QUEENSLAND’S State of Origin selectors have heralded a new era with a new-look Maroons team announced for the first game of the series against NSW at the MCG on June 6. This year’s campaign was always going to be one of transition, given the representative retirements of team leaders Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Johnathan
KALYN Ponga has surged into the frame for the Origin series, with Queensland selection boss Gene Miles confirming the Newcastle young gun will be part of the Maroons’ set up this season. Legendary Queensland fullback Gary Belcher has called for Ponga to chosen on the wing for Origin I, in much the same way Billy
TEST coach Mal Meninga says picking the halves combinations will be the biggest headache confronting both State of Origin coaches going into this year’s series. Both Queensland and NSW are entering new eras with this year’s series. Maroons coach Kevin Walters will again have to rebuild his team after the representative retirements of Johnathan Thurston
QUEENSLAND coach Kevin Walters insists Daly Cherry-Evans can fit into the Maroons’ system and says he has rocketed into contention for the No.7 jumper vacated by Cooper Cronk. The push for Cherry-Evans’ Origin career to be resurrected is gathering steam after he dominated Maroons rival Corey Norman in Manly’s 54-0 rout of Parramatta in Round
JOHNATHAN Thurston says Michael Morgan’s State of Origin apprenticeship is over and has demanded his Cowboys clubmate be the first player picked at the Queensland scrumbase this season. Maroons coach Kevin Walters is on the hunt for a new halves pairing for the 2018 campaign following the dual representative retirements of Thurston and halfback Cooper
NO Thurston. No Cronk. No worries. That’s the view of Queensland’s Mr Fixit Michael Morgan as the Maroons prepare for life without the scrumbase legends who spearheaded the Origin dynasty created by Mal Meninga and upheld by coach Kevin Walters. Entering his fourth Origin campaign in 2018, Morgan has become a key pillar in Queensland’s
KEVIN Walters has thrown down the challenge to Queensland's next generation of playmakers, with the Maroons coach declaring the famous No.7 Origin jumper up for grabs. The Queensland scrumbase will have a new look next season following halfback Cooper Cronk’s decision to join Johnathan Thurston in representative retirement in the wake of Australia’s World Cup
QUEENSLAND selector Gene Miles admits he can’t wait to experience a “massive headache” with the Maroons when State of Origin rolls around in 2018. Miles and his fellow Queensland selectors will have a task in front of them next year – working out who to leave out, rather than who to put in. While the
THE Maroons have received a massive boost, with champion fullback Billy Slater declaring he will extend his representative career in a move that will see Queensland’s Big Three remain intact in 2018. Queensland skipper Cameron Smith faced going into next year’s campaign as the only survivor of Melbourne’s champion trio as Slater and Cronk weighed
MAL Meninga does not think Queensland will need a new State of Origin coach any time soon. And he is glad about that for a number of reasons. Firstly, it means that Kevin Walters will continue on his unbeaten ways as Queensland coach into 2018 and beyond, as he looks to continue the Maroons dynasty
