Queensland Origin ban six more players

Queensland have now banned eight players from Origin selection for a year after an investigation into them breaking curfew during an Emerging Origin camp.

Valentine Holmes and Cameron Munster were initially banned for the next 12 months after heading out during the camp.

Now Anthony Milford, Jarrod Wallace, Ben Hunt, Dylan Napa, Edrick Lee and Chris Grevsmuhl have joined them to be excluded from the Origin area for a year.

“Our initial focus was on Valentine Holmes because of the involvement of the NRL Integrity Unit,” QRL managing director Robert Moore said in a statement.

“As we suspected, there were other players who broke curfew and we have now gone through a process of interviewing players. Due to preseason commitments, we’ve only been able to finalise that today.

“To the players’ credit, they’ve come forward and because of the importance we place on our Emerging Origin program, they will receive the same sanction as Cameron Munster.”

New Maroons coach Kevin Walters said he was disappointed the banned players did not respect team orders.

“Obviously I’m disappointed by what’s happened. They know they made a poor decision, they’ve got quite upset about it,” Walters told a media gathering.

“I just thought that if these players couldn’t understand the clear instructions that were given to them, it probably wasn’t the time for them to be involved [in Queensland State of Origin].

“We went to the Story Bridge (Hotel) and we did have a couple of drinks. Everyone was aware of what was expected of them.

“Unfortunately, some didn’t respect those words and they’ve paid the price for it.

“What we are about is to set certain guidelines for the players. They didn’t adhere to what was held out to them and what’s acceptable.

“We’ve got to be responsible … if we can’t be responsible we don’t drink.”