Five Maroons on selection chopping block ahead of crucial game in Perth

Up to five Queensland players are fighting for their Origin futures after the Maroons were outclassed by the Blues. These are the players on the chopping block and their potential replacements.

Maroons players have appealed to Billy Slater not to wield the axe as Queensland faces the prospect of rewriting 45 years of Origin history to avoid back-to-back series defeats.

The Maroons must win two away games in succession – in Perth and Sydney – for the first time to regain the Origin shield after slumping to an 18-6 defeat to NSW on Wednesday night at Suncorp Stadium.

On the back of his third straight defeat as Maroons coach, Slater must now orchestrate a State of Origin miracle after Queensland suffered successive losses in Brisbane for the first time in 27 years.

The five Maroons on the chopping board for game two.

The ill-disciplined Maroons were blown off the park by the Payne Haas-inspired Blues in a four-tries-to-one massacre.

Up to five Queensland players are fighting for their Origin futures as Slater weighs up changes before the sudden-death showdown at Perth’s Optus Stadium on June 18.

Captain Daly Cherry-Evans, prop Moeaki Fotuaika, debutant Trent Loiero, backrower Reuben Cotter and winger Valentine Holmes’ places in the team have come under the microscope.

The likes of Raiders enforcer Corey Horsburgh, Rabbitohs hardman Jai Arrow and Broncos flyer Selwyn Cobbo will come into the selection mix after being overlooked for Game One.

Five-eighth Cameron Munster, who missed nine tackles, appealed for Slater to show faith in the Maroons and give them a shot at redemption.

“I hope so,” he said.

“We lost by 12 but I don’t think we could have played any worse.

“We can take some confidence out of it. If we play like that and give them that much ball, I’m very confident with our defence.

“We gave ourselves an opportunity to be in the game but shot ourselves in the foot and they executed. There’s a lot of people disappointed and we’ve got to take some learnings.”

(L-R) Daly Cherry-Evans and Billy Slater front the media after the Origin I defeat.

Slater’s selections will be scrutinised following a terribly ill-disciplined performance from the Maroons who were off the pace from the opening kick-off.

Fotuaika was outclassed, making just four runs for 39m in 45 minutes, while Loiero’s 50m from the bench was solid but lacked punch.

Playing his 20th Origin, Holmes was targeted in his return to the wing by the Blues and came up with three errors.

A high workrate middle forward, Cotter was ineffective with the ball on the left edge while wide-running debutant Beau Fermor sat on the bench for 63 minutes despite not missing a single minute of action with the Titans this year.

“I would love to get more minutes in games coming up,” Fermor said.

“I could definitely (play 80). I play 80 minutes every week so I’m not stranger to that.

“If that is my job for the next game, I’m willing to do it.

“I’ll put my best effort out there for 80 minutes.

“You only make one Origin debut so I was stoked to be part of it.”

Tino Fa’asuamaleaui (107m) and Pat Carrigan (110m) were the only Queensland forwards to break the 100m barrier compared to NSW’s Haas (138m), Angus Crichton (127m) and Isaah Yeo (153m).

A bruised Fa’asuamaleaui was inspirational in his Origin return after missing last year’s series and said he wanted to make amends in Perth.

“I definitely think we can stand up to them,” he said.

“We have a very good forward pack but when we hand over as much ball as we did, it allows players like Payne to make easy yards.

“It really hurt us. We have to treat that ball like gold and make sure we learn from this.

“I’ve massively hungry to save the series. There’s no second chance for us now.

“I can’t wait to go after NSW again if I get another chance.”

Fa’asuamaleaui will get a second chance but the same can’t be guaranteed for some of his teammates.

Originally published as Five Maroons on selection chopping block ahead of crucial game in Perth