Patrick Carrigan’s injury has left the Broncos on the edge of an Origin first they would rather avoid: no players in Queensland’s camp for Game II. Billy Slater is due to unveil his Maroons squad next Tuesday for the second State of Origin match at the MCG on June 17, and Brisbane could be shut out entirely if Carrigan, Gehemat Shibasaki and Ezra Mam all drop away.
The timing explains why fans are looking at the sea eagles vs rabbitohs angle of Origin chatter now, because the Queensland team announcement is close and Brisbane’s place in it has become a live issue. Carrigan was the only Broncos player to take the field for Queensland in last week’s 22-20 loss to New South Wales in Sydney, while Payne Haas and Kotoni Staggs will fly the Broncos’ flag in Blues camp, adding another layer to the mismatch in selection fortunes.
Last weekend made the picture worse for Brisbane. Shibasaki was injured in Sunday’s 30-26 loss to the Dragons at Suncorp Stadium, and Mam was axed by coach Michael Maguire ahead of this week’s derby against Gold Coast. If Slater does not turn to another Broncos player, the club could head into Maroons camp with no representation at all, even as Selwyn Cobbo, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Tom Flegler and Max Plath are expected to hold their spots and Tom Gilbert looms as the likely replacement for Carrigan.
That would be an awkward marker for a club that is already sliding. Brisbane are on a four-game losing streak and sit 11th on the ladder, a sharp fall for a side that won the premiership eight months ago. The optics are even stranger because the Dolphins, who entered the NRL in 2023, could end up with five representatives in Queensland’s squad, more than the Broncos, as Sam Thaiday pointed out on Wide World of Sports’ QLDER. “What a flex by the Dolphins, having more players in that Queensland squad than the Broncos,” he said, adding that Terry Reader is probably “just sitting back loving it sick at the moment.”
Thaiday’s criticism cut beyond the selection numbers and into Brisbane’s form. He said the Dragons “ran harder” and “rolled down the field,” then added that he is “really struggling to see this season at all where we’ve had an 80-minute effort.” Slater’s squad next Tuesday will answer the immediate question of whether Brisbane are spared total exclusion, but the bigger point is already clear: Carrigan’s injury has turned a routine Maroons announcement into another public measure of how far the Broncos have drifted.
