{"id":432008,"date":"2026-05-17T12:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T12:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/432008\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T12:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T12:49:11","slug":"queensland-set-for-walsh-bombshell-shock-ponga-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/432008\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland set for Walsh bombshell, shock Ponga switch"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Queensland Maroons<\/a> are set to shake up the State of Origin<\/a> landscape again, with coach Billy Slater<\/a> set to drop Reece Walsh<\/a> and move Kalyn Ponga<\/a> into the halves.<\/p>\n

Ponga has never played halfback before at NRL<\/a> level, but it’s understood he could do just that in the State of Origin<\/a> opener.<\/p>\n

Slater had a number of options to replace the injured Tom Dearden<\/a>, with the likes of Jamal Fogarty<\/a>, Sam Walker<\/a> and even Tanah Boyd<\/a> floated as potential options. <\/p>\n

There was also the chance for Daly Cherry-Evans<\/a> to earn a recall.<\/p>\n

Instead, News Corp are reporting Slater will pick Newcastle Knights<\/a> fullback Kalyn Ponga<\/a> at halfback.<\/p>\n

That, however, doesn’t mean Brisbane Broncos<\/a> star Reece Walsh<\/a>, who has battled form and injury during the first weeks of the 2026 season, will be picked.<\/p>\n

Instead, the star fullback who was the player of the 2025 finals series for the Brisbane Broncos<\/a>, will be dropped, with Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow<\/a>, who has done a stellar job for Queensland in all positions across the back five previously, will wear the number one jumper.<\/p>\n

Queensland’s outside back injury issues seemingly ensured Tabuai-Fidow would play at either centre or wing to accomodate for the fact both Murray Taulagi<\/a> and Xavier Coates<\/a> are unavailable for selection through injury issues.<\/p>\n

Instead, Gehamat Shibasaki<\/a>, who has been dropped by the Broncos at club level this year, is expected to be selected alognside Robert Toia<\/a> in the centres, while Jojo Fifita<\/a> is going to be given a debut on the wing alongside Selwyn Cobbo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, it’s understood Queensland are weighing up debuts for Max Plath<\/a> and Jaxon Purdue<\/a>, while it was earlier revealed that Briton Nikora<\/a> is also in line for a spot in the second-row which will be without the injured Jeremiah Nanai<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Slater is expected to officially name his team at 9am (AEST) on Monday morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Queensland Maroons are set to shake up the State of Origin landscape again, with coach Billy Slater…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-432008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}