RISK FACTOR
Maroons to weigh up Wallace debut as judiciary awaits
QUEENSLAND selectors were last night locked in talks over Jarrod Wallace, with the Titans prop’s Origin dream hanging by a thread after he was hit with a Grade I shoulder charge by the NRL’s match review committee.
Wallace was expected to be named by Queensland coach Kevin Walters in the Maroons’ team for Origin II today, before being booked for a shoulder charge on Warriors centre Blake Ayshford in the Titans’ 34-12 loss to New Zealand.
The charge carries a onematch ban with an early guilty plea, meaning Wallace will have to head to the judiciary in a bid to rescue his State of Origin dream.
Titans chief executive Graham Annesley would not confirm last night whether Wallace would fight the charge, with the decision to be made this morning.
But it now seems almost inevitable.
“Clearly Origin is a factor in that should he be selected. We’ll make those decisions after we get a chance to look into it more tomorrow morning,” Annesley said last night.
And while Wallace would be rolling the dice on a twogame suspension if he fronts the judiciary, Annesley said that the decision was not just about the Titans’ interests. “Obviously it’s not just a decision about how it impacts our club, it’s also a decision about how it impacts Jarrod,” Annesley said.
“Although the team hasn’t been selected yet, he’s obviously on the cusp of hopefully being selected to play for his state and we have to take that into consideration as well. We want not only what’s best for us but what’s best for Jarrod as well.”
Walters and selectors Darren Lockyer and Gene Miles were understood to be locked in discussions last night over whether to name Wallace for Game Two.
After the Maroons infamous “TBA” controversy in 2002 – no winger was named in the team, allowing Lote Tuqiri to serve a one-game suspension before playing Origin the following week – that loophole was closed.
Queensland could only get around a Wallace suspension by drafting him into their squad to replace another player after the Titans’ match on Friday.
It would be a highly cynical and controversial move that would ignite tensions in what has, up until now, been an unusually friendly series.
Walters and his selectors like to play clean though and are likely to name Wallace, leaving it up to the judiciary to decide his fate.
It’s a move Wallace is likely to be comfortable with given he believes he did all he could to avoid a deliberate collision with Ayshford.
“I was coming in to make the tackle and he jumped and I saw the ball got past him, so I braced myself and pulled out of the tackle,” Wallace said after the match.
“I remember bracing and me stopping my run to pull out of the tackle. What more can I do? I was committed to tackling him.”