The Queensland Maroons will have a man advantage for over 70 minutes of the opening State of Origin contest, with Joseph Suaalii sent off for a horror high shot.
The outside back, making his State of Origin debut - and now possibly playing his last game for the Blues before heading to rugby union next year - took Walsh out with direct high contact early in the game.
Referee Ashley Klein, after consultation with Liam Kennedy in the bunker, had no issue with sending Suaalii straight from the park for the remainder of the game.
Walsh has since been ruled out with Category 1 concussion symptoms, which brought Selwyn Cobbo onto the park from the bench at centre, moving Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow to fullback, and allowed the visitors to activate their 18th man Felise Kaufusi.
Queensland coach Billy Slater was left clearly unimpressed with the tackle.
"You probably don't want to know that," Slater said in the coaches box when asked by the Channel 9 commentary team for his reaction to the tackle.
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The Maroons scored the opening try of the game through Ben Hunt, then slotted a penalty goal before the Blues scored shortly after Suaalii's send off through James Tedesco.
