State of Origin 2022: Billy Slater puts his own spin on Queensland Maroons
Rookie Maroons coach Billy Slater learnt a lot from master mentor Craig Bellamy but he’s determined to put his own stamp on the Queensland team as they try to break a five-year Sydney hoodoo in Origin I.
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Billy Slater has vowed to be his own man as the rookie Queensland coach looks to outsmart Blues rival Brad Fittler and break the Maroons’ five-year Sydney Olympic Park hoodoo in Origin I.
Slater will attempt to exorcise the demons of Queensland’s horror campaign last season — and spearhead a new era for the Maroons — when he makes his Origin coaching debut in the 2022 series opener at Accor Stadium.
It has been a whopping 1814 days since the Maroons last won on NSW’s home turf. Ironically, Slater was involved in Queensland’s most recent triumph in Sydney, in Game Two of 2017, starring at fullback in the 18-16 win that ultimately propelled the Maroons to a series victory.
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Now Slater is at the helm of the Maroons, with the jury out on whether the 38-year-old has the coaching skill set to deny Fittler’s rampaging Blues a fourth series win in five seasons.
Slater says super coach Craig Bellamy was a trusted figure during his decorated 319-game career in Melbourne, but aside from a pre-game text message from the former NSW mentor, the fullback legend is determined to put his own stamp on the Maroons.
“Craig has been very influential in who I am as a professional and as a person,” Slater said ahead of Origin I on Wednesday night.
“I have been around Craig for 20 years, so if you are around someone for long enough, you become that environment. They have an influence over you.
“Craig has been great. He has been very supportive. He sent me a text (on Monday) so I have good people around me. The No.1 trait Craig instils in people is his work ethic. He prepares as well as anyone, but Origin is a bit different.
“You have to be careful that you don’t give the guys too much information, so I have been conscious of that, but at the same time I want to be me.
“I am really comfortable I have been me in this camp and we have been us as a full Queensland Maroons unit.”
Camp Maroon insiders have been blown away by Slater’s communication, attention to detail and simplicity of message.
The Queensland Rugby League identified Slater as a potential rising star in the Origin coaching arena and the veteran of 31 matches for the Maroons has thrown himself into the high-pressure post.
“I have never dipped my toe in in my life,” he said.
“This Queensland team is important to me. That’s the only reason I am here. This team has been important to me ever since I was a four-year-old boy. I got the opportunity to be one of the players that wore the jersey and inspire other people and now I get the opportunity to help our group be those players to inspire our state.
“I sort of had a plan but given this is my first time doing this, I didn’t know what to expect. There is a whole heap of work that goes into it.
“There’s a bit of stress that goes with the job, but the players have given me a lot of belief.
“Part of my job is to instil belief in the players, but they have instilled a fair bit of belief in me. It is very different. As a player you are solely focused on yourself and your performance. As a coach, you are focused on everyone, but it’s the players that go out there, it’s their actions that matter.
“We have built our game plan. My job is mostly done.”
Slater and Fittler are media commentating teammates at Channel 9. The Maroons coach insists there has been no tension with his NSW counterpart.
“We worked together the Sunday before last, we shook hands and said have a good week,” Slater said.
“We have a very respectful relationship. I have a whole heap of respect for what ‘Freddy’ has done in the game and what he has done for the NSW Origin team over the last four years.
“He has instilled a great unity within that group and built that culture.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Freddy and I think that has transferred the other way as well. It will be a great battle.”
Maroons skipper Daly Cherry-Evans says Slater is a coaching natural.
“I can already see similarities between the way he played and how he will coach,” Cherry-Evans said.
“He is so well prepared and he is super competitive, you can tell he has that desire for us to play well for each other and the Queensland people.
“We have had a fair few conversations over the last month and he has given me some tips on my game to be at my best for Origin. That shows how committed he is to get the best out of us for Game One.
“Billy is the right man for the Queensland job. As players, we have to perform for him.”
Slater has addressed the playing group on the key to drawing first blood in the series.
“We all have this perception that Origin is about big moments and it is, history tells that story,” he said.
“We’ve seen some big moments in the 42 years of Origin, but let me tell you the small moments are really important.
“They are the ones we have spoken about. The big moments will happen, they will come, but they will never happen if we don’t do the small moments, that’s really important for the players to focus on.
“If you go out chasing the big moments, you forget the small moments.
“We’re in a good spot. There’s a good energy around the group.”
Master coach helping Slater plot NSW downfall
Billy Slater has turned to Wayne Bennett to plot NSW’s downfall as the super coach declared the rookie Maroons mentor has the self-belief to bring the Origin shield back to Queensland.
As he prepares for his Maroons coaching debut in next Wednesday night’s series opener in Sydney, Slater revealed he has reached out to Bennett - the NSW nemesis who engineered the biggest boilover in Origin’s 42-year history.
Two years ago, the injury-ravaged Maroons were given no hope of winning the Covid-affected 2020 series, only for Bennett to pull off Mission Impossible as he blooded 14 debutants in Queensland’s epic 2-1 series win.
Now Bennett is back to haunt the Blues, with Slater seeking the counsel of the four-time Maroons mentor to help the 38-year-old make the transition from great Origin player to champion Queensland coach.
“Wayne has been very supportive of me and the team,” Slater told News Corp.
“He has been a guy for me to bounce ideas off and chat to.
“I never played under Wayne during my career, but I can see the effect that he has on players and I get that from our discussions. He is a good guy to talk to and he means so much to this team and has done for a long period of time.”
For all his brilliance as a 31-game Origin legend regarded as Queensland’s greatest fullback, the jury is out on Slater as a coach.
The Storm great has no top-level coaching experience and says the wisdom of the 72-year-old Bennett — the code’s greatest coach - has been crucial in planning his maiden Origin campaign.
“He has called me and I have called him. It’s a mutual thing. There is no structure to it,” Slater said. “Whenever I talk to him, he just wants what is best for Queensland.
“Wayne is a Queenslander, that’s the beauty of this environment. Everyone wants what is best for Queensland, so that’s why we are all here and I appreciate that Wayne is prepared to give up his time and knowledge wherever he can.
“I won’t go into too much detail about what we talk about, but he is very impactful.
“He gives people confidence and we can see what he does to teams and individuals within teams.
“I’ve enjoyed all my conversations with Wayne. Some of them have been about footy, some haven’t, but he has that ability to listen and make people feel comfortable in their role.”
Bennett, who won 13 of 24 games as Queensland coach during four stints spanning 34 years, backed Slater to succeed as a Maroons mastermind.
“I like Billy’s confidence and that’s the No. 1 criteria for coaching. You have to believe in yourself,” he said.
“If I want to help Queensland, I don’t need an official role.
“Coaching in the Origin arena is totally different to the NRL. The fact Billy has been there and done it for Queensland, he understands Origin, that’s a big plus.
“The best wrap I can give Billy is that he is confident. Every coach has their own way but I think the key for Billy is to do it his way. I like that part about him.
“I can’t see why Queensland can’t win this series. It will be hard with Game One in Sydney, but I think they have picked a really good team, so they give themselves a good chance.
“I’d prefer to stay low key on this one. This is Billy’s team, not mine, so I wish him well.”
Slater coaching debut key to unlocking NSW
Rookie Queensland coach Billy Slater has fired the first Origin salvo at champions NSW, declaring the “other team isn’t better than us” as the Maroons legend backed himself to topple Brad Fittler’s Blues dynasty.
Slater has ushered in a new era with four rookies – Selwyn Cobbo, Reuben Cotter, Pat Carrigan and Jeremiah Nanai – representing the winds of change sweeping through Queensland ahead of Origin I in Sydney on Wednesday week.
But there is a fifth debutant in Slater, who steps into the Queensland hot seat with no top-level coaching experience and must confront the daunting task of denying the Blues a fourth series win in five years.
Such was the emphatic nature of NSW’s win last year, there was political bloodshed in Camp Maroon, with the Queensland Rugby League sacking Paul Green and rolling the dice on coaching greenhorn Slater.
The 38-year-old is one of Queensland’s greatest players, having won eight Origin crowns during a stellar 31-game Maroons career that spanned 14 years.
Whether Slater can cope with the pressures of Origin coaching is the great unknown that could make or break Queensland’s 2022 series, but the NRL legend says he has no fear for the Blues as he prepares to lead a Maroons fightback.
“I never once stepped out on an Origin field feeling like the other team is better than us and we won’t be starting now,” Slater said ahead of his debut as Queensland coach at Sydney’s Accor Stadium.
“We’ll find out if I’m up to it. They are all outcomes. This is new to me.
“I will make mistakes, just like the players will make mistakes, but I will make mistakes with good intentions.
“I don’t care about whether we are (underdogs). It’s important we respect our opposition and that’s one thing we will be doing, we will be doing our homework on what they are good at, individually and collectively, so it’s important we know what we are up against and what’s coming.
“I will give every bit of myself to this job, which I have done so far. I’m ready for it.”
Bookmakers have already installed the Maroons as $2.35 outsiders to draw first blood against the Blues, who will enjoy home-ground advantage for the crucial series opener.
But Slater’s Origin record as a player is imposing. He won 19 of 31 interstate games and was a key fullback weapon in the most ruthless winning streak in Origin history, when Mal Meninga’s Maroons dominators clinched nine of 10 series in a golden decade between 2006-15.
Now Slater is ready to bring his Midas touch to Camp Maroon as the figurehead of a coaching dream team that includes former Queensland Origin trio Cameron Smith, Johnathan Thurston and Josh Hannay.
“People ask me what sort of coach I will be. I don’t know,” he said.
“I will be myself and where I feel I can contribute to the group, I will do that.
“We have some great people (Smith, Thurston and Hannay) in and around the group and our role is to get the players in the best physical and mental shape for them to play their best football and for Queensland to play their best football collectively.
“I like to do everything flat out. I like to do everything 100 per cent, that’s just me. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but I will give it everything.
“We won’t be complacent at all. While NSW have lost Latrell (Mitchell) and Tom (Trbojevic), I take no comfort at all in those guys being out.”
Slater said the blooding of Cobbo, Carrigan, Cotter and Nanai underlined his cultural bedrock to drive a Maroons revival.
No cheap jumpers. Perform … and you will be rewarded.
“I look at actions,” Slater said.
“I will look to build that togetherness and understanding each other’s strengths and how each player assists each other to make the most of our individual strengths.
“Those guys picked themselves, they decide whether they are performing well enough to play for Queensland.
“This is a dream come true for those lads, but now our attention turns to why we are here and the job they have to do.”
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