Ben Ikin interview | Maroons take Game I, Reece Walsh head knock & more!
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We're about to catch up with Ben Eichen, the Queensland Rugby League boss. Jeez, the Queensland origin legend, he struggled getting into the sheds, I read as well. Didn't have a pass on Ben Eichen and the security wouldn't let him in. Disgraceful. Ben's on the line, eh Ben? Morning gents, or afternoon I should say. Mate, don't they know who you are?

The security guard didn't. He was sort of an older ethnic gentleman with an accent. And so I knew I didn't have my pass. I sort of tried to sneak in behind our chairman, Bruce Thatcher. As soon as Bruce went through, he stepped in front of me. He said, where's your pass? I said, oh, mate, I'm with him. He said, no pass, no get in. Oh, yeah.

Well, mate, you got it in the long run. But anyway, got to have your pass on, Ben. Got to have your pass on. Congratulations on the win the other night. 38 points to 10 in the end. Obviously, 13 on 12. The big talking point was the tackle on Reece Walsh. But Queensland with a 1-0 lead as we head to the MCG in Melbourne.

Yeah, I was at the stadium, of course, with many other people and it sort of took the wind out of the game a bit, it felt like. But in the sort of contemporary version of rugby league, you're trying to put player safety and wellbeing first and the concussion issue was only going to grow in the game. And I get it, right? It was an extreme tackle. He didn't miss by much, but he was off his feet, Joseph Suoliti,

I think Reece Walsh ended up off his feet. It was high and forceful. And I reckon, look, if one of our players had done the same thing, he's off the field as well. But I will say this, as much as the margin was significant by the end, I don't think it reflected most of the game. I thought New South Wales, in fact,

with 12 men were very brave for a long time. So I expect they're going to be better in game two in Melbourne. I'm sure they will be, Ben. Mate, I'm interested in your thoughts on Billy Slater, who has really taken to coaching, well, brilliantly. He seems very level-headed. He's obviously very Queensland-oriented. And I don't know what his situation is with Queensland. Have you re-signed him for more years or what's the story? Because there's no doubt there'll be clubs chasing him.

Yeah, I don't disagree, big man. He's in the first year of a three-year deal. So we did his first two years and then we extended him at the end of last year.

Look, I haven't been coached by him, but I've had numerous conversations with him. He's very deliberate in how he goes about things. He's got a deep understanding of the origin environment. He knows exactly how his team wants to play. And then in the lead-up to the series, he watches a whole lot of NRL football to sort of pick out the players that he thinks is going to

be able to best execute his game plan. So everyone does it different. Bennett does it different from Bellamy, does it different from Flanagan, et cetera, et cetera. The thing I like about Bill is he knows how he wants his team to play. He gets the players that he believes can do that and then makes those apologies about how he goes after it. It's very clear to him and therefore very clear to his players.

Hey, Ben, it's Flano here. Yeah, a lot of talk about, obviously, the send-off and Queensland going away with a really convincing win in the end. But how is Reece Walsh? You know, probably everyone sort of forgot, talked about the tackle, but how is the young man? I think he's OK, Flano. I think he sort of, he was walking around the hotel from all reports the next morning looking for a Panadol, but I sent him a text and it was, you know, he tends to be a bit pro.

Prone to the dramatic, Rhys, but he's... I say he's out for two games with the Bronx. I say they rest him for this weekend. Yeah, 11 days, which puts him out for tonight's game and then next Friday's game against the Rabbitohs, which means he gets no footy going into Origin 2. So it'll be interesting to see what Billy does there. I mean, I have nothing to do with the team selection, but I'm assuming he gives Rhys another go because he didn't play a whole lot of footy coming into the first Origin.

But, look, he's okay. He'll bounce back. He's not at the peak of his powers at the moment. He's not far off. And, you know, Queensland are a more significant threat while he's on the field. So I suspect if, you know, he's feeling okay in his head, by the time game two rolls around, he'll be full back again. Yeah, because as a game, like, you know, he's our superstar. Like, he's the most recognisable player at the moment.

And he's had two bad HIAs, you know, and we just don't want to see this. You know, like we need him in our game for 10 years, not for 10 minutes. And plus, think of all the teenage girls that we've now attracted to rugby league that we didn't have as a market before. Well, weren't you around in the late 70s?

Hang on, are you putting yourself on the same pedestal as Reesy, boy? Did you hear the sniff? Did you hear the sniff, maybe? Oh, big bar. Yeah, right, Flannery. I mean, player protection. As players, the game becomes more high profile. You know, security of tenure, you know, as a coach and a player becomes

becomes more tenuous. You know, there's more money in the game. It becomes more competitive. And players these days, the forces...

that the game generates away in front of what they were in the 70s. Sorry, Big Barn, but it's a tough, hard game that's moving quicker every year. And so as the game evolves, the rules around them need to evolve to ensure that our best and brightest like Reece Walsh are spending more time on the field than they are off it. All right, fantastic. Ben, congratulations on the win. We'll see you in Melbourne for game number two.

Thanks, gents. There he is, Ben Eichen, doing a great job, the boss of the Queensland Rugby League and obviously a pretty handy player back in his day as well.