{"id":768063,"date":"2026-06-29T15:56:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T15:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/768063\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T15:56:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T15:56:13","slug":"state-of-origin-2026-qld-maroons-team-list-game-3-patrick-carrigan-returns-from-injury-as-billy-slater-makes-three-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/768063\/","title":{"rendered":"State of Origin 2026 QLD Maroons team list game 3: Patrick Carrigan returns from injury as Billy Slater makes three changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Broncos workhorse Patrick Carrigan<\/a> has made a lightning-quick recovery from ankle surgery to be named in a 20-man Queensland<\/a> squad for the State of Origin<\/a> decider.<\/p>\n

Not even a month after going under the knife to repair a syndesmosis injury, Carrigan was one of three additions to the Maroons squad announced by coach Billy Slater<\/a> on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

\"Patrick<\/p>\n

Patrick Carrigan is back in the Queensland squad after recovering from an ankle injury.\u00a0NRL Imagery<\/p>\n

Carrigan, Cowboys gun Jeremiah Nanai and Raiders firebrand Corey Horsburgh have all been recalled for next Wednesday night\u2019s decider at Suncorp Stadium.<\/p>\n

Carrigan and Nanai have been named on the bench, and Horsburgh as 20th man.<\/p>\n

Nanai was available for selection again after recovering from a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n

Roosters hard man Lindsay Collins has made way after suffering a concussion in his side\u2019s win over the Broncos on Friday night<\/a>, while the Dolphins\u2019 Kulikefu Finefeuiaki and the Cowboys\u2019 Heilum Luki\u00a0have been dropped.<\/p>\n

Carrigan badly injured his ankle in Brisbane\u2019s loss to St George Illawarra<\/a> on May 31.<\/p>\n

The Broncos expected the tough middle forward to be sidelined for six weeks \u2013 but so fast was his recovery that he will be running out in the Origin decider only five weeks after the setback.<\/p>\n

\u201cPat is as professional as any player in the NRL<\/a>,\u201d Slater told media on the Sunshine Coast on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe leaves no stone unturned in his preparation, whether he\u2019s fit or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing back from this injury, Patty excelled in his preparation and rehab, and he was actually looking to play for the Broncos this coming weekend, and that made him available.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s still got to get through some fitness stuff prior to the game, but he looks all set to go, and it\u2019s good to have him back on deck.\u201d<\/p>\n

The loss of Collins is a heavy blow for the Maroons.<\/p>\n

He makes big metres and plays with enormous heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just not quite right to get up for this game,\u201d Slater said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a tough one. I know what it means to Lindsay to play for Queensland … I had that discussion with him and that\u2019s where that sat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Queensland<\/p>\n

Lindsay Collins will miss the decider after getting concussed.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Finefeuiaki made his Origin debut in game two at the MCG.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re tough calls, they\u2019re tough conversations,\u201d Slater said of his decision to drop him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Kuli has developed so much over the last 18 months and that earned him an Origin jersey … but I still think there\u2019s some growth in his game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have those conversations and I look forward to seeing the growth in certain parts of his game. I\u2019ve got no doubt he\u2019ll be in this footy team in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Queensland squad for decider<\/p>\n

1. Kalyn Ponga 2. Selwyn Cobbo 3. Rob Toia 4. Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow 5. Jojo Fifita 6. Cameron Munster 7. Sam Walker 8. Thomas Flegler 9. Harry Grant 10. Tino Fa\u2019asuamaleaui 11. Briton Nikora 12. Kurt Capewell 13. Reuben Cotter 14. Max Plath 15. Patrick Carrigan 16. Jeremiah Nanai 17. Trent Loiero, 18. Reece Walsh 19. Murray Taulagi 20. Corey Horsburgh<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Broncos workhorse Patrick Carrigan has made a lightning-quick recovery from ankle surgery to be named in a 20-man…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":768064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-768063","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\/768063","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=768063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/768064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=768063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=768063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=768063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}