Cameron Smith questions Reece Walsh fallout after Origin ban
The Maroons legend has been left divided over the incident.
Maroons legend Cameron Smith has questioned the ban handed to fullback Reece Walsh after he was slapped with a three-week suspension, which rules him out of State of Origin. Walsh has been the centre of attention in the NRL world for weeks and his latest incident saw him head to the judiciary after a verbal tirade in the Broncos' loss on the weekend.
After a penalty, cameras picked up Walsh yelling the F and C words towards someone on the field, looking towards the referee. The team was marched 10 metres because of Walsh's body language with many accusing Walsh of directing the spray at referee Chris Buttler.
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Walsh has maintained he was swearing at teammate Pat Carrigan, who gave evidence at the hearing via video-link. Penrith great Tony Puletua and former referee Sean Hampstead were divided on the outcome, which saw judiciary chair Geoff Bellew SC cast a deciding vote. The judiciary deemed Walsh did say, "What the f**k do you mean, c**t?" towards referee Buttler.
Walsh will now miss three weeks, which includes Game III of Origin. Walsh caused controversy in Origin in Game II after he was sent off for a headbutt, before firing up the crowd. The NRL world has been divided over the high-profile case of the 20-year-old superstar.
And Maroons adviser and legend Smith has now had his say. Smith revealed before Game II of Origin that the coaching staff had spoken to Walsh about getting ahead of himself after his comments towards the Blues in Game I.
However, this time Smith is divided on whether Walsh actually directed the spray at the referee in what he described as 'a circus'. “Do you want to see players carrying on like that on the footy field? No, you don’t, are there expletives used on the footy field? Yes, there is,” Smith said on SEN 1170 The Captain's Run.
Reece Walsh & the Broncos contend that he was abusing teammate Pat Carrigan not the ref (he says ‘a player’ in his instagram post).
This new vision is very damning and will make that argument incredibly hard at the judiciary. I think he’s little chance of avoiding a ban. #NRL pic.twitter.com/0VWOQfV46T— Mark Gottlieb (@MarkGottlieb) June 26, 2023
“Is swearing at a referee a good thing? No, it’s not but at the end of the day, did he actually direct it at the referee? There’s two people that know, it’s Reece Walsh… and it’s the referee.”
Buttler's report claimed he didn't hear Walsh's spray, but rather penalised the team for his body-language as he approached him. And Smith believes Walsh was hard done by if going off the report.
“Going off that evidence from the referee… so what’s he being punished for, poor body language, aggressive body language,” Smith added.
Reece Walsh hearing captivates NRL world
Walsh's hearing went for nearly three hours before the three-week ban was handed down. Highlights of their testimony included Carrigan holding his phone camera up to his forehead as he struggled to hear the feed's audio and Fifita twice referring to Walsh as "Reecy Boy".
But in one of the most bizarre moments, Fifita initially said Walsh had directed his comment to the referee before backtracking when probed by Bellew.
"I just get real nervous when I speak to youse," he said. "I just get intimidated by speaking to you because I think I'm in the wrong."
with AAP
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