Valentine Holmes gives Maroons coach Kevin Walters his toughest selection challenge

TEST match fixture. Glamour boy. Premiership star. But should Valentine Holmes get a game for Queensland? ROBERT CRADDOCK investigates.

Valentine Holmes looks a player born for the big stage. Picture: Gregg Porteous

TEST match fixture. Glamour boy. Premiership star. But should Valentine Holmes get a game for Queensland?

Hall and Oates were once a famous singing duo but it’s Holmes and Oates that Queensland coach Kevin Walters may struggle to bring together at Suncorp Stadium in the first Origin match.

Mal Meninga did not pick Billy Slater for Australia this week but by the time the first Origin rumbles around, Slater will be match hardened and ready to play at fullback or on the wing — somewhere, anywhere — for Queensland.

And so starts one of the most intriguing selection riddles any Maroons coach has ever had to unravel.

Billy Slater will be match hardened by the time State of Origin rolls around. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Slater is regarded by many as the greatest fullback to have played the game.

If he plays it should be at fullback which means Darius Boyd would play wing.

Then the headaches start.

Vying for spots on the other wing will be three blue-chip performers — Corey Oates, Dane Gagai and Sharks flyer Holmes, who next week plays his fifth Test, against New Zealand in Canberra, even though he is yet to lace on a boot for Queensland.

Bold, brassy Holmes looks a player born for the big stage. But his first Origin jumper will be hard earnt.

It’s not just the wingers who are caught in a talent crush — it’s the men inside them.

If Gagai misses out on a wing berth, he will be in competition with Will Chambers and Justin O’Neill in the centres.

Valentine Holmes looks a player born for the big stage. Picture: Gregg Porteous

The easy thing to say is that because both were chosen ahead of Gagai in the Australian squad to face New Zealand, Queensland should respect that pecking order.

But Gagai’s form for Newcastle under supreme duress has been exceptional.

Gagai has somehow stood out as one of the form centres in the competition in a team anchored at the foot of the ladder. If he can produce diamonds under pressure for the Knights, he might just prove a matchwinner for Queensland.

And he played exceptionally well in last year’s Origin series, justifying the high opinion of coach Walters who has been one of his biggest fans.

O’Neill is a solid player whose form ebbs and flow with his confidence.

Could Gagai have a bit of extra stardust in his game against the Blues at Suncorp?

Over to you Kev.