State of Origin: Billy Slater’s gambles pay off in Maroons boilover

Billy Slater was pilloried by NSW critics for throwing Queensland’s famed loyalty out the window but the Maroons coach had the last laugh.

Billy Slater has hit the jackpot with his selection gambles. Picture: Getty Images.

Queensland coach Billy Slater gambled ... and hit the jackpot.

Slater’s bombshell decision to axe Kalyn Ponga, Dane Gagai and Kurt Capewell paid stunning dividends as youngbloods Reece Walsh, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and David Fifita inspired another Maroons boilover of the Blues at Adelaide Oval.

The 26-18 victory in the 2023 series opener was the latest instalment of a Queensland spirit that never says die, driven by the Generation Next Maroons who vindicated Slater’s bravery at the selection table.

Slater was pilloried south of the border by NSW critics for throwing Queensland’s famed loyalty out the window after dropping last year’s Game Three hero Ponga and Maroons origin specialist Gagai.

But Slater, as is becoming his way in the Origin arena, had the last laugh.

After last year’s epic win in his maiden series as coach, Slater hit paydirt again in young guns Walsh and Tabuai-Fidow, who were as nerveless as they were magnificent in Queensland’s second consecutive win in Adelaide.

Billy Slater has hit the jackpot with his selection gambles. Picture: NRL Imagery.

Filling the Ponga void, debutant Walsh was sublime. He was in everything. From a sublime cut-out ball for Selwyn Cobbo’s try, to pulling Jarome Luai’s hair, to defusing aerial kicks with the calmness of an Iraqi bomb-defusal expert, ‘Reece Lightning’ struck the Blues in a wondrous debut.

And if Walsh was electric, ‘The Hammer’ delivered the electric shock.

Arguably the fastest man in rugby league - he was clocked at 10.85 seconds in a 100-metre sprint as a 16-year-old - Tabuai-Fidow burned the Blues with the long-range try seven minutes from time to justify his selection ahead of Gagai.

“They were super,” Slater said of Walsh and Tabuai-Fidow.

“It’s easy to sensationalise a stat to suit your narrative with the seven changes to our side, but Hamiso was fantastic.

“There was a big moment when we needed him and he delivered with that try.

“And Reece played really tough. He attacked the high ball and was there when Queensland needed him.

“I’m so proud of our effort.”

There is a time-honoured maxim that forwards determine the result, and the backs determine by how much.

The Blues’ big boppers bent, shaped and tried to bludgeon the result. But Queensland’s front six stayed true in the trenches.

Queensland’s backs, led by Walsh, The Hammer and halfback Daly Cherry-Evans, who delivered a skipper’s knock, sealed the result.

Before kick-off, Channel 9 expert analyst and Maroons selector Darren Lockyer said Origin openers were not about attacking glamour but defensive grit.

Lockyer was bang on.

Slater came under fire for axing Kalyn Ponga and Dane Gagai, but he has been vindicated after the Maroons produced yet another Origin boilover. Picture: Getty Images.

After an early blitzkrieg, when Queensland unlocked NSW on the left and right to lead 10-0 after 12 minutes, it was the Maroons who spent the majority of the first half under siege as the Blues’ big men turned the screws.

Defensive desperation was the theme of Queensland’s triumph. Statistically, they had no right to lead 10-6 at half-time. They had just 43 per cent of possession. The Blues had 53 tackles to Queensland’s 13 in the opposition half, and 21 to four in the 20-metre red zone.

Entering the final stretch, the Maroons looked gone. When rookie prop Tom Flegler was sin-binned and reported for a high shot on Tom Trbojevic in the 68th minute, Queensland had no right to emerge victorious.

But in the post-Josh Papalii era, Queensland have a slew of midfield marauders. Lindsay Collins was magnificent, Pat Carrigan punched out 123 metres and Fifita showed he has the toughness to match his skill in the code’s toughest arena.

As a player, Billy Slater had peerless judgment. As a coach, he is a calculated gambler prepared to back his instincts.

Queensland are better for it.

Originally published as State of Origin: Billy Slater’s gambles pay off in Maroons boilover