{"id":89659,"date":"2021-06-23T10:08:32","date_gmt":"2021-06-23T10:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=89659"},"modified":"2021-06-23T11:02:51","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T11:02:51","slug":"maroons-icon-blown-away-by-walsh-in-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=89659","title":{"rendered":"Maroons icon blown away by Walsh in camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queensland rugby league great Johnathan Thurston admits he's been blown away by the "willingness to learn" from teen star Reece Walsh ahead of Sunday's Origin Game II.<\/p>\n

Walsh, 18, will become the Maroons youngest player in 26 years and their second-least experienced player ever when he runs out on Suncorp Stadium to make his debut at State of Origin level this weekend.<\/p>\n

While the young Warriors fullback said he would "back (himself) 100 per cent" with the task at hand, his selection into the squad by Maroons coach Paul Green has been met with fierce criticism.<\/p>\n

NSW icons Phil Gould<\/a>, Peter Sterling<\/a> and Paul Gallen<\/a> are among some of the game's biggest voices who have questioned Green's decision to insert Walsh<\/a> into their top 17 for the do-or-die match, which will see the teen star take on the crucial fullback responsibilities.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Despite what's been made of Walsh's impending Origin debut, Thurston said the fullback has taken him by surprise during the early days of Maroons camp.<\/p>\n

"Very impressed," Thurston told 2GB's Wide World of Sports' Radio.<\/p>\n

"His eagerness to learn – he's always asking about video and film type of stuff. He's always asking questions as well.<\/p>\n

"No doubt he's a confident young kid and we need to be able to put him in situations in the game where he feels at his most comfortable and at his best.<\/p>\n

"This week he's been really impressive. I'm really excited to see what he can do on the back of our forwards laying a platform and our halves giving him some ball in the right spaces."<\/p>\n

\"Johnathan<\/p>\n

Through seven games in his debut season, Walsh has four tries, eight try assists and seven line-breaks to his name already in what's been touted as one of the biggest coups in Warriors' history.<\/p>\n

"He's a very impressive kid. He's got a great head on his shoulders and his willingness to learn the game," Thurston added.<\/p>\n

"He's only 18. He has a big future in the game.<\/p>\n

"Very excited to see him run out at Suncorp Stadium. I couldn't think of a better place for him to make his debut."<\/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><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Queensland rugby league great Johnathan Thurston admits he's been blown away by the "willingness to learn" from teen star Reece Walsh ahead of Sunday's Origin […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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\/89659"}],"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=89659"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89661,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89659\/revisions\/89661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=89659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=89659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}