{"id":400341,"date":"2024-06-05T23:03:21","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T23:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=400341"},"modified":"2024-06-06T01:05:40","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T01:05:40","slug":"i-just-felt-it-inside-slaters-unexpected-sideline-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=400341","title":{"rendered":"'I just felt it': Inside Slater's unexpected sideline move"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queensland<\/a> coach Billy Slater<\/a> said leaving the coaches box to speak with Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow on the sideline was instinctive but also something that crossed his mind in the lead up.<\/p>\n

Reece Walsh's concussion<\/a> forced the Maroons mentor to reshuffle his backline with Selwyn Cobbo coming off the bench to play on the wing, and Tabuai-Fidow moved to fullback.<\/p>\n

Moments after Walsh walked off the field, Slater left his coaches box and headed straight to the sideline to speak with Tabuai-Fidow on the switch.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Maroons great in hot water over Suaalii sideline spray<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Blues stunned as Origin 'nightmare' comes true<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Australian Open champ stunned by teen sensation<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

He said the decision to bolt down the stairs and have a face-to-face conversation was something that crossed his mind before.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"To be honest, I walked up to the box from the sideline yesterday at the captain's run and thought if that's needed, that's what I'm gonna do," he told reporters after the match.<\/p>\n

\"Fatty<\/p>\n

"We had a talk about that today as a staff and when Hammer got thrown back to fullback.<\/p>\n

"I just thought that I could help him with a few things having a face-to-face conversation.<\/p>\n

"We can't plan for everything, but that's one thing that I felt was beneficial to the team and to Hammer. I just felt it at the time and I did it."<\/p>\n

Taking on a Blues team with 12 men was always going to be an advantage for the Maroons, but Slater said he was proud of how his stand-in fullback performed, crossing the stripe for a hat-trick.<\/p>\n

It was his effort in defence, however, that really impressed Slater\ufeff, most notably his incredible try-saving tackle on Blues forward Spencer Leniu.<\/p>\n

"He did a great job under the high ball (and) positionally," Slater continued.<\/p>\n

"Not just scoring three tries, but he saved just as many.<\/p>\n

"He did a wonderful job to adjust to a different position. I thought he was super."<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 State of Origin series exclusively live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.\ufeff<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Joseph<\/p>\n

Slater's decision to have Selwyn Cobbo on the bench copped some criticism but it proved to be a master stroke in the end,\ufeff with the coach planning thoroughly for the chance of losing an outside back.<\/p>\n

"I'm always proud of this footy team. The way they prepare, the way they carry themselves, they're a credit to themselves as leaders of our state," he said.<\/p>\n

"I can imagine what 5.5 million people above the border are feeling about their footy team and pride would certainly be up there.<\/p>\n

"We prepared for the unexpected and the unexpected happened."<\/p>\n

As for the hit on Walsh, Slater refused to be drawn on the tackle that wiped his fullback from the match.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"I'll keep my feelings about that (tackle) to myself," Slater said before being questioned over whether NSW were targeting the Broncos star.<\/p>\n

"I have no idea but ill keep my feelings about that to myself," he replied.<\/p>\n

When he was pressed further\ufeff about whether he felt Suaalii deserved to be sent off, Slater fired back at the journalist, saying: "Did you?"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Queensland coach Billy Slater said leaving the coaches box to speak with Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow on the sideline was instinctive but also something that crossed his […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":400170,"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\/400341"}],"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=400341"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":400344,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400341\/revisions\/400344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/400170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=400341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=400341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=400341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}