{"id":432678,"date":"2026-05-18T01:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T01:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/432678\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T01:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T01:23:08","slug":"qld-maroons-confirm-team-for-state-of-origin-game-1-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/432678\/","title":{"rendered":"QLD Maroons confirm team for State of Origin Game 1, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Queensland Maroons<\/a> have confirmed their team for the opening game of the 2026 State of Origin<\/a> series, with the big call to drop Reece Walsh<\/a> headlining Billy Slater’s side.<\/p>\n

The Queensland coach has been glowing in his praise of Walsh, who drove the Broncos to a premiership last year before playing for the Kangaroos in the Ashes, but a mixed start to 2026 sees him lose his spot to Kalyn Ponga<\/a>, who returns to the Origin set-up.<\/p>\n

It had been theorised on Sunday that Ponga would be picked at halfback, however, Slater has gone clear of that option, instead picking Sam Walker<\/a> to debut and replace the injured Tom Dearden<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the backs, Valentine Holmes<\/a> has been dropped, while, as expected, Xavier Coates<\/a> and Murray Taulagi<\/a> are out injured, seeing Robert Toia<\/a> and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow<\/a> line up in the centres, while Selwyn Cobbo<\/a> returns on one wing, with Jojo Fifita<\/a> to debut on the other.<\/p>\n

Thomas Flegler makes his return for Queensland having spent most of the last two years out injured. He will be partnered by Tino Fa’asuamaleaui<\/a> up front, with Max Plath<\/a> to debut at lock.<\/p>\n

That means Lindsay Collins<\/a> and Patrick Carrigan<\/a>, as well as Trent Loiero<\/a> who has been retained, are all on the bench.<\/p>\n

Reuben Cotter<\/a> and Kurt Capewell<\/a> will return as the starting second-rowers, while New Zealand<\/a> international Briton Nikora<\/a> comes in as second-row cover off the bench.<\/p>\n

Gehamat Shibasaki<\/a> and Ezra Mam<\/a> round out the bench, with there surprisingly being no room for Kulikefu Finefeuiaki<\/a> who is 20th man.<\/p>\n

Queensland Maroons team for Game 1<\/p>\n

1. Kalyn Ponga<\/a> (Newcastle Knights<\/a>)
2. Selwyn Cobbo<\/a> (Dolphins<\/a>)
3. Robert Toia<\/a> (Sydney Roosters<\/a>)
4. Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow<\/a> (Dolphins<\/a>)
5. Jojo Fifita<\/a> (Gold Coast Titans<\/a>)
6. Cameron Munster<\/a> (Melbourne Storm<\/a>)
7. Sam Walker<\/a> (Sydney Roosters<\/a>)
8. Thomas Flegler (Dolphins<\/a>)
9. Harry Grant<\/a> (Melbourne Storm<\/a>)
10. Tino Fa’asuamaleaui<\/a> (Gold Coast Titans<\/a>)
11. Reuben Cotter<\/a> (North Queensland Cowboys<\/a>)
12. Kurt Capewell<\/a> (Warriors)
13. Max Plath<\/a> (Dolphins<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Interchange
14. Briton Nikora<\/a> (Cronulla Sutherland Sharks)
15. Lindsay Collins<\/a> (Sydney Roosters<\/a>)
16. Patrick Carrigan<\/a> (Brisbane Broncos<\/a>)
17. Trent Loiero<\/a> (Melbourne Storm<\/a>)
18. Ezra Mam<\/a> (Brisbane Broncos<\/a>)
19. Gehamat Shibasaki<\/a> (Brisbane Broncos<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Reserve
20. Kulikefu Finefeuiaki<\/a> (Dolphins<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Queensland Maroons have confirmed their team for the opening game of the 2026 State of Origin series,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-432678","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\/432678","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=432678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}