{"id":399242,"date":"2026-01-08T07:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T07:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/399242\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T07:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T07:18:10","slug":"maroons-fullbacks-can-coexist-but-ponga-wants-the-no-1-jersey-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/399242\/","title":{"rendered":"Maroons’ fullbacks can coexist but Ponga wants the No. 1 jersey – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the 2026 NRL<\/a> season approaching, the rugby league community is already speculating on who will be the starting fullback for Queensland in State of Origin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reece Walsh<\/a> had an electrifying end to the season, during which he won the Clive Churchill Medal for a legendary grand final performance that will no doubt make him the favourite for the jersey.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Kalyn Ponga’s rather lacklustre season was cut short due to a broken bone in his foot, but not before starting at fullback in the first two State of Origin<\/a> games.<\/p>\n

However, Ponga knows the race is far from over and believes the two fullbacks’ shared goal will bring out the best in them.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s been awesome over the last three years, probably, with Reece,” Ponga told The Sydney Morning Herald<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“We’ve always had this thing where we want to fight for that position. I think whoever earns it, earns it.<\/p>\n

“That’s the way it is in the Queensland jumper. I definitely want that jersey. I’ll be doing everything I can to get it.”<\/p>\n

\"2024BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – JULY 17: QLD Maroons coach Billy Slater shakes hands with Reece Walsh of the Maroons after game three of the 2024 Men’s State of Origin series between Queensland Maroons and New South Wales Blues at Suncorp Stadium on July 17, 2024 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Another option for Queensland coach Billy Slater<\/a> is to replicate a tactic used in 2024, which saw Walsh starting and Ponga come off the bench for impact.<\/p>\n

When asked whether he would be okay with a similar scenario for the upcoming series, he had no objections.<\/p>\n

“Hopefully. That would be nice,” Ponga said.<\/p>\n

However, the decision lies with Slater, who must also consider Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow<\/a>, who starred at fullback in the decider.<\/p>\n

One thing is for certain though, Slater picks on form, not loyalty, so impressive performances early in the season are a must for the contending fullbacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the 2026 NRL season approaching, the rugby league community is already speculating on who will be the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-399242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}