‘Make sure you don’t live in glass houses’: Maguire fires first shot at Maroons

A frustrated Michael Maguire has fired back at suggestions NSW deliberately knocked out Reece Walsh in Origin I.

The Maroons fullback was wiped out by Joseph Suaalii in the seventh minute at Accor Stadium, with the Blues centre sent off and banned for four games for the hit.

Walsh was stood down for the mandatory 11 days under the game’s concussion protocols and next Wednesday’s second match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground will be his first action in 21 days.

While Queensland coach Billy Slater has kept his thoughts to himself, a host of former players north of the border – including Gorden Tallis, Johnathan Thurston and Kevin Walters – have been outspoken on the Suaalii tackle, and now Maguire has had enough.

When asked by this masthead on Monday morning about Queensland claims Walsh was intentionally targeted, Maguire replied: “You have to make sure you don’t live in glass houses. That’s all I’ll say.

“Things happen on the field. Joey [Suaalii] is a special human being, and to have to deal with that … things happen on the field. Glass houses. Interesting.

“He’s my player. They’re my players. If you want to have a crack at our players, well, we’re about us and what we’re doing. You have to make sure that when you’re with your players, you’re looking after them, and that’s what I’m doing.

“It’s not about going after people. We have to defend what’s in front of us. Ultimately, at the end of the day, you need 17 players. We’ve obviously learned that one.”

Pressed on whether the Blues would be reluctant to target Walsh in Melbourne – and whether Walsh would be protected due to commentary from former Queensland players and officials to look after him – Maguire said: “They’ve got players we’ll do our homework on. We need to get our style [right] and how we want to play. They have to look at us.”

Maguire was giving little away when asked specifically about the “glass houses” comment, but several Blues insiders, not authorised to speak publicly, told this masthead the NSW camp had seen the irony in Slater had taking the moral high ground when he had been charged ten separate times as a player.

Latrell Mitchell arrives at Blues HQ with his father, Matt, on Monday afternoon.

They were also unimpressed by assistant coach Nate Myles approaching Suaalii as he was walked from the field, pointing out Myles’ judiciary record had been even worse than Slater’s.

As NSW turned the blowtorch on Queensland, Latrell Mitchell – one of five new faces added to the NSW side – said there would be no fireworks internally with Spencer Leniu.

Mitchell was critical of Roosters prop Leniu after he called Brisbane half Ezra Mam a “monkey” in Las Vegas.

Leniu was hit with an eight-match ban, but not before Mitchell told reporters when he returned to Sydney: “For me, it [the racial slur] opens up a lot of wounds and scars for my family and my people. This stuff isn’t tolerated in the game, it should be rubbed out. For me, it’s about making sure Ezra Mam is alright.”

Mitchell was looking forward to playing alongside Leniu, and said the two would “let bygones be bygones”.

“The reflection is all done. The NRL has dealt with it, we’ve put it behind us, and we’ve got to move forward,” he said. “I’ve got a job to do. Me and him will talk, and let bygones be bygones. Lessons have been learned. We’ll go from there.”

Mitchell celebrated his birthday on Sunday, and strolled into the team hotel on Monday with his father, Matt, who was in Sydney for his son’s weekend celebrations.

Maguire and Mitchell spent time together at Saturday’s South Sydney reunion, with Maguire keen to utilise Mitchell’s floating bombs that caused plenty of headaches for Brisbane a night earlier.

The man known as ‘Trell Mit’ was the star attraction on Monday as kids from most of the Blues’ players junior clubs attended a clinic at Sydney Olympic Park.

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