{"id":681001,"date":"2026-05-19T15:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T15:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/681001\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T15:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T15:05:11","slug":"state-of-origin-2026-news-reece-walsh-snub-by-queensland-maroons-due-to-issue-with-coach-billy-slater-says-luke-keary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/681001\/","title":{"rendered":"State of Origin 2026 news, Reece Walsh snub by Queensland Maroons due to issue with coach Billy Slater, says Luke Keary"},"content":{"rendered":"

NRL<\/a> great Luke Keary<\/a> believes there is “obviously an issue” with Reece Walsh<\/a> that has kept the superstar fullback out of Queensland’s State of Origin<\/a> team.<\/p>\n

Walsh was the biggest surprise snub from the Maroons team named on Monday<\/a> ahead of the series opener in Sydney next week.<\/p>\n

He was beaten to the fullback spot by Newcastle captain Kalyn Ponga<\/a>. Both players have missed NRL games through injury this season but have been back on the field in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Gould casts major doubt over Daley’s NSW selections<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Guardiola poised to drop bombshell on Manchester City<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Cricket Australia sends BBL season opener to India<\/a><\/p>\n

The Broncos livewire couldn’t even make it onto Billy Slater<\/a>‘s six-man bench, despite being the undisputed best player of last year’s NRL finals series and arguably Australia’s best player on the Ashes tour to England.<\/p>\n

Slater on Monday said his decision was forced by the form of Ponga, rather than a lack of form from Walsh.<\/p>\n

“We know what he is capable of, he knows what he is capable of. I’ve got a great relationship with Reece and I have a lot of time for him,” the legendary fullback said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Billy Slater talks with Reece Walsh during Queensland training in 2024.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“It was difficult (to leave Walsh out), but we’ve all seen what Kalyn has done at this level and also with the Knights this year.”<\/p>\n

But three-time premiership player Keary isn’t buying it.<\/p>\n

Speaking on The Bye Round podcast, he said his suspicions were first raised last week when Queensland icon Cameron Smith named his ideal Maroons team on Nine’s 100% Footy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Walsh was nowhere to be seen in Smith’s team, prompting surprise from former NSW coach Phil Gould on the show.<\/p>\n

Smith has joined the Broncos this year under coach Michael Maguire, and is also close with Slater and the Maroons.<\/p>\n

“Last week when Cam Smith named his team, who is involved with the Broncos in a leadership capacity, didn’t have Reece in his team – I think he had him on the bench – I just went, that is very odd,” Keary said.<\/p>\n

“The best player in the finals series, one of the best grand finals ever seen, he was the best player over (in England) on the Ashes tour for Australia.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2026 State of Origin series live and free exclusively on Nine and 9Now<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Reece<\/p>\n

Reece Walsh and Kalyn Ponga in Maroons camp.\u00a0NRL Photos<\/p>\n

“He had the facial injury at the start of the season, but he’s had some really good games. He has an average game every now and then, like we all do.<\/p>\n

“There was no question in my mind (he would be picked for Queensland) and then when I saw Cam Smith’s team I went ‘oh… there’s a problem here’, because (Smith) is obviously really close to Billy, and he’s close to Reece at Brisbane.<\/p>\n

“Alarm bells went, something is not right here.<\/p>\n

“I don’t look at him and go ‘I don’t think he’s a good defensive fullback’, I think he’s very good. He saved Brisbane that grand final three or four times.<\/p>\n

“There is obviously an issue. There is something there that they don’t like… something Billy didn’t like.<\/p>\n

“Only Billy can answer that question, is it something on the field or is it something off the field? And obviously Cam Smith is privy to that too.”<\/p>\n

Fellow former NRL player James Graham was equally surprised to see Walsh miss out on Origin selection.<\/p>\n

While there is a perception Walsh makes more mistakes than Ponga, Graham says his game-breaking style would come in handy in the Origin arena.<\/p>\n

“I always thought, maybe before last year’s finals series, Reece Walsh (was) all out attack and probably didn’t focus on his defence, but his defence in last year’s finals series was sublime,” Graham said on The Bye Round.<\/p>\n

“With a six-man bench, and respectfully speaking to Ezra Mam… if you’re looking to break the glass in case of emergency and throw a player on, surely it’s Reece Walsh.<\/p>\n

“There is no better moments player, in terms of creating something from nothing.”<\/p>\n

Queensland won last year’s Origin decider at Sydney’s Accor Stadium and will return to the venue on Wednesday week for game one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NRL great Luke Keary believes there is “obviously an issue” with Reece Walsh that has kept the superstar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":681002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-681001","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\/681001","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=681001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}