Maroons Coach Billy Slater Hints at Potential Reece Walsh Recall for State of Origin II

Maroons coach Billy Slater has refused to say if he will hand Reece Walsh a State of Origin recall as Queensland fights to keep the series alive. Walsh, the Clive Churchill Medal winner in last year's grand final, was overlooked for Origin I, with Slater unable to find a place for the Brisbane superstar in his 20-man squad for Wednesday night's 22-20 defeat to NSW in Sydney. Slater plumped for Kalyn Ponga at fullback and the Newcastle man will be expected to line up for game two in Melbourne on June 17 after being cleared of suspension for his dismissal on Wednesday for a shoulder charge on Tolu Koula. Pressed on to whether creative phenom Walsh would come back into calculations for next month's clash at the MCG, Slater declined to speculate. "There's a lot of ifs … we'll just put one foot in front of the other," Slater said. "We'll pick ourselves up … We had five guys debut for Queensland tonight. They didn't get the feeling that they wanted in the dressing-room. "Hopefully we can give them that in the future. "The heart and spirit that they fought with — with 12 men — they fought hard. "This is the journey we've been put on. These are the cards we've been dealt and we'll be playing our hand." The Maroons led 20-6 until Ponga's 58th minute send-off gave the Blues the ascendancy and James Tedesco was able to score the decisive try. Slater suggested he would not let the final 20 minutes sway to make mass changes to his Maroons side. "We're going to take some positives out of what we did tonight, and there was a lot, so we'll go back and review that," Slater said. "The biggest thing is picking ourselves up off the canvas. "The feeling that we have at the moment … It's natural to feel heartbroken and disappointed, but we won't be throwing the baby out with the bath water." The one silver lining for the Maroons was the emergence of Sam Walker as a genuine Origin playmaker. Maroons halfback Walker set up two tries, kicked four goals and caused the NSW backs confusion under the high ball on a sterling Origin debut that was overshadowed by the Blues' late fightback. "The longer the week went on, the more I felt really confident that he played like that," Slater said. "He's a clever little player, he's tough, he dives into all the team things, but then he brings his game, he unlocks players, and we saw that tonight. "[I'm] Looking forward to him getting some more opportunities and playing some more footy at this level."