{"id":661254,"date":"2026-05-10T05:47:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T05:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/661254\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T05:47:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T05:47:19","slug":"nrl-2026-andrew-johns-makes-call-on-tom-deardens-replacement-for-state-of-origin-who-will-be-queensland-halfback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/661254\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Andrew Johns makes call on Tom Dearden\u2019s replacement for State of Origin, who will be Queensland halfback"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Queensland Maroons find themselves in a selection predicament over the halfback position following Tom Dearden\u2019s injury. <\/p>\n

Dearden is likely to miss most of the State of Origin series after suffering a syndesmosis injury to his ankle while in action for the Cowboys against Parramatta on Friday night. <\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the NRL Premiership LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

He played out the game but it\u2019s been confirmed he will undergo surgery and will be sidelined for six to eight weeks.<\/p>\n

\"Dearden<\/p>\n

That means he will miss Origin I on May 27, and is in danger of missing the entire series.<\/p>\n

The second game takes place on June 17 with Game 3 on July 8. <\/p>\n

Dearden won the Wally Lewis Medal as player of the series last year and it would be a huge blow for Queensland if he was to miss any of the Origin series, especially given his likely halves partner Cameron Munster is out of form.<\/p>\n

Attention has turned to who will replace Dearden in Queensland\u2019s No. 7 jersey.<\/p>\n

Roosters playmaker Sam Walker is a leading option, as is his Roosters teammate Daly Cherry-Evans.<\/p>\n

Warriors halfback Tanah Boyd, Broncos star Ezra Mam and veteran half Jamal Fogarty are other contenders to make their Origin debut. <\/p>\n

NSW Blues legend Andrew Johns believe Walker is the frontrunner to fill in for Dearden, declaring on Nine\u2019s Sunday Footy Show: \u201cIt\u2019s his time, Sammy Walker\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis style of play at Origin level, especially with the quicker ruck this year you\u2019ve got to be unpredictable. Set plays don\u2019t necessarily work at Origin, so I\u2019d go Sammy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brad Fittler tipped Cherry-Evans to be recalled for Queensland after being dropped by coach Billy Slater following last year\u2019s loss in the series opener. <\/p>\n

Another option is to move Kalyn Ponga into five-eighth and shuffle Munster to halfback.<\/p>\n

It comes as Code Sports<\/a> reports the Maroons are considering a selection shake-up with as many as eight players from last year\u2019s series set to miss out.<\/p>\n

Dearden, Xavier Coates and Jeremiah Nanai are injured, while Gehamat Shibasaki, Valentine Holmes, Trent Loiero and Kurt Mann are down on form and likely to be overlooked. <\/p>\n

Josh Papali\u2019i is retired from Origin and Murray Taulagi is dealing with concussion.<\/p>\n

Originally published as Andrew Johns makes call on Tom Dearden\u2019s replacement for State of Origin<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Queensland Maroons find themselves in a selection predicament over the halfback position following Tom Dearden\u2019s injury. Dearden…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-661254","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\/661254","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=661254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}