08:05:01","slug":"four-weeks-walters-rips-nrl-over-suaalii-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=400759","title":{"rendered":"'Four weeks?': Walters rips NRL over Suaalii ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

Broncos coach Kevin Walters<\/a> has ripped the NRL<\/a>, suggesting the four-game ban handed to Joseph Suaalii<\/a> for his State of Origin<\/a> hit on Reece Walsh<\/a> was too soft.<\/p>\n

Suaalii\ufeff was sent from the field eight minutes into his State of Origin<\/a> debut on Wednesday after smashing Walsh with a head-high shot in an attempt to make a tackle<\/a>. Suaalii accepted the four-game ban on Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The hit took the Maroons fullback not only out of the rest of Origin I, but also out of the Broncos' next two matches against the Sharks and Rabbitohs under the NRL's mandatory 11-day concussion stand-down policy.<\/p>\n

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Given he is expected to return to Queensland camp for Origin II the following week, he will be unavailable for the Broncos until round 17 against the Warriors.<\/p>\n

Walters believes the punishment is not enough to justify Suaalii's actions as the Broncos prepare to be without their star fullback for another month.<\/p>\n

\"Joseph<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters ahead of the Broncos match against the Cronulla Sharks, Walters called for the NRL to do more to protect "great players" – including Walsh – from targeting players.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"Crossing the line is a big one for me," Walters said.<\/p>\n

"That's the second time that has happened and four weeks for me is\ufeff not enough. I've got to support our player. That's twice now.<\/p>\n

"The first time, he [Taylan May] didn't get sin-binned or suspended – nothing.<\/p>\n

"We want our great players to play. It's not about toughness because Reece is as tough as any player in the game."<\/p>\n

\"Joseph<\/p>\n

Walsh's latest stint on the sidelines will be his second of the season. Walsh missed two matches after suffering a facial fracture during the Broncos' loss to the Panthers in round three.<\/p>\n

"Four weeks for ironing a bloke out the way he did, that's not enough," Walters continued.<\/p>\n

"Teams have been targeting the better players for a long time, but I'm just not in agreeance with the suspension.<\/p>\n

"That won't deter another player from coming out and the next time Reece plays, trying to take his head off again."<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 State of Origin series exclusively live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.\ufeff<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Joseph<\/p>\n

Walters praised the Bunker and Klein for acting quickly on the incident, and said it was "policed well."<\/p>\n

However, the 56-year-old continued to stress that the suspension was not lengthy enough.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"The NRL have got to protect him\ufeff, that's who has to protect him and be harder on suspensions," the Broncos coach said.<\/p>\n

"Four weeks for what he actually did, Reece will be missing for us for four weeks.<\/p>\n

"I'm sure he will be right [for Origin II] and this stuff happens in the game, but it has to be policed well.<\/p>\n

\"Coach<\/p>\n

"It was policed well on Wednesday night but I just thought they could have gone a bit harder with the suspension.<\/p>\n

"But that's me and protecting my players which is part of my role.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"It's not right for me to try and feel what their plan was, but I saw what their actions were and that was the first block play of the game.<\/p>\n

"You make your own mind up."<\/p>\n

Tristan Sailor will fill in at fullback during Walsh's absence after recovering from a high ankle sprain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Broncos coach Kevin Walters has ripped the NRL, suggesting the four-game ban handed to Joseph Suaalii for his State of Origin hit on Reece Walsh […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":400318,"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\/400759"}],"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=400759"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":400767,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400759\/revisions\/400767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/400318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=400759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=400759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=400759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}