{"id":299022,"date":"2023-05-22T00:03:25","date_gmt":"2023-05-22T00:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=299022"},"modified":"2023-05-22T00:59:00","modified_gmt":"2023-05-22T00:59:00","slug":"slater-lifts-lid-on-tough-phone-calls-to-axed-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=299022","title":{"rendered":"Slater lifts lid on 'tough phone calls' to axed stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Q\ufeffueensland<\/a> coach Billy Slater<\/a> has confirmed a number of big calls in his team for Origin I, before lifting the lid on the "tough phone calls" he had to make on Sunday night to deliver the news.<\/p>\n

As expected, Reece Walsh<\/a> won the race to the fullback position over incumbent Kalyn Ponga<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He is the only debutant in the squad.\ufeff<\/p>\n

FOLLOW LIVE:<\/strong> State of Origin teams news\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>Maroons' nervous wait over Tino forearm<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Sharks star told to 'pack his bags and leave'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"BRISBANE,<\/p>\n

Fourteen players from last year's series were recalled.<\/p>\n

Thomas Flegler, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, David Fifita and Christian Welch are the other four who have been called back into the squad.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Dane Gagai<\/a> is a notable omission.<\/p>\n

Slater also opted to pass over \ufeffFelise Kaufusi, who is facing a three-game suspension for his high shot on former teammate Christian Welch during the Dolphins' loss to the Storm on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Addressing the media, Slater revealed he had taken it upon himself to deliver the news to four of the big names he left out of the side, ringing Ponga, Gagai, Kurt Capewell and Xavier Coates on Sunday.<\/p>\n

"I had to make some really tough phone calls last night. Some good ones and some bad ones," he said.<\/p>\n

\"Billy<\/p>\n

"Those four are Queenslanders through and through.<\/p>\n

"[But] they were very understanding.<\/p>\n

"By the end of the phone call they were supportive of the team\ufeff."<\/p>\n

The Maroons will take on the Blues on Wednesday week at Adelaide Oval.<\/p>\n

MAROONS ORIGIN I TEAM<\/h2>\n

1. Reece Walsh<\/p>\n

2. Selwyn Cobbo<\/p>\n

3. Valentine Holmes<\/p>\n

4. Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow<\/p>\n

5. Murray Taulagi<\/p>\n

6. Cameron Munster<\/p>\n

7. Daly Cherry-Evans<\/p>\n

8. Thomas Flegler<\/p>\n

9. Ben Hunt<\/p>\n

10. Lindsay Collins<\/p>\n

11. Tom Gilbert<\/p>\n

12. David Fifita<\/p>\n

13. Patrick Carrigan<\/p>\n

14. Harry Grant<\/p>\n

15. Tino Fa'asuamaleaui<\/p>\n

16. Reuben Cotter<\/p>\n

17. Jai Arrow<\/p>\n

18. Tom Dearden<\/p>\n

19. Christian Welch<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Q\ufeffueensland coach Billy Slater has confirmed a number of big calls in his team for Origin I, before lifting the lid on the "tough phone […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":296849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299022"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=299022"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":299026,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299022\/revisions\/299026"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/296849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=299022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=299022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=299022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}