BRONCOS coach Ivan Henjak last night attacked the NSW State of Origin fraternity, saying Blues halfback Peter Wallace had been hung out to dry.
It has been revealed that Wallace, publicly canned south of the border in the wake of NSW's Origin II defeat in Sydney last Wednesday night, carried a painful broken rib into the game.
Despite offers to stand him down, Wallace soldiered on again yesterday but could not prevent Brisbane crashing to a fourth straight loss - a 21-14 defeat to the Eels at Parramatta Stadium.
The Broncos have nose-dived to ninth on the NRL ladder and yesterday's loss was further soured by a serious knee injury to prop Nick Kenny and a fresh ankle injury to fullback Karmichael Hunt.
Henjak praised his depleted side's courage, before launching a stinging tirade at NSW Origin coach Craig Bellamy, Blues selectors, legends and the media.
"It started from the day he walked into camp. They were just into him the whole time. He had no support whatsoever come from anyone in that camp," Henjak fired.
"He just had to wear it all himself. I just thought it was grossly unfair.
"He's a tremendous guy. He's a tremendous player. He tried his heart out in that Origin game and he did again today. He's got more character than a lot of the other people who should have been supporting him."
Henjak said the 23-year-old had been betrayed in the lead-up to Origin II with the Blues inner sanctum refusing to defend the halfback or reveal the extent of his injury amid a torrid Origin post-mortem.
Henjak said: "I'm not going to name anyone - they all know who they are. Pete's not going to whinge and complain about it or make excuses about it.
"He wore it on the chin and he gets on with life.
"I'd like to see some of the blokes who have been giving him a bake play with that injury."
An angry and emotional Wallace last night spoke about his rib injury.
"It's just the same as if it was - broken rib - it's not the greatest thing," he said.
"That's footy. You play injured. Ninety per cent of players play injured every week.
"After the Dogs game, I didn't know if it was broken or not. I had X-rays Friday last week and found out it was broken."
Queensland legend and Broncos assistant coach Allan Langer declared Queensland would never have treated Wallace the way NSW have done.
"The knives were out for him straight away and it's unfair because he's just such a great team man. He's a great player," Langer said.
