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FWC: ENG v CRO live from 7.45am"Count his lucky stars": Should Staggs have been sent-off?
SEN • June 18th, 2026 3:04 am
Jimmy Smith and Chad Townsend have reacted to Kotoni Staggs’ high hit on Kalyn Ponga during Game II.
In front of a record-breaking crowd for an NRL State of Origin at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the Blues were blown away in the second half with the Maroons coming back from four points down at halftime to win 44-24.
One of the turning points that led to Queensland’s victory was Staggs’ sin binning in the 62nd minute.
At that stage, the Maroons just extended their lead to 14 points with the fullback just getting the pass off to Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow before Staggs made contact.
As a result of NSW going to 12 men, the Maroons, who already had momentum on their side, sealed the match with another two tries, pushing the lead to a game-high lead of 26 points.
Reacting in the moment, Townsend noted the similarity between Staggs’ incident and Ponga’s during Game One on Toluta’u Koula, resulting in a send off.
“If you're comparing apples with apples, compare that incident in Game One where Kalyn Ponga was sent off the field,” Townsend said on SEN’s Origin Live.
“I think Kotoni Staggs can count his lucky stars and he's only getting 10 in the bin.”
Smith agreed that the Broncos centre got the tackle wrong. But acknowledged one key difference between the two incidents.
“The only thing about the Ponga one was that it was (a) shoulder charge because he had the arm cocked,” Smith explained.
“This was a genuine attempt at a tackle. It went wrong. Don't get me wrong on that one; it went wrong.
The 2016 Premiership player added that there was just too much risk in flying off the line as Staggs did.
“I said it before, there's more harm than good sometimes these days when you shoot out of the line and try to make a big hit.” Townsend added.
Game III takes place at Suncorp Stadium on July 8.
Kick-off takes place at 8:05pm AEST.
SEN will have live coverage of the match with Blues and Maroons Radio returning alongside the neutral Origin LIVE call available across our radio network and on the SEN app.
