{"id":741038,"date":"2026-06-16T22:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T22:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/741038\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T22:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T22:20:11","slug":"state-of-origin-2026-daily-news-and-updates-when-will-reece-walsh-enter-the-game-kalyn-ponga-billy-slater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/741038\/","title":{"rendered":"State of Origin 2026: Daily, news and updates, when will Reece Walsh enter the game, Kalyn Ponga, Billy Slater"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Maroons have an ace up their sleeve in the form of Reece Walsh, which is all the more powerful due to the uncertainty on when or if he\u2019ll be utilised at the MCG.<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s the belief of former NRL star James Graham, who says Walsh would currently be providing \u201cmental stress\u201d for the Blues. <\/p>\n

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Walsh has been named in the No. 18 jersey and is no certainty to even play, with coach Billy Slater not giving anything away when asked ad nausuem this week what the livewire fullback\u2019s role will be. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t tell you in short (if he\u2019ll play)… We know he\u2019s a great player and if needed, he\u2019s going to do a great job in whatever position,\u201d a coy Slater said during Tuesday\u2019s joint Origin press conference. <\/p>\n

Graham urged Slater to make the most of Walsh\u2019s presence and keep the Blues guessing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was Slater, I\u2019d be asking Reece to go for a jog up the sideline. He\u2019ll be providing mental stress (for NSW),\u201d Graham said on NRL360.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll be thinking about when he\u2019s going to come on or what position will he play. Reece Walsh is living rent-free in every New South Wales middle forward\u2019s head.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Former Blues halfback Craig Gower added that Walsh may not be in the best of form at the minute, but that can turn quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know with Reece, it\u2019s all about his unpredictability and his speed but at the moment he\u2019s rocks and diamonds which is the worrying thing. But you get him in a Queensland jersey, he does his one good thing and that propels his confidence,\u201d Gower said. <\/p>\n

The state of the game will ultimately factor into whether Walsh sees the field or when. <\/p>\n

According to a Maroons legend, Slater should take any opportunity he can to inject the superstar. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think if there\u2019s a HIA anywhere in their team, I think he comes straight on… Say there\u2019s one in the 34th minute and you can use him for six minutes before half time, do it,\u201d Tallis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think between he and Kalyn (Ponga), they\u2019ll share it (fullback).\u201d<\/p>\n

That comment led NRL360 host Braith Anasta to warn: \u201cIf I\u2019m Queensland and you have Reece and Kalyn on at the same time, I think that\u2019ll be (dangerous).\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Maroons have an ace up their sleeve in the form of Reece Walsh, which is all the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":741039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-741038","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\/741038","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=741038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/741039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}