{"id":767905,"date":"2026-06-29T14:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T14:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/767905\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T14:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T14:09:13","slug":"state-of-origin-news-2026-billy-slater-coy-on-qld-maroons-coaching-future-reveals-handshake-deal-press-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/767905\/","title":{"rendered":"State of Origin news 2026: Billy Slater coy on QLD Maroons coaching future, reveals handshake deal, press conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

Billy Slater<\/a> has given no guarantees over his State of Origin<\/a> future, but he has clarified what he meant by only having a \u201chandshake deal\u201d in place to coach Queensland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since taking over the job in 2022, Slater has emerged as one of the game\u2019s great coaches, winning three of his four series in charge. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Billy Slater speaks to media before game three.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

As a result, the legendary Storm<\/a> fullback has received widespread praise and is in a strong position to continue in the job for years to come.<\/p>\n

Speaking to media after naming his team for Origin III on Monday, Slater was asked whether this year\u2019s decider at Suncorp Stadium would be his last as coach. His answer was non-committal. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think so, but I don\u2019t know,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t be signing another contract, this is not a contract job for me. I really enjoy helping this group of men to go and inspire our people of Queensland.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen that changes, my position will change or if someone in the QRL think there\u2019s another person better for the job, I\u2019m all for that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 43-year-old was then asked if he is operating on a handshake deal with the Maroons, to which he delivered a startling reply.<\/p>\n

\u201cYep, pretty much – it might surprise you, but that\u2019s how it is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Slater has been heavily linked to the Melbourne head coaching job in recent months, as uncertainty surrounds the future of Craig Bellamy<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The former superstar fullback confirmed he has no other coaching opportunities on his radar that could drive him out of the Queensland job. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no smoke or anything around, it is just purely how I feel about this role,\u201d he said when asked about his earlier comments. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was probably just a little disappointed that I had signed a contract previously. It doesn\u2019t feel like a contract job for me. <\/p>\n

\"Billy<\/p>\n

Billy Slater seen at Maroons training.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have any intentions to do anything else. I love what I am doing, the people that I am working with and the reasons why we are doing it. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see that changing any time soon, but if it does, I am OK with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Titans coach Josh Hannay believes Slater \u201cwould be crazy\u201d to give up his current lifestyle to pursue a long-term deal at the helm of a club team. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat bloke has the absolute best quality of life,\u201d Hannay, a former assistant coach for Slater with Queensland, said on 100% Footy. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf he jumps into what we do, he gives all of that up. He\u2019d be crazy to give up that quality of life that he has.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, it was revealed that Bellamy had been diagnosed with an undisclosed neurodegenerative disorder<\/a>, casting doubt over whether he would keep coaching beyond the 2026 campaign with the Storm. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Billy Slater has given no guarantees over his State of Origin future, but he has clarified what he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":767906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-767905","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\/767905","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=767905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/767906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=767905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=767905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=767905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}