Billy Slater overhauled his Maroons squad on Monday morning, making five changes for Game II and handing Kulikefu Finefeuaki an Origin debut off the bench. The 22-year-old will replace injured prop Pat Carrigan, while Ezra Mam has been pushed out of the extended six-man bench and replaced by club teammate Reece Walsh.
The changes matter now because Queensland need a victory in Game II to keep the series alive, and Slater has shuffled both the starting shape and the bench to do it. Finefeuaki was already in the frame in Game I as 20th man, but this is a sharper call: he goes from emergency cover to the match-day squad in a game the Maroons cannot afford to lose.
Slater’s most talked-about move was Walsh’s recall. Asked why the Broncos fullback was selected despite his patchy recent form, Slater declined to spell it out. He said he keeps that sort of decision in-house, added that he knows what Walsh is capable of, and said the former New Zealand Warriors debutant has built a strong enough game to perform if needed off the bench.
That left the selection looking less like a reward for club form than a bet on what Walsh can do in the next 80 minutes, not the last few weeks. Slater also gave a strong endorsement to Finefeuaki’s rise, saying the calls to bring players in are the best kind to make and crediting Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf for helping develop the forward into a beneficiary of that work.
The Maroons’ wider problem is simple: they are chasing a response under pressure, and Slater framed the squad around that rather than any one player. He said it is about the team playing its best football, not one man, and that Queensland now has 10 days to go after its best footy and help its players be at their best.
What happens next is Game II, where the selection gamble will either look sharp or reckless. Walsh is on the bench, Finefeuaki is set for his debut, and Carrigan’s ankle injury has forced Queensland into a different shape for a match they must win.
