NSW skipper Paul Gallen has laughed off claims from Queensland great Wally Lewis that he’s disrespected the Maroons following last week’s two-headed jibe at the Blues’ team announcement.
Lewis laid in to Gallen in Monday’s Courier Mail newspaper and questioned the decision to name Canterbury’s Trent Hodkinson and Josh Reynolds in the halves simply because they played for the same NRL side.
But Gallen said he was not interested in getting into a war of words with Lewis but added there was a certain level of hypocrisy from outraged Queenslanders after Reynolds and Hodkinson were labelled duds in the local media last week.
“Wally is entitled to his opinion, he’s a great of the game, but I don’t really know him,” Gallen said.
“If he’s trying to upset me, it’s not going to work.
“My comments last week have been pulled whichever way to suit Queensland.
“My comments weren’t aimed at insulting Queensland, they were a light-hearted jibe and I was just explaining how hostile and tough it is up here. I was giving them a rap.
“Wally says Queensland would never insult NSW players. He obviously didn’t read the newspapers last week when they called our two halves duds.”
Gallen said he has no concerns about his comments coming back to haunt NSW on Wednesday at Suncorp Stadium as the Maroons start their quest to win a ninth successive series.
“It was a joke, why would it backfire?” Gallen said.
“It doesn’t mean anything. It’s part of the build up to Origin and it makes it exciting and people want to watch the game.
“But it’s all about what happens on Wednesday night.”