{"id":404557,"date":"2024-06-20T02:47:14","date_gmt":"2024-06-20T02:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=404557"},"modified":"2024-06-20T03:05:33","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T03:05:33","slug":"joeys-wild-grenade-theory-for-explosive-slater-sledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=404557","title":{"rendered":"Joey's wild 'grenade' theory for explosive Slater sledge"},"content":{"rendered":"

A\ufeffndrew Johns<\/a> believes Michael Maguire<\/a>'s explosive sledge on Monday was calculated and pre-planned as part of a wider strategy.<\/p>\n

The New South Wales<\/a> coach fired a shot across Queensland's bow when asked about allegations the Blues deliberately \ufefftargeted Maroons fullback Reece Walsh<\/a> in game one.<\/p>\n

NSW debutant Joseph Suaalii<\/a> shot out of the defensive line and knocked Walsh out with an illegal shoulder to the head after only seven minutes, ruling both players out of the remaining 73 minutes.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 Under 19s State of Origin game on Thursday, June 20 live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.\ufeff<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\ufeffQueensland coach Billy Slater was fuming about the incident but didn't outright accuse Suaalii of trying to end Walsh's night.<\/p>\n

Other former Origin players from north of the Tweed, however, haven't been shy in levelling such allegations.<\/p>\n

\"Maroons<\/p>\n

\ufeffAt Monday's press conference Maguire told the Queensland camp to "make sure you don't live in glass houses" – a comment that's since been linked to Slater's own on-field tactics during his playing career.<\/p>\n

The single comment has dominated headlines in the days since Maguire's sledge, and Johns believes that is exactly what the coach was trying to achieve.<\/p>\n

"They are talking about him, they're not talking about the players, so it's taking pressure off the players," Johns mused on Wide World of Sports' Freddy and the Eighth<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Tedesco's sad admission as Origin career fades<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> First big test for young gun Gus is banking on<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> McIlroy takes leave from PGA Tour after meltdown<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"And it's highlighted some of the stuff that Queensland did in game one, that I didn't see. It wasn't until they highlighted it that I saw a couple of things.\ufeff"<\/p>\n

In the wake of Maguire's sledge, Nine's 100% Footy<\/em> on Monday aired vision of several incidents from Origin I\ufeff where Maroons players got away with suspect acts against the Blues.<\/p>\n

The commentary has thrown petrol on the fire ahead of game two in Melbourne next week.<\/p>\n

"It's a bit of spice, it's been too nice the last couple of years," Johns said.<\/p>\n

\"'Don't<\/p>\n

"I don't know how it's got out, but on 100% Footy<\/em> on Monday night (journalist) Danny Weidler showed about half a dozen incidents where it was niggle (from Queensland), it was grubby.<\/p>\n

"So he's (Maguire) thrown a little grenade.\ufeff"<\/p>\n

NSW legend Laurie Daley on Tuesday urged Maguire and the Blues to avoid making Queensland angry<\/a> for fear of retribution on the field.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Former Blues coach Brad Fittler rarely threw verbal barbs at Queensland during his tenure, which ended last year.<\/p>\n

But he agrees Maguire has taken a different approach for a reason.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"The other side of it is he's supporting his players," Fittler told Freddy and the Eighth<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"All the players have come out and said they were rapt he supported Joey (Suaalii).<\/p>\n

"So the dialogue is they're going to have each others' backs."<\/p>\n

Maguire made five changes to his Blues team after losing game one in Sydney.<\/p>\n

NSW must bounce back and win at the MCG next week to ensure a decider in Brisbane.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A\ufeffndrew Johns believes Michael Maguire's explosive sledge on Monday was calculated and pre-planned as part of a wider strategy. The New South Wales coach fired […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":404559,"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\/404557"}],"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=404557"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":404562,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404557\/revisions\/404562"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/404559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=404557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=404557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=404557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}