They were but a footnote, 52 minutes lost in the ever advancing chronicle of State of Origin. But the moment Billy Slater named fullback Kalyn Ponga on his bench for the series decider in Brisbane, one largely forgotten rugby league experiment took on new significance.
In the 28th minute of game two in 2018, a 20-year-old Ponga was substituted on to debut for the Maroons after just 24 NRL games. Already on the field was Slater, and the pair formed a two-headed, fullback monster in attack.
The conservative world of rugby league has little patience for the novel, and this approach – especially at Origin level – was certainly adventurous. The Maroons fell just short that night, losing the match 18-14 and with it the series. Yet there were signs such a scheme could work.
In the aftermath, the young star earned praise after defending in the Maroons line. And a late linebreak by Ponga almost won it for Queensland, especially given he had Slater – who ended up winning player of the series before retiring at the end of the year – back on his inside.
Six years may have passed and Ponga is now 26, but he has returned to where his Origin career began: the Maroons bench. The reigning Dally M medallist has overcome concussion issues which prevented him from taking part in the series last year, and a foot injury that has hampered him for much of this season.
As soon as the Knights’ No 1 proved his fitness against Canberra last weekend, Slater included him in the Maroons lineup, even though Reece Walsh was already established at fullback.
It’s unquestionably a bold move that has Queensland fans both salivating and palpitating. Fullbacks have been named on lighter Origin benches before, including as recently as Clint Gutherson for the Blues last year, but New South Wales this year enjoy a clear size mismatch. Alongside Ponga on the bench the Maroons have hooker Harry Grant, leaving only two dedicated interchange forwards where the Blues have four.
Slater said on Tuesday he hadn’t re-watched the 2018 game for inspiration, and he highlighted how times had changed. But more than anything, he lavished praise on Ponga, and how his game has developed.
“He’s a different player now, and he’s got great defence,” Slater said. “He understands the game a lot better now, he was still a kid back then.”
No matter how good Ponga is in 2024, the risk is high. The giant Blues pack rolled the Maroons in game two. Their go-forward hemmed Queensland in their territory for much of the first half, and was supported by solid game management from halves Mitchell Moses and Jarome Luai. Atop that platform, outstanding execution from New South Wales’ attack delivered a half-time margin of 34 points, and a shift in series momentum that might take them all the way to the shield.
Afterwards in Melbourne, Slater spoke of the “snowball” of the Blues blitz. But when asked on Tuesday whether there is actually anything he could have done to stem the bleeding, Slater offered little. Instead, he said avoiding a similar situation is to be done before the match.
“We just needed to change a few things with our preparation I felt, and we’ve done that,” he said. “Hopefully we won’t put ourselves under that sort of pressure that we did in game two, because we didn’t give ourselves a chance to get our footy on.”
If there is an image that screams getting one’s footy on, it’s Ponga and Walsh on the move. But their opportunities will depend on whether the smaller Maroons middles keep the likes of Payne Haas and Spencer Leniu at bay. Only then as fatigue sets in, conventional wisdom dictates, can the mobility of Queensland – highlighted by a potential Ponga-Walsh double act – be unleashed.
Whatever the state of the game, there will be few fans not excited when Ponga runs onto Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night, even if Slater has given away little about how he will be deployed.
“He’s trained in multiple positions on the field, and what a luxury to have Kalyn Ponga sitting on the bench where you can put him on anywhere you want,” Slater said. “Obviously playing alongside him, being his coach, I know what he brings.”
State of Origin deciders are rugby league’s toughest test. And the verdict on Slater’s radical approach will almost certainly be determined by the result. A victory makes it a masterstroke, the crowning glory of rugby league’s emerging titan. A loss, and it’s the naivety of someone still just 41. With a bias for fullbacks.
Be it by design or desperation, Slater’s appetite to try something will define the contest. State of Origin “takes you out of your comfort zone,” he said on Tuesday. “If you’re in your comfort zone? Well, you’re probably not trying hard enough.”
