{"id":483362,"date":"2026-06-18T09:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T09:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/483362\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T09:14:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T09:14:13","slug":"no-fear-smith-gives-maroons-half-ultimate-accolade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/483362\/","title":{"rendered":"‘No fear’: Smith gives Maroons half ultimate accolade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queensland legend Cameron Smith says Sam Walker has answered all his critics emphatically after his man-of-the-match display at the MCG.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old half landed eight goals from eight attempts on Wednesday and took control of the match when the Maroons<\/a> trailed 10-2, outplaying opposite number Nathan Cleary in a 44-24 win to take the State of Origin series to a decider in Brisbane.<\/p>\n

Walker played as a solitary half in attack when five-eighth Cameron Munster was off the field for 15 minutes with an HIA – and he stood up with class.<\/p>\n

The naysayers who reckoned Walker was too small or too flashy for Origin have been shown up.<\/p>\n

“There were question marks on him, mainly around his defence and whether his style of play would stand up at this level,” former Maroons skipper Smith told AAP.<\/p>\n

“I think he has answered all his critics with his first two Origin performances.<\/p>\n

\"Max<\/p>\n

Max Plath and Briton Nikora of the Maroons celebrate their win during State of Origin Game 2 between the NSW Blues and the Queensland Maroons. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n

“Everyone has spoken about game one and how Queensland win if Kalyn Ponga stays on the field. I tell you, if Queensland win game one, Sam Walker wins man of the match in that game too.<\/p>\n

“It looks like Sam has played 20 Origins, not two. He is playing with composure and he understands his role he has been asked to go out and play.”<\/p>\n

A second half play where he caught the ball from a scrum and without looking flipped it up for Ponga to collect and set up a try for winger Selwyn Cobbo was magic.<\/p>\n

“What works for him in the modern game is he has no fear,” Smith said.<\/p>\n

“He doesn’t look at an opportunity as a risk. He looks at it as an opportunity to go and do something positive for the team.<\/p>\n

“We see that through his short kicking and his options whether to spread the ball wide, turn the ball inside or have a little dart. It’s really good to watch.”<\/p>\n

Walker said it was “really special” to win the match and to be so influential in the result as he explained the scrum play that led to the Cobbo try.<\/p>\n

\"Cameron<\/p>\n

Cameron Munster of the Maroons runs the ball during game two of the Men’s State of Origin series between New South Wales Blues and Queensland Maroons . (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

“We put the last tough loss behind us and came out and performed like we said we would,” Walker told AAP.<\/p>\n

“I practice every skill over and over again and I am confident in my passing game. I was lucky to throw it up there and KP [Ponga] was fast enough to catch the ball.<\/p>\n

“KP was unbelievable and we have built a really combination because we both play off-the-cuff. Give him an ounce of room and he will create something out of nothing.”<\/p>\n

Queensland coach Billy Slater hailed Walker’s ability to handle the Origin cauldron.<\/p>\n

Slater didn’t even realise the Sydney Roosters halfback had been awarded man-of-the-match honours when speaking post-game.<\/p>\n

“He’s so humble and so respectful but oozes confidence in his own ability,” the Maroons and Melbourne Storm legend said of Walker<\/p>\n

“The more time that I’ve spent with Sam, the more I understand the greatness of his game.<\/p>\n

“He handles pressure situations.<\/p>\n

“When you think about that try off the scrum, he’s in a pressure situation and he handles it with calmness and with skill.<\/p>\n

“He’s the last one out on the field with his working on different parts of his game.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queensland legend Cameron Smith says Sam Walker has answered all his critics emphatically after his man-of-the-match display at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-483362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-australia","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483362","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=483362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}